Hi Guys! Guess what I managed to get from eBay? I've now got three (okay at least six) possible builds for the Night fighters campaign! I've managed to pick up the Lodella conversion kit to turn the 1/32 scale Beaufighter into a MkVI or a MkX. Now I've also got two extra kits by themselves without canopies or decals. No problem I thought as I'll just get vac formed ones for it. yeah right! Now I find that the aftermarket details for these kits are pretty much non-existent. I've got a couple of sets of resin hedge hog exhausts which will make that part of the kit look a million bucks. I'd like to ask if anyone knows where I can get vac-formed or resin replacements for the canopies? The cockpit detail will simply have to be scratch built as I believe that currently no aftermarket sets are available. But to be honest scratch building in this scale should be easy than in Braille scale! And to Mal if you're looking in .... guess what buddy? I need masks for markings for any of the Torbeau's flown by 489 Squadron as part of the Banff strike wing with 455 Australian squadron. I was thinking of doing a two plane dio of a 489 Torbeau and 455 anti-flak Rocketbeau, so I guess I'll need markings for them as well! So watch this space in the not to distant future as I'll be posting about how the build is progressing. So a MkI Beaufighter in 1/32nd scale anybody?

Hi Chris,
I do know that Derek Bradshaw (Eclipse Model Design) is in the process of building masters for an interior detail set for this, I saw it at quite an early stage and it was looking amazing. However that was a few years ago so I don't think that it will be in production anytime soon I bought a kit to wait until it is

Masks will be no problem

Hi Mal! Yes I've seen the thread and it will look damn fine when done. I've got three kits now so having one when the resin gets produced isn't a problem! I'll get as much information as I can regarding the two aircraft for the dio Mal and send it on over when I'm ready to start. Actually one of the MkX is a 455 aircraft so the markings will just need to be copied it's the 489 aircraft that I'll need to find material on. And as always thanks for helping me out.

It shouldn't be terribly difficult to heat-and-smash mould replacement canopies; the shapes are not all that complicated. If you have the canopies from one of your other kits to use as masters that's a bonus.

Hi Jess, thanks for the idea I'll have the canopies for the conversion (I think) and the originals from the Revell/Lodella kit so creating a master mould from those shouldn't be too much of a problem. The major stumbling block is actually the forming of said canopies as smash moulding is something I haven't attempted as yet. I've already figured out the means to create the masters via silicon moulds and resin which is again something I haven't tried as of yet. But I do like trying new things and this would be an ideal way to get into creating my own resin parts. And I can see a potential need for vac formed canopies for this model as there are none available in the aftermarket arena. Now having said all that is there an article or how to somewhere on this wonderful site that might show me how and provide me with an idea of the material to use?

There's a fantastic article which describes many scratchbuilding techniques including how to vacuform in the Rotory Wing forum.

I did a quick little 4 photo tutorial on heat-and-smash moulding for my Super Dak build over on Britmodeller which I can repost here:
You need your original on a firm mounting.

You need a heat source and some plastic card. For canopies you need clear acetate.

Carefully heat the plastic until it softens and begins to sag, then quickly but firmly pull it down over the original until you have the shape completely covered and reproduced.

Hold it there until the plastic cools enough to hold its shape. Then just trim the part out carefully.
Here's everything you need:


You will undoubtedly ruin several pieces until you get the hang of how it feels when everything goes right. Making canopies is made easier if you have a cutout of the shape of the base of the canopy in a piece of thin plywood because that helps to draw the plastic down around the form evenly on all sides. Here's an article which shows that technique.

(Edit)
I just remembered that I demonstrated how to do windows during the What IF campaign. Look at the 5th post down on this page.

Hi Jess I remember the post well I took part in the campaign and it was very enlightening. Is stock acetate available for this sort of thing and is there a rule of thumb for thickness for plunge moulding? And how big is to big in terms of plunge moulding? 1/32 scale canopies aren't that small and would it exceed the limits? I guess the only way is to experiment and see. Thanks for the input and if anyone else has suggestions I'm all ears.

Actually while I was pondering the making of silicon moulds for pouring resin masters I was struck by the idea of actually using clear resin and moulds and perhaps casting the canopies that way.