Hi
I've made a big boo boo. I'm building an Airfix Do-17 in 1:72 scale (beautiful model by the way) and I've just realised I've messed up big time with a big clear part that forms the lower aft gun mount. It's the one on the picture (picture is not mine, i borrowed it off the internet). This part models a part of the fuselage with the round window in the middle. I've just realised when looking at photos of the real plane, that the round windiow was in fact surrounded by three smaller windows. I have not noticed that at all. Instead I've been quite liberal with the sanding, as the piece did not ft very well and then painted it over. Even if I remove the paint, the windows will be badly sanded. Is there any way to restore transparency to such a badly mistreated part?

Depending on how much you already sanded the part, you could sand it again using very fine sandpaper until it's ready to polish. But that might not be an easy job... (you will have to sand to a depth below the current sanding-scratches)

Or try to find a spare part on the net?

Goodluck!
Steven

Maybe contact Airfix and buy a new clear sprue. Or like Steven said, keep sanding with finer & finer grades of sand paper. After using your finest grade sandpaper, last step. Sounds funny but use toothpaste & a soft toothbrush and really work the surface over. Wash thoroughly and dip in Future.
Good Luck !!!!
Tom

Seach this site using 'scratched canopy' and a couple of threads come up talking about this issue.

You may find it unbelievable but it is not a disaster.

Of course, the detail you have removed is gone, period!

However, getting transaperncy back may be quite easy.

> Buy a set of Tamiya fine sanding paper and Tamiaya polising compound.

> Sand starting with paper with a grid of +/- 1200

> work your way up de grid laddr sanding with each grade until you rech the highest one, don't skip any intermediate grade

> check the result, if all scratches are gone hoorah

> if not, start again with 1200 and work your way up again

The end result should be that you have a scratch free but matt surface

that's where the polishing powder comes in; Rube the surface with a swapstick and some of that polishing powder.

Usually, the whole operation takes less time than the time to write this

lots of success

After sanding with finer and finer grit, 2500, wet I used a very fine metal polish that I used on my gold plated uniform insignia. This left avery light haze on the plastic that I polished further using a highend auto polish/scratch remover. The scratches, on a 1/32 F-16 canopy, were mostly gone with barely any haze. I then waxed it with small amounts of high end auto wax which left it clear. Had I known about using Future i'm sure the canopy would've been perfect without the waxing. And it's cheaper than my $100 dollar car wax kit.

Thank you for help. I was afraid I've ruined it beyond repair.

I remember putting a bad scrape on the glass section of an at x-wing. I managed to buff it out using colgate toothpaste rubbed on with a kleenex. Be warned it's a very time consuming process.

What makes the tooth paste work as a polisher is all brands have microscopic plastic beads , works well on polishing brass as well .



Terri

Don't worry, all you have to do is invest the time and effort to buff it out. I put together an old Airfix P-39 with its AWFUL fitting canopy parts. I filled the steps in with super glue and rough sanded, then fine sanded, then polished the clear bits with an old cloth baby diaper until the scratches were out. Nothing fancy, just patience and elbow grease. Good luck with your Do-17!

It's a huge relief the windows can still be salvaged. I thought polishing clear plastic until it shined was impossible without some sort of power tools, and I treat modeling as a strictly "unplugged" hobby.

Thank you again for the advice, I did not quite believe I would be able to save those windows, they were really scratched, I mean they were completely sanded down to opaque white. I was really tempted to simply cover them up and pretend there were no windows, but decided to accept the challenge. It turned out the process took mere 15 minutes. Thank you so much! Here's the fixed part after painting: