First, I normally build 1/35th modern armor, but i do dapple a little in aircraft when it catches my eye.
A few months back, I pruchased the Academy 1/32 F-18 at Hobby Lobby during a 50% sale. I loved building that big ole thing. I liked it so much, that recently I purchased the Hasegawa 1/32 F-16C with Two Bobs decals and Verlinden detail set..

Ok, my question. I've worked with photo etch before on my armor. I never worked with photo etch on aircraft. I was wondering how you guys glue the photo etch parts to the canopies with out marring the plastic. I have seen supper glue put a fog on clear parts and I dont now how you all do it where it is still clear. The Verlinden kit I got for the F-16C has nice photo etch for the canopy and I want to use it, but IM SCARED!!!! Help me out!!!

Use white glue!

I use liberal dippings in Future floor polish. It has the nice effect of filling all the cracks and imperfection in the plastic so the misting doesn't occur. It also works as protectant against anything that attack the plastic. You can even use a base for your challenging tinting project on that F-16Just slowly mix in Tamiya clear yellow and smoke till you get right shade then just dip the canopy in one more time. BTW you'll also get a real CLEAR canopy using thw future as well.HTH STUG


P.S. Cutting Edge has a nice sea,less intake for the GE engined vipers. [STUG

here is the link to the Intake.... http://www.meteorprod.com/cgi-bin/meteorsearch.pl?show_graphic+CEC32114.jpg+CEC32+++Mon_05_24_20040_3_55.dat+19.99+]Big Mouth Intake STUG

Airworrior,
Will white glue hold photo etch?

Steve,
So you are saying, dip the canopy several times in Future, then i can use any type of glue (superglue) to glu on the photo etch? I've seen the Big Mouth Intake. When i got the F-16, I did a wide search for everthing I coud find for it. The only I regret right know, is getting rid of what I had left over of the weapons and bombs from the F-18 kit. I'm thinking about getting the JDAM's from Black Box. Any other sugestions for Ordanence?

Well for ordance I'd checkout the guys CAMS they got some good stuff there. http://www.camdecals.com/main.asp Thats the CAMS web page. I think Cutting Edge also has some stores available. On the future note. If you don't believe us just do a search of the forums and you'll see many threads on the subject of Future, canopies, and PE. Mal (Holdfast) also did a feature on using Future for canopies. Here is a link to the article "The Future is Klear".. https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/227 But, yes the future should protect the canopy from misting with the PE parts and SuperGoo. I,ve also heard rumors of it clearing up parts that have already misted. but I havn't tried it yet. STUG

Oh, I believe you, I just didnt understand clearly. Now I do. Thanks for the links too.

I've not attached anything "serious" to the inside of canopies with super glue, but use future first should give a barrier against fogging. The fogging comes from the fumes given off by the glue, so if the PE parts are attached to the clear parts, after dipping them in Future, and before fixing them to the model the fumes will dissapate into the air and the Future will prevent any potential fogging from "stubborn" fumes. I'm guesing that the PE you are talking about is canopy seals/locking mechanisms and mirrors? If this is the case I would assume you are having the canopy open anyway, so you shouldn't have a problem.
You could attach the PE parts with both white glue or clear varnish, but the bond will not be as strong as CA. One other method is to use double sided tape, if you are capable of trimming it.
I have an old Hasegawa kit of the the F-16A and a Verlinden detail set, which I have had for years. I'm looking for inspiration to build it, so some in progress pics would be appreciated :-)
Mal

Mal,
Thanks for the tips too.

I should be putting done its first coat of paint this weekend. A while back I git decals for a 1/48 F-16 from Two Bobs. They where the ones with Snoopy, The Martian, The Gream Reeper, and the "We'll take It From Here" mural. I thought it would look cool next to my 1/32 F-18, so I got it along with the same decals in 1/32. I should be getting today or tomorrow the collored placards from Eduard for it to along with Black Box JDAMS. So far no problems. I did rescribe a majority of the panel lines. I was inspired by the 1/32 F-16 in the gallery at Aircraft Resources sight.

I'm currently doing the same sort of thing with a 1/32 Tornado. I'm adding mirrors, framing and ventilation piping to the clear plastic. Kinda scary operation (which i totally stuffed up the first time around) but the rewards a worth the care taken. One tip is to buy a few electircal clips (i know them as crocodile clips) and use them to hold the glued etch in place. The metal teeth haven't caused and damage to plastic or etch for me yet and at about 70 cents (australian) they're cheap too.