While reading Yoda's post on what makes a good aircraft model (good question by the way) there are a couple replies on the importants of canopies. There where also a few quick tips on what to do. What I would like to see is a little more in depth discussion on the products and procedures to make a canopy look great. All I know about at this point is dipping it in future and gluing it on with clear glue. What else do I need to do?

One of the problems with canopies is that they can become scratched so as soon as I open a kit, the canopy sprue goes into a separate bag for safe keeping.

Took me a while to get masking the canopy for painting the framework down pat. I've eventually settled on using the blue 3m painters tape. How I proceed depends on how pronounced the framework is. Some canopies have a good edge on the frames while others have a shallow edge. For the shallow edge, cut strips of tape the width of the framework and lay these down over the existing framework to increase the thickness to give a good edge to run the xacto blade against. After you have a good edge laydown tape over the rest of the canopy to cover the areas that will remain clear. Now take a sharp (you'll be best just to put a new blade on) #11 blade and trace around the framework. After all the framework has been cut along you can begin to peel off the tape covering the framework. If the framework edge is still hard to see before cutting, try burnishing the tape down snug against the frame edge with a toothpick. After the tape has been removed from the framework, burnish down the edges of the tape on the 'clear' areas to make sure no paint leads under the tape.

Its important to make sure the canopy gets all the same paint work as the rest of the plane so it doesn't look any different. Some people ensure this by temporarily attaching the canopy in place using blue tac (there's an article on this somewhere that I'll try to find). I prefer just to leave the canopy off and airbrush it right after airbrusing the rest of the plane with whatever coat I'm on.

I've also started to spray the first coat of the framework the same color as the cockpit interior color. For example, in the corsair I just finished, the interior color is the chromate green so I sprayed the first coat of the canopy frame the same chromate green and then continued painting the framework with respect to the exterior paint coats. This way it gives the illusion of the interior of the framework being painted green when you look through the canopy from inside to out. Probably not real major but I think its a nice little touch.

If I second Tin anymore, I'm gonna sound like an echo

I also like to attach fixed canopy sections -- windscreens, rear windows, cabin windows -- during construction so I can blend their framing properly into the aircraft structure.

I use Ambroid Pro-Weld applied with a sharp O brush to attach fixed canopy sections that need a little persuasion, or even if they don't need it. Smaller brushes may be sharper, but they don't hold as much cement as an O brush

Sanding clear parts may seem like heresy, but I keep a few ladies' tri-stick nail buffers on hand to buff out light scratches and scuffs. I've also been know to do really dumb stuff too, like sanding out scratches starting with 2,000 grit wet-and-dry sandpaper and working up to 10,000 grit paper, Blue Magic liquid metal polish and a Future dip to make damaged clear parts a little clearer

Outlining less distinct framing with tape strips is a solid procedure. If you don't feel like filling in the outlines with tape, though, brush on two or three coats of white glue to fill in the outlines and act as a liquid masking material. SuperScale and other companies offer masking fluids, but two or three coats of white glue act just as well against enamles, acrylics and lacquers. The tape stripes are needed, though, to ensure a sharp mask line.

But if you're real lucky and have kit glazing with good, distinct framing, Parafilm M can work some neato torpedo magic. Testors used to package the stuff -- a laboratory product for sealing beakers and test tubes -- but lab supply and scientific supply houses also sell it a lot cheaper. The stuff stretches into a self-adhesive film that you can press and rub onto clear parts. You then take a FRESH X-acto blade and trim lightly but firmly along the frame lines. Take care to make sure that cuts meet at frame corners. Use the blade tip or tweezers to lift the Parafilm on the frames, and gently lift off the excess.

If the film lifts off the area to remain clear, don't panic. Press it back gently, recut the frame line, and remove the excess. You can mask the interior sections with tape, blobs of poster hanging putty or wet facial tissue.

After you finish removing the film from the frames, press on the remaining masks to ensure they are tight, and spray your canopy interior colors, external colors, and decaling and final clear coats.

After ALL the painting and clear coating is done, lightly run an X-acto along the mask edges to ensure the masks lift cleanly away. Parafilm again removes easily (even more so with the paint buildup stiffening it) by lifting corners with a knife or toothpick tip and gently pulling away the mask.

Any paint bleedthrough along the edges can be removed by scraping off with a toothpick cut to a chisel point. If you're feeling real brave, soak the tip in paint thinner first but shake off the excess and be careful where that scraper goes.

It may sound hard (or mildly suicidal) but it took me 30 years to get to that point.

Do what works best for your models and your nerves. And if you damage a kit canopy, well . . . Squadron and Falcon make some real nice vacuform repalcements, but that's another story lol.

Hey Bryan, we ought to do an article . . . . uh . . we already did

Hi,

I came across these two articles on the Web for canopies. You may find them useful:

Removing Imperfections

Tinting Canopies

Rgds,
BP.

I hear'ya. Canopies can be very daunting when first starting out. I think a common mistake of modelers just starting out (I did this too ) is to construct the model and then the last step is the canopy. Now they sit there and say, "Now what?" That coupled with the 'rush' to finish the kit usually made for a sloppy canopy which can almost ruin not only the kit but the modelers pride in the kit.

Yep.

So all you buckaroos and buckarettes out there, the canopy is as important a construction step as aligning the wings and fixing those fuselage seams.

(Did I do that right Bryan? )