earlier today i sat down on my wheeled office chair to to a little modelling before my dinner was ready, as i rolled the chair (and me!) forwards there was a cracking/popping sound, and i wondered what i'd just crushed, not too worried cos theres always odd bits of sprue and stuff on the floor. not so. i'd rolled over the canopy (still in its sealed bag!) of my special hobby heinkel 100 D there dosent seem to be a vac replacement (unless someone knows better ) so does anyone perhaps have a spare, or an email address so i can contact them for another?
thanks in advance,phil

*edit* the rear part seems still usable and is actually the fusalage with two small windows, if i cut this away to use, is there a way to scatch build (or repair) the smashed part?

Hopefully you can get a replacement from Special Hobby or another member.
Otherwise you'll probably need to make a Vac or a smash mold canopy.

Save the pieces, and glue it back together, reinforce the inside with Miliputt, and sand and polish the out side. Use this for your master.

Phil:

Sorry about the broken canopy. If you can't get another kit canopy, which
I think you can, I agree with Dave O'Meara re the way to thermaform a
new canopy from acetate or clear sheet styrene. Only I'll add just a slight
wrinkle to what he suggests. You can fill the inside cavity of the glued
together and polished broken canopy with modeling clay instead of
a permenant (sp) two part putty. And for a handle, you could shove a
wooden dowl rod down into the center of the modeling clay. To make this
"original" mold rigid and firm, put it in the freezer until the clay is good and
hard. Then thrust the canopy down into the sheet styrene/acetate that
you warmed up in the oven or over the heat of a candle. Email me and I'll
send you a colored pencil sketch that shows the process. I made this
sketch for the thermaforming-vacumforming portion of my Part II article on
the old RevellUSA FW 190 D-9 that will be running on Aeroscale. Will
email you the JPEG as a preview. If this isn't necessary, just ignore the
offer, of course.

thanks for the advice guys, i found a postal address on the side of the box so i'll write them a letter and see how it goes. i also found plans for a little vac forming machine that i don't think would be hard to make, and if all else fails i can get a vac canopy for an He 112 that could be persuaded to replace my broken one

Good Luck Phil.
Looking forward to seeing this one finished.

Now for the "Dumb Grumpy Question of the Week"
Wasn't the 100d and the 112 basically the same aircraft?
OK two really dumb ones:
Wasn't it the really the same plane that the Germans kept changing paint jobs for propaganda purposes?

If not which one was that?

OK----- I really cheated and asked 3. :-) :-)

"Senile minds want to know"

Q1 - Nope the He 100 and He 112 were totally different aircraft: The He 112 started out as a competitor to the Bf 109; initially it was favoured by the RLM, until the 109 proved superior in most aspects.
http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/he112.html

When the He 112 proved unsuccessful, Heinkel tried again with a more advanced design, called the He 100 for prestige reasons. In many ways it was a superior fighter to the 109, although the evaporative cooling system needed to be replaced by more conventional radiators. Because Heinkel was expected to build bombers, and through Milch's personal dislike of Ernst Heinkel, the He 100, thankfully, was never mass produced. It could easily have outperformed the Spitfire I and made a mess of Fighter Command in 1940.
The He 100 held the world landplane speed record, for about a month, until the viscous little Bf 209 V1 (aka 109 R) took it away.
http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/he100.html

The He 100,especially, was posed as an operational fighter -the He 113 - and kept cropping up as such in British Combat reports.

Senile minds are those that stop learning.

Jeff W.

Thanks Jeff.

dave- wot jeff said!
although my kit is called the He 100D it also says in brackets "heinkel He 113 propaganda jager"
on the subject of the canopy i googled my fingers to the bone yesterday and have an email adress for the manufacturors, i've sent them an email asking for their help in replacing the canopy (along with the pic above) so i'm waiting on a response

say them that you found it cracked in the box. If you tell them that you crushed it with your chair they'll never send a free replacement

Thanks Phil, I thought there was something about the 100 and propaganda.

i hear what you're saying fabian! but it was my mistake and i feel i ought to own up to it. and what if they want to know how come the canopy is so badly damaged yet nothing else in the box is? that makes me look bad, and they probably would'nt be inclined to help me out.
i actually intend to take the path of "i'm a member of the worlds biggest and best internet modelling site, and heres a nice publicity opportunity for you "
no reply yet, though

Yeah that's true, but the one about the worlds biggest modelling site is a good one.
I needed to email Heller for a missing part ( Heller's error), but they never responded.
I hope you have more luck!!

I agree with Phil; Special Hobby went to the time and expense of researching and putting out a model which probably won't sell in large numbers.

Most of the small manufacturers who bring such models out do so because they are enthusiasts - I think it's only fair that we modellers don't try and give them the run-around, even with seemingly small things like missing or broken parts (especially when it isn't the fault of the manufacturer).

GOOD GUYS ALERT!
i just got an email from Jan Hajicek at MPM Production, to say that they will send me a new canopy.
Jan Hajicek at MPM Production, you are a star sir!

See, Honesty is the best policy...

Shaun

/Karma, man, Karma

Hi Phil!

That's good news!

I hope you did tell him you are Phil "The Baron" Box from Aeroscale! Maybe he will send you some samples for review!

Jean-Luc

review or not i'll happily sing their praises! actually the kit looks really nice in the box, nice crisp mouldings with engraved panel lines, small p/e fret that includes instrument films, and a nice set of decals-
and one loyal customer!

Good to know that MPM came through for you. Methinks I'd like an He 100 of my own after all this! :-)

Just curious here. It's been 3 weeks since you "talked" with the guy. Have you received the part yet?

hello steve, nothing in the post as yet, but its a goodwill gesture from them so i'm not too worried about it yet. i'll give it another week then send them a gentle reminder