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Wow, it has been over a month since I posted any progress to this thread! I surprised myself, because I expected to get some more work done over Christmas vacation, but it was too cold to work at my bench in the basement!

I haven't been completely idle, since the last post, I've been working off and on at the very fiddly job of masking the canopy. Thanks very much again to my brother Randie Coulter over at Agape Modes (shameless plug: www.agapemodels.com ;D ) for the supply of Parafilm! This is my first time using that material. I think I'm getting a little better at it-practice makes perfect, of course!

First off, here's a shot of the materials. The Parafilm:

[ATTACH=full]4568[/ATTACH]

and the tools I'm using:

[ATTACH=full]4569[/ATTACH]

A new #11 X-Acto blade, a metal straight edge, good fine-point tweezers, a piece of glass plate for a base (mine is salvaged from an old copier), and the white thing is a plastic dental tool, I think it's used for trowling putty around on a tooth. It has a straight chisel edge at one end, and a rounded edge at the other. Perfect for manipulating the Parafilm and smoothing and pressing it down on the surface.

Working with a vacuform canopy is a little fiddlier than with a more rigid styrene canopy. Because it's flexible, I couldn't try the technique of applying a piece of the film across a whole section of the canopy, and then scribing along the framework and peeling away the framework lines. Instead, I laid a piece of Parafilm out on the glass, and used the straight edge to cut strips, and then little squares. I used these to fill the area of each panel of the canopy:

[ATTACH=full]4570[/ATTACH]

Hopefully it shows up well enough against the dark background.

[ATTACH=full]4571[/ATTACH]

With the memory of my Airacobra canopy disaster still fresh in my mind, I tried to be careful and used pieces of Parafilm to cover the underside of the canopy, too, to protect it during spraying.

Here, then, are views of the left and right sides of the canopy, with a coat of Tamiya OD. From the port side:

[ATTACH=full]4572[/ATTACH]

and from starboard:

[ATTACH=full]4573[/ATTACH]

It's down on the bench right now, awaiting a couple of decals (there was some stencilling on the bottom rail of Little Chief's canopy).

The windscreen remains to be masked. I wanted to cut my teeth on the sliding section, with its relatively simpler shape. Now that I know a little better what to expect from the material, I think the windscreen will be a little easier.

Only a couple laps to go-the last of the stencils, a matte coat, then the canopy, gun barrels, wheels, and Lt. Klibbe himself. I'm hoping to finish this in the next week or so.

As always, comments/criticisms are welcome, thanks for looking and I remain

YbiC
Brad

<blockquote data-quote="the Baron" data-source="post: 4355" data-attributes="member: 75">Wow, it has been over a month since I posted any progress to this thread!&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite9" alt=":eek:" title="Eek!&nbsp; &nbsp; :eek:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":eek:" />&nbsp; I surprised myself, because I expected to get some more work done over Christmas vacation, but it was too cold to work at my bench in the basement!I haven&#039;t been completely idle, since the last post, I&#039;ve been working off and on at the very fiddly job of masking the canopy.&nbsp; Thanks very much again to my brother Randie Coulter over at Agape Modes (shameless plug:&nbsp; www.agapemodels.com&nbsp; ;D ) for the supply of Parafilm!&nbsp; This is my first time using that material.&nbsp; I think I&#039;m getting a little better at it-practice makes perfect, of course!First off, here&#039;s a shot of the materials.&nbsp; The Parafilm:[ATTACH=full]4568[/ATTACH]and the tools I&#039;m using:[ATTACH=full]4569[/ATTACH]A new #11 X-Acto blade, a metal straight edge, good fine-point tweezers, a piece of glass plate for a base (mine is salvaged from an old copier), and the white thing is a plastic dental tool, I think it&#039;s used for trowling putty around on a tooth.&nbsp; It has a straight chisel edge at one end, and a rounded edge at the other.&nbsp; Perfect for manipulating the Parafilm and smoothing and pressing it down on the surface.Working with a vacuform canopy is a little fiddlier than with a more rigid styrene canopy.&nbsp; Because it&#039;s flexible, I couldn&#039;t try the technique of applying a piece of the film across a whole section of the canopy, and then scribing along the framework and peeling away the framework lines.&nbsp; Instead, I laid a piece of Parafilm out on the glass, and used the straight edge to cut strips, and then little squares.&nbsp; I used these to fill the area of each panel of the canopy:[ATTACH=full]4570[/ATTACH]Hopefully it shows up well enough against the dark background.[ATTACH=full]4571[/ATTACH]With the memory of my Airacobra canopy disaster still fresh in my mind, I tried to be careful and used pieces of Parafilm to cover the underside of the canopy, too, to protect it during spraying.Here, then, are views of the left and right sides of the canopy, with a coat of Tamiya OD.&nbsp; From the port side:[ATTACH=full]4572[/ATTACH]and from starboard:[ATTACH=full]4573[/ATTACH]It&#039;s down on the bench right now, awaiting a couple of decals (there was some stencilling on the bottom rail of Little Chief&#039;s canopy).The windscreen remains to be masked.&nbsp; I wanted to cut my teeth on the sliding section, with its relatively simpler shape.&nbsp; Now that I know a little better what to expect from the material, I think the windscreen will be a little easier.Only a couple laps to go-the last of the stencils, a matte coat, then the canopy, gun barrels, wheels, and Lt. Klibbe himself.&nbsp; I&#039;m hoping to finish this in the next week or so.As always, comments/criticisms are welcome, thanks for looking and I remainYbiCBrad</blockquote>

[QUOTE="the Baron, post: 4355, member: 75"] Wow, it has been over a month since I posted any progress to this thread! :o I surprised myself, because I expected to get some more work done over Christmas vacation, but it was too cold to work at my bench in the basement! I haven't been completely idle, since the last post, I've been working off and on at the very fiddly job of masking the canopy. Thanks very much again to my brother Randie Coulter over at Agape Modes (shameless plug: www.agapemodels.com ;D ) for the supply of Parafilm! This is my first time using that material. I think I'm getting a little better at it-practice makes perfect, of course! First off, here's a shot of the materials. The Parafilm: [ATTACH=full]4568[/ATTACH] and the tools I'm using: [ATTACH=full]4569[/ATTACH] A new #11 X-Acto blade, a metal straight edge, good fine-point tweezers, a piece of glass plate for a base (mine is salvaged from an old copier), and the white thing is a plastic dental tool, I think it's used for trowling putty around on a tooth. It has a straight chisel edge at one end, and a rounded edge at the other. Perfect for manipulating the Parafilm and smoothing and pressing it down on the surface. Working with a vacuform canopy is a little fiddlier than with a more rigid styrene canopy. Because it's flexible, I couldn't try the technique of applying a piece of the film across a whole section of the canopy, and then scribing along the framework and peeling away the framework lines. Instead, I laid a piece of Parafilm out on the glass, and used the straight edge to cut strips, and then little squares. I used these to fill the area of each panel of the canopy: [ATTACH=full]4570[/ATTACH] Hopefully it shows up well enough against the dark background. [ATTACH=full]4571[/ATTACH] With the memory of my Airacobra canopy disaster still fresh in my mind, I tried to be careful and used pieces of Parafilm to cover the underside of the canopy, too, to protect it during spraying. Here, then, are views of the left and right sides of the canopy, with a coat of Tamiya OD. From the port side: [ATTACH=full]4572[/ATTACH] and from starboard: [ATTACH=full]4573[/ATTACH] It's down on the bench right now, awaiting a couple of decals (there was some stencilling on the bottom rail of Little Chief's canopy). The windscreen remains to be masked. I wanted to cut my teeth on the sliding section, with its relatively simpler shape. Now that I know a little better what to expect from the material, I think the windscreen will be a little easier. Only a couple laps to go-the last of the stencils, a matte coat, then the canopy, gun barrels, wheels, and Lt. Klibbe himself. I'm hoping to finish this in the next week or so. As always, comments/criticisms are welcome, thanks for looking and I remain YbiC Brad [/QUOTE]

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