Chronic's Research and Aeronautics Project (C.R.A.P.)

[Rick Lowe]

Don't know if I've said before, and it's a bit late anyways, but I'd hesitate before using brake fluid on a canopy.
I've had it attack the plastic - not in a majorly bad way, but it seems to leach something out.

I have had good results in using a nail buffing system to polish clear plastic - and I mean after I'd been attacking the parts with a file!
Couple of grades of progressively finer sandpaper, 800 & above, then the 3-step Clean-Shine-Polish system.

A bit of a PITA on something that small, but here it is FWIW.


PS - I don't know where you'd find Elbow Grease (tm)*, I had to make do with what I had, but it still worked.


*Probably in the aisle with the Polka Dot and Tartan paint.. .

[TheChronicOne]

 

I think you told me about the brake fluid on the canopies before but I forgot!!! I'll take that sucker out right now. 

Doesn't seem to have caused any (extra, aside from me chipping a piece of it by mishandling it) damage and the areas where I had acrylic paint have cleaned up for the most part... still have "frosted glass" elsewhere however!!  Looking more and more likely I'll be having "tinted windows" on here. 

In lieu of said nail buffing system... I'm tempted to take some tooth paste and baking soda to it.. or....  wet sand with fine grit paper...then come back with Future to fill in the scratches.... or... I dunno. Trying not to have to go shopping for anything.   

[Rick Lowe]

Toothpaste (not the gel type) is good as a mild abrasive polish - essentially what the Tamiya stuff is IIRC, less the flavouring.

If you have some 1200 grit or smaller, after using that would be a good place to start with the paste.

I hasten to add I've never used the toothpaste method, but have heard of good results.

A final polish with old denim is apparently good, too.

Future is definitely a good final step.

[TheChronicOne]

New Tucano pics!!!   






I like this one! It looks nice. 

I can't wait to make more trainers and more red/white and orange/white things like test center planes, etc. 

[TheChronicOne]

Toothpaste (not the gel type) is good as a mild abrasive polish - essentially what the Tamiya stuff is IIRC, less the flavouring.

If you have some 1200 grit or smaller, after using that would be a good place to start with the paste.

I hasten to add I've never used the toothpaste method, but have heard of good results.

A final polish with old denim is apparently good, too.

Future is definitely a good final step.

Awesome...   I think at this point I don't have anything to lose... I mean... it looks BAD right now and not much I can do other than shattering it into pieces is going to make any difference. I still retain the option play with painting it black and calling it "tinted" so I'm going to use your advice and see where it gets me.

[Rick Lowe]

Oops - forgot to mention to use the toothpaste with a cloth, not a toothbrush... but you wouldn't have done that anyway, right? 

Nice work on the Tucano - come up really well.

[TheChronicOne]

Oops - forgot to mention to use the toothpaste with a cloth, not a toothbrush... but you wouldn't have done that anyway, right? 

Nice work on the Tucano - come up really well.

LOL!  Yeah, no tooth brush... I did know that much...   

Thanks, that lil Toucan Sam gave me fits but the end result is quite nice! As far as over-all end appearance and verisimilitude it may be my best one yet.  I like to think that it's a "good job" when one builds a model kit that looks as if it were the actual machine with a shrink ray fired at it. This one is probably the only one I've made that would start to come close to that "standard." 

[zenrat]

Fab. 

If you have any you could try automotive cutting compound on the canopy followed by automotive polish.  Don't use combined wax/polish though if you want to paint the framing.  Don't ask me how I know this.

[TheChronicOne]

Huh... now that you mention it, and I think about, I do have some of that. If I can FIND it though..      (and if it is still viable, this stuff sits out in the out building through years worth of summers). 

And thanks!! It's definitely fab! I want to hop inside and go for a flight. 

[zenrat]

I have a very old tin of cutting compound which lives in my unheated/uncooled shed and which I use occasionally on model cars when I outdo myself in the realm of orange peely paint.
It separates over time with all the abrasive stuff sinking to the bottom of the tin.  A good hard stir and its good as new.

[NARSES2]

I can second the toothpaste method for canopies 

That Tucano is tremendous 

[TheChronicOne]

Good to know! I hate to have to spend money on new stuff.   

Tomorrow be a good day for a rummage around outside. Maybe I'll find some other stuff to use as well.   

[TheChronicOne]

Amazingly, I've actually been putting in work on both stalled builds....  at current things have been glued so I have to let them sit but I'm getting stuff done at least.

The f-84........   glued the wings on and ran some glue down the seems. Going to take my finest brush and run silver across the seams too to seal it all up and get rid of the "black line" that appears there now. I need to do a bit of touch up on the black then look things over then I think I can glue all the interior parts back in.. the hud/sight bit, the seat, and the rear deck.

Gave it my best shot but I'm throwing in the towel on the canopy.. we'll just have to have limo tint on there... I think it'll look fine. These canopies have this weird vinyl bracing stuff which makes em look pretty neat and of course I'm going to go back with the blue frame work so there'll be lots of stuff going on there... should look nice even though it's a lazy and less optimal way of going about it.

The Enterprise, I glued one of the broken pylons back on then ran a bead of glue around the base for reinforcement and to give me matching surfaces to sand back down on.  (if that makes sense.. )  See, a glue cluster formed at the base of one so I built up the base of the other one as well, and with the "extra" meat there hopefully I can get in there with my sanding sticks and make them both look good AND uniform without breaking one of them off again.

Also, sanding off the ridiculous raised detail....   It's either paint the crappy raised detail or use transfers.. can't use both... and the transfers will be better by FAR so I need to sand all that off.. Some of it will be tricky because this thing is TINY and some spaces are very tight and whilst others are very fragile.


OHHH....ohhh!!  ......  what's going on here??!?!?! KINKY!!!! OR is the new AWACS?!   

[NARSES2]

Reminds me a little of a TV advert we had over here in the UK. The invading alien force landed to conquer and take over the Earth only to discover they'd got their plans wrong and that they were tiny compared to us humans, rather than the same size   

[Captain Canada]

Does look like AWACS, with extra pods and an auxiliary jet on top.