1/48 Spitfire Mk V 401 Sqdn - Home Country Modern Aircraft/Spitfire Marks GB

[Airframes]

Got my toes crossed for you (fingers are already permanently crossed anyway!).

 

[B-17engineer]

Good luck with the fix!

 

[Crimea_River]

Got a piece of clear plastic roughly formed but need to do a bit of heating with a hair dryer to make it fit better. Hopefully will be back on track some time on the weekend.

 

[Wayne Little]

Cool!

 

[Gerry]

Nasty. Hope this doesn't derail an otherwise great build.

Everything crossed...

Gerry

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks all. Just a quick update here to let you know that I've been partly successful in making a new rear glass section. My first two tries produced a passable piece that I went so far as to install, mask and paint. However, close examination led me to the conclusion that I could do better so I tore it off. The problem with this piece was that the plastic was too thick and tough to properly form with the hair drier so I scrounged around and found some thinner stuff. 3 tries tonight to mold a piece produced close replicas but not close enough. It seems that I need to keep adjusting my a bit more and I'm confident that a few more tries will finally produce one that will meet with my satisfaction. Sorry but I have no pics at present - got kinda immersed in the process.

I think that, despite my hopes of this being a quick OOB, this broken canopy piece will likely cause me to miss the GB deadline for completing this model as I will be flying to Ontario on Monday to install my son into residence for his first year at the University of Waterloo and I won't be back until Sept 6. Between now and then there's lots to do but there's still an outside chance I'll get this done, but only if I can find the right amount of time without feeling rushed.

So Gerry, fingers and toes crossed with you and hopefully I'll "git 'er dun" on Sunday. Thanks for your patience guys.

 

[Airframes]

Sounds good Andy. It will be a bit of a b@ll ache for such a small piece, but you could make a balsa mould, and 'plunge' mould the rear section, heating clear sheet on a female mould, over the cooker hob - that would ensure the correct shape and better fit. Just a thought.
Also, you've reminded me to see my daughter, before she goes back to 'Uni' in London at the beginning of September! Apart from wanting to see her before she disappears, I want to 'pick her brains' about some applications in 'Photoshop' !!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Terry. The thought of doing a balsa mold did cross my mind but seems too much trouble for this small piece at this point. I'd have to dismantle some of the rear cockpit detail to enable me to test fit the plug. I think the hair drier thing will work out, and the plastic strawberry containers I'm using are plentiful!

Have a nice visit with your daughter and, by the way, if you need any PS help, my wife is pretty good at it so feel free to PM me some questions.

 

[meatloaf109]

Absolutely, get that boy in school, then worry about modeling.
As a judge, exactly when you are done really isn't an issue, but I await seeing how you do the window thing.

 

[Wayne Little]

Do what ya gotta do Andy, good luck man....

 

[Crimea_River]

I put a long post in here last night about the canopy fix and it's gone! WTF???

 

[Airframes]

That happened to me a couple of nights ago. And now, I can't enter a reply in my Halifax thread! Something strange is afoot methinks!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Them gremlins is a infiltrating, either that or the system is running out of puff!

 

[Crimea_River]

Well, since I have a full glass of wine on the go here, I'll rewrite what I wrote the other day.

I now have a rear glass piece that I'm happy with and it's currently in a safe place with a wet coat of Future on it. Here's how I made it:

The raw material - a strawberry container. The strips already cut out are from previously aborted attempts.

To the blank strip were added 2 lengths of sprue CA glued to the ends like so. The reason will be evident in a minute.

The blank is secured over the form which in this case is the old, busted canopy section clamped in a vice.

Rubber bands and a paint brush are draped over the sprue pieces like this so that I can pull the softened blank down over the form. This contraption was devised for two reasons. 1) the plastic would not drape by itself, in fact it would curl upwards if not helped. 2) I had to get my hand out of the airstream of the hair dryer else I would get boined.

After applying the heat and pulling down, this is how it looked. Unfortunately the vice got in the way and the pull was uneven but this turned out not to matter.

The cut piece trial fitted:

That`s it for now. Hope to get some pics late tomorrow or Saturday morning if I get time to paint. Busy times (golf tomorrow), Warbird display at the airport on Saturday which I`ll post pics of, plus packing for the trip Monday. See you in a bit.

 

[Airframes]

Well done Andy. It worked well, fits well, and looks even better than the kit part.

 

[Crimea_River]

Well, not if you look real close but thanks anyway. The last pic is actually more than a trial fit as I had started to glue it in a fit of exuberance. The rear edge did not line up well with the fuselage on the other side ( I conveniently took a picture of the good side!) and the front edge is short of the step and does not line up. Since this picture was taken, I`ve added a spacer at the back edge and trimmed the clear part a tad more to make it a bit better.

 

[Jayl]

It looks good from the side you took the pic from, at least it looks clearer and you probably won't see the fit issue once the other canopy piece is in place.

 

[rochie]

nice work Andy

 

[Crimea_River]

Cheers guys.

 

[Airframes]

Once the edges are painted, and the canopy over the top, any slight imperfections won't be seen Andy. I know that, like me, you'd prefer to have it perfect, but sometimes 'good enough' is good enough! Well done mate.