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Canopy polishing


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For sure. When i do my next build I will try the Tamiya method. Working with what I have I redid the sanding, going 90 degrees to each coarse, then hit it with my drill and the finishing compound as you saw above. Good but not up to haveblue’s level yet. Seeing the tamiya gloss coat I decided to try Future on it and see what it looks like. It’s all still drying but i lifted the cover long enough to take a peek. If they dry this well then these will be the best canopies I’ve ever done :beer4:  Thank you gentlemen!

 

IMG_5045-X2.jpg

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17 hours ago, themongoose said:

Now THAT is motivating! Something to shoot for.

haveblue do you polish the inside of the canopy also? If not do you put tape or anything on it to avoid fine scratches?

 

I never touched the inside of the canopy at all, and I didn't tape it with anything either, cheers.

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I have to say, I actually have all of the above polishing stuff. 

The Tamiya polishing compounds do work well, as do the Novus polishes. You do definitely need both the heavy and fine scratch polishes from Novus. Actually I think the Novus stuff works even a bit better than the Tamiya compounds.

 

For me personally however, I only use these when there is a seam that needs deleting.

The reason for this is that while I found that polishing does work well, and great results can be had, I find that polishing still does not prevent in all cases CA fumes from attaching to the clear plastic.

Sometimes one can get away with attaching windscreens with white glue or the like but a lot of times (like my current Do-335)  the fit is not good enough in place to use that. I have found that wicking ultra thin CA in the gap is by far the best way to attach windscreens for myself, and the best way to prevent the fumes from sticking at the same time, while still getting a crystal clear canopie/windscreen is still Future for me personally.

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Instead of using CA glue, use watch crystal cement. Glues canopies down like they were nailed. It does fill the gaps and obviously won't haze your canopies. I have used this stuff for years and it is excellent. Better than any "glue" I've tried in mounting canopies. I also dip mine in future. That being said, I've never had to "erase" a center seam before, but I have taken a badly looking canopy. Sanded the heck out of it with fine sand paper, polished with Brasso, cleaned them, and then dipped them in Future. They have turned out well for "contests".

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I've used a dremel for polishing before, but not canopies......its just too dangerous IMHO. Even at the super slow speed, a bit too much pressure and you will melt the canopy.

 

If you are stl seeing a hazy canopy when done it's likely you need to start with a slightly coarser grain of polishing cloth than you originally started with. Cant say how much time to spend on each segment as all clear parts can be different. You may also want to spend a bit more time with the heavy polish to get more of the larger scratches out then move to the fine. You also may need to use a polishing cloth on some canopies first before the polish depending on the starting condition.

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I've been using a dremel for years and have never melted one yet. The trick is to use the right wheel. Nothing is safe but the soft cloth ones, in my experience. However, I HAVE ruined them by cracking them and/or shooting them across the room many times doing that, so that's something to watch out for. 

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10 minutes ago, BiggTim said:

I've been using a dremel for years and have never melted one yet. The trick is to use the right wheel. Nothing is safe but the soft cloth ones, in my experience. However, I HAVE ruined them by cracking them and/or shooting them across the room many times doing that, so that's something to watch out for. 

 

 

Ive used the cloth wheels too, but generally have ham fists and I either use too much pressure, or not enough. Just one wrong push too hard with the Dremel and you get the little burns!   Id say whatever works best for the individual modeler is the best method. Do some experimenting on some clear plastic and try a bunch of methods. 

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Took the canopies out from under the hood tonight. Ohh they look really good. These are going to show well and not detract from any other part of the build. Here's a collage of each stage for comparison.

Canopies-L.jpg

Edited by themongoose
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5 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

Personally Ive had the best luck doing exactly what you did Chris, sanding, polishing, and Future.

Exactly.

Forget all the expensive polishes, potions etc.

Sand, polish and future.

Here's one I made earlier.......:)

 

https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/30048-removing-canopy-seams/

 

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I sand my canopies the same way you have but they always end up a little cloudy even after using the polishes.  I kept having problems with the future dip, mainly with tiny little specks sitting on the part after it dried.  I thought it was dust settling on the part while it was drying so I tried everything to keep the dust off but nothing worked.  Turns out it was the future not completely sealing to the part.   I solved this by completely submerging the part in future while brushing it at the same time with a small flat brush.  Rubbing the future on with the brush helped it seal and took care of all the specks.  Here is my last canopy from my phantom build.

 

plHPN8fKj

 

pm5kU7W9j

 

I've seen some guys do it without dipping in future but I have yet to figure that one out.  Hope this tip helps...

 

Bryan

 

 

 

 

 

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