SPA Modeler

No words..... except....

Floki wrote:Never have used a PE frame before what do you use for the glass?

My first time too. Probably the last!

The canopy comes with a sheet of clear acetate sandwiched onto a piece of paper with the outlines of the clear pieces. So you just have to cut the shapes out carefully and then dip them in water to release the acetate from the paper. Gluing them into place is tricky, I imagine. Especially if there are any curves to deal with.

Medicman71 wrote:Excellent work on the drop tank!

I'd go with Plan B on the canopy. Do the kit canopy and sand it to shape. Way easier than that PE frame.

That's a roger on Plan B. Radu from RB Productions replied on my build post at LSP. He said that he designed the canopy around the Hasegawa G-6 kit and the K-4 has a different fuselage structure. He said that the canopy will not sit flush on the K-4 kit. So that answers that!

Using the template that RB Productions provided in the photoetch canopy set, I set about to correct the overly square fuselage spine.



The error is very slight in my view and looks to be easily correctable. A few swipes with the sanding stick gets me close to the desired shape.


I want to do the same with the canopy but I noticed that there is a flange on the starboard edge of the canopy that is meant to be a gluing surface for mounting the canopy in the open position. I can properly position the canopy in the closed position for the correction so off it comes via razor saw.


After preliminary shaping, I place the uncorrected canopy on the fuselage. The difference is VERY slight and hardly noticeable although it will be more so with the canopy painted.




I'm pretty close to being done with the re-shaping of the fuselage.


I haven't put the sanding stick on the canopy yet but the work should be pretty minor. Waiting to get a Novus plastic polish set delivered.

It might not seem like much now but this bit of extra work will look amazing in the end. Also is it just me or is the front and rear sections different colors?

Floki wrote:It might not seem like much now but this bit of extra work will look amazing in the end. Also is it just me or is the front and rear sections different colors?

Yes! Slightly different colored plastic, for some reason.

Nice fix on the fuselage!

The corners of the K-4 canopy are rounded off with a coarse sanding stick.



The buggy camera refused to focus on this part so I had to put a black mark on it. Although I've rounded off the corners, you can see that the rear of the canopy still has a flat spot. I'm hesitant on making any more significant changes due to the thinness of the clear part.


Here's the corrected canopy sitting upon the corrected fuselage. I've filled in the fuel hatches on the spine and will scribe new ones. The canopy has been polished with Novus plastic polish but isn't crystal clear. I'll have to give them another round of polishing and maybe a dip in Future.

Cracking job on that John - you've done a nice job of fitting it.

Impressive work John! I commend you on your attention to details I can't even see. Way to go man!

I've gotta hand it to ya John. You've got some hefty patience to pull a fit issue like that off.