Plastic tubs are beautiful, yes I absolutely agree, but they're also heavy, elaborate, and expensive to mold. Plastic molds, especially multi-part sprues as would be required for a cockpit tub, are expensive to produce, not to mention the labor of assembling, painting, and installation. I love the Eurofighter's plastic ejection seat and assorted plastic instrument panels. But there is a reason why that's the only full plastic tub Freewing ever made. The expense was prohibitive.
In a pinch, I will lay some blue painters tape on throughout the cockpit and paint it black. Or, cardstock paper, cut to shape then white-glued onto the upper surfaces such as the glare shield and seat, works great to resist bubbling. Even a thin layer of 20 minute epoxy works great and is easy to apply. I also cut a hole in the cockpit floor to keep it cooler and resist hazing.
When all else fails, I head for the shade or pull out a plane cover.
All this is discussing the canopy, but what happens with a model like the P-38 Allied Silver, which has large black anti-glare panels painted on? It's a fact that the real aircraft had them, so we weren't going to omit them from the model. It's just something we'll need to be cognizant of. We did use a matte finish "rubber black", which bubbles less quickly than gloss black.
In a pinch, I will lay some blue painters tape on throughout the cockpit and paint it black. Or, cardstock paper, cut to shape then white-glued onto the upper surfaces such as the glare shield and seat, works great to resist bubbling. Even a thin layer of 20 minute epoxy works great and is easy to apply. I also cut a hole in the cockpit floor to keep it cooler and resist hazing.
When all else fails, I head for the shade or pull out a plane cover.
All this is discussing the canopy, but what happens with a model like the P-38 Allied Silver, which has large black anti-glare panels painted on? It's a fact that the real aircraft had them, so we weren't going to omit them from the model. It's just something we'll need to be cognizant of. We did use a matte finish "rubber black", which bubbles less quickly than gloss black.
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