Clear parts, how to finish, or are there replacements

[dmthamade]

Okay, I've been doing aircraft for decades. Canopies on the scale I worked with (1/32) were thin enough that they looked "right" for the most part. Aftermarket ones are also available for some as well. Car kits I find the clears seem to be really thick especially on older kits where they are joined with a web. Are there thinner alternatives available? Is there a way they can be thinned?(long shot)Or are the clears just the way they are?

Don

[StevenGuthmiller]

There is always the option of "vacuu-forming" your own.

Or in cases of cars with glass without any compound curves you can replace the glass with thin sheet plastic.

 

 

Steve

 

 

[dmthamade]

Vacu-forming would be last resort, though it would give thin clears. I can see thin clear plastic working for side or vent/wing glass.

Don

[StevenGuthmiller]

1 hour ago, dmthamade said:

Vacu-forming would be last resort, though it would give thin clears. I can see thin clear plastic working for side or vent/wing glass.

Don

It works for windshields and back glass as well.

This '67 Bonneville has .007 clear sheet for front and rear glass.

 

 

Steve

 

[espo]

Most hobby shops that carry Plastruct products will also offer sheets of thin clear plastic that you could cut to size. Next time you go shopping look closely at the packaging used. The clear plastic on these packages are often thin enough to be used with a little heating and bending. My personal favorite is the thin plastic that is used around the neck of men's dress shirts. This stuff bends easily and doesn't kink and get the line in the plastic where it's bent.  

[Snake45]

10 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

There is always the option of "vacuu-forming" your own.

Or in cases of cars with glass without any compound curves you can replace the glass with thin sheet plastic.

Steve

This pretty much nails it. 

I've learned to just live with the thick glass, except sometimes I'll cut off the vent window panes and replace them with thinner clear stock of some kind. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Most windshields are not compound curves, so flat clear stock is much easier to use than you might think.

I make a template from masking tape laid over the opening, marked a little oversize. Transfer that to a piece of card-stock.

Install strips of plastic on the backside of the pillars.

Trim your card-stock template until it just snaps into place between the retainer strips. The tension on the curve should be just enough to hold it tight against the curve of the opening.

When you have the fit perfect on the card mockup, transfer it exactly to a piece of clear stock.

Snap it into place and secure it with white (PVA) glue.

OR...

The clear material drink bottles are made of is often very good for forming replacement "glass" as well.

Here's how you do it...

 

[dmthamade]

Some great ideas, here!!  The idea of retainer strips on the inside sounds like a plan, Bill!! Soda bottle plastics sounds good, too!! I like that 1967 Bonneville!! Up here in Canada we got chevy powertrains in our Ponchos, they were chevys under Pontiac bodies. We also got Beaumonts/Chevelles, Acadian/Novas, Astre/Vega, Ventura/Nova...probably a few more I missed.

Don

[StevenGuthmiller]

Just now, dmthamade said:

Some great ideas, here!!  The idea of retainer strips on the inside sounds like a plan, Bill!! Soda bottle plastics sounds good, too!! I like that 1967 Bonneville!! Up here in Canada we got chevy powertrains in our Ponchos, they were chevys under Pontiac bodies. We also got Beaumonts/Chevelles, Acadian/Novas, Astre/Vega, Ventura/Nova...probably a few more I missed.

Don

The plastic used in the Bonneville above is "Grafix" .007 "clear lay film" that I bought at a hobby lobby some years ago.

I just cut a piece to fit, tacked it into place with a few drops of Laser Bond glue and then glued it permanently with 2 part epoxy.

 

 

Steve

[dmthamade]

I'll have a lookaround for the film or something similar. Don't have Hobby Lobby up here, see if Sprue Bros. has in stock. Meantime, i'll grab a pop bottle and practice.

Don

[Ace-Garageguy]

31 minutes ago, dmthamade said:

...Soda bottle plastics sounds good, too!!

It also works well for custom or race-car windscreens. Mockup, below. The retainer at the bottom (under the tonneau, not visible) was copied from an early Monogram Indy car that used a similar material supplied in the kit.

Actual part made from green plastic from a ginger-ale bottle.

 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Ace-Garageguy

[ChrisBcritter]

The soda bottle/heat gun trick worked for me, after I made a resin casting of the back window I needed to replace. It took four tries but I finally got it.