Imperfections in window glass & decal problems

[N~8~Ball]

Hello all Im having trouble figuring out how to remove the imperfections in the window glass on a couple of my future builds with out damaging it further. The two projects are amt's 1/16 1955 Bel air sedan and nomad. I bought the kits through eBay and they are vintage factory sealed, Therefore when the kit was tightly packaged at amt a couple of the tires and the little piece if wire supplied for the ignition system came in contact with the windshield and side glass. Time and pressure has showed that rubber and plastic don't coexist well together. It looks like the rubber tires and ignition wire marred the glass leaving and imprint of the tire tread/side walls and the outline of the ignition wire. What is the safest method or procedure to remove these markings? I feel there will be some sanding involved. What product can I use to make the glass crystal clear again after the sanding? Im hard Pressed to find new glass for this model. I'm feel I can repair this glass and I really don't want to have to get new pieces vac u formed. The other issue Im having is with the same kit is the decals are stuck to the instruction sheet. If I try to separate them, one or the other will get damaged. What is a sure fire way to separate the two with little or no damage to the decals? I will greatly appreciate any help with the problems I'm having. I was really bummed out when I opened the kit.. and found it like this. I don't see a lot of the kits around anymore either so I have to make good on what I have. Thanks for looking and see you at work bench. Nate

[Harry P.]

As far as the decals being stuck to the instructions, I think you're out of luck. I don't know any way to remove the decal sheet from the paper instructions without ruining the part of the decals that's stuck onto the paper. You might try putting them in the freezer a while... maybe the cold would weaken the "stick", but I'm just guessing. Can't hurt to try, though.

On the windows, you can polish out the imperfections easily. If the imperfections are slight and not deeply etched into the plastic, you can try polishing compound to remove the marks. If they're deeper or more severe, sand them out with some fine sandpaper. Then sand the piece with finer and finer grits of sandpaper until the "glass" is smooth. At this point it will be translucent, not crystal clear. Bring back the clarity with some rubbing compound, then polishing compound, then finally a little wax. The trick is to remove the imperfections with the finest grit compound or sandpaper that'll do the job, then go through progressively finer and finer grits until you're back to clear "glass."

It's kind of a pain... lots of sanding and polishing, but if you intend to use the kit glass, there's no other way.

Personally I'd make new "glass" out of thin clear acetate sheet using the kit glass as a pattern.

[Ben]

The fix is reletively easy. Time consuming, but easy.

First, lightly sand the damaged area with a very mild grit sand paper to remove any large imperfections.

Then gradually work your way to finer and finer grits of sand paper. This will start to polish the glass back into it's normal state.

Then, when you get to the point of only having a very light haze where you sanded, get you some Future Floor Wax and dip the whole piece of "glass" into it.

When it dries, it should be crystal clear again.

For more incredible things that can be done with Future Floor Wax, go to Google and type in "the complete future"

There is a web site devoted to the stuff!

[N~8~Ball]

Thanks to all of you that gave the constructive responses. I appreciate your efforts and will put your tips to good use. As for the people (ggomez69)

that have an ego trip and had to express it in a cowardly fashion on a site for good honest people. I have reported you to the site moderator. We don't need people like you around here !! Good day..

Edited March 28, 2009 by Nate Vamosi

[FujimiLover]

Thanks to all of you that gave the constructive responses. I appreciate your efforts and will put your tips to good use. As for the people (ggomez69)

that have an ego trip and had to express it in a cowardly fashion on a site for good honest people. I have reported you to the site moderator. We don't need people like you around here !! Good day..

Here, here, I agree 100%! That comment he made was totally unexuseable! I wish you luck with fixing your window, I know how frusterating those clear peices can be. Particularly when you feel like you have the only one left in the entire world. Good luck man!

[FujimiLover]

No matter how hard you try, rat's always find a way in.

[FujimiLover]

Interesting idea there, but couldn't the heat from the steam melt the delicate decal film?

[N~8~Ball]

As far as the decals being stuck to the instructions, I think you're out of luck. I don't know any way to remove the decal sheet from the paper instructions without ruining the part of the decals that's stuck onto the paper. You might try putting them in the freezer a while... maybe the cold would weaken the "stick", but I'm just guessing. Can't hurt to try, though.

On the windows, you can polish out the imperfections easily. If the imperfections are slight and not deeply etched into the plastic, you can try polishing compound to remove the marks. If they're deeper or more severe, sand them out with some fine sandpaper. Then sand the piece with finer and finer grits of sandpaper until the "glass" is smooth. At this point it will be translucent, not crystal clear. Bring back the clarity with some rubbing compound, then polishing compound, then finally a little wax. The trick is to remove the imperfections with the finest grit compound or sandpaper that'll do the job, then go through progressively finer and finer grits until you're back to clear "glass."

It's kind of a pain... lots of sanding and polishing, but if you intend to use the kit glass, there's no other way.

Personally I'd make new "glass" out of thin clear acetate sheet using the kit glass as a pattern.

Hi harrypri How would I make new glass out of thin clear acetate sheet? I never heard of acetate sheet and have never worked with it. I might go that route if I can't repair my stock glass. Thanks Again Nate

[N~8~Ball]

Hello all UPDATE: I tried to separate the decal sheet from the instructions and discovered after putting gentle care into doing it, It is a lost cause !! The decals that got ruined will have to be replaced. Lucky not all of the decals got damaged so at least I'm not totally at a loss. Take care everyone

[Harry P.]

Hi harrypri How would I make new glass out of thin clear acetate sheet? I never heard of acetate sheet and have never worked with it. I might go that route if I can't repair my stock glass. Thanks Again Nate

Acetate sheet can be found in the art aisle of Hobby Lobby or any craft store or art supply store. It comes in different thicknesses and is usually sold in a pad, like a pad of paper. The only problem is that it doesn't really bend well in more than one direction. If you need to make a piece of "glass" that's flat (like side windows) or only curves in one direction (like on a '55 Chevy windshield), the acetate works great... but it doesn't work as well for compound curves.

Use the damaged kit glass as a template to cut out the new "glass" from the acetate sheet. You can "pre-curve" the acetate by rolling it around a paint brush handle or x-acto knife handle. Attach it to the inside of the body by taping it into place with thin strips of masking tape, then adding tiny dabs of clear 5-minute epoxy around the perimeter with a toothpick (obviously, be careful so that the epoxy doesn't show from the outside). Once the epoxy has set up, carefully remove the tape strips and there you are... a new windshield!

The nice thing about acetate is that one, it's thin and more to scale in thickness than kit "glass", and two, it doesn't have the weird optical distortion that some kit glass has. It basically looks more like real glass.

[Gregg]

What did I miss?

I know, a day late and a dollar short

[MrObsessive]

Acetate sheet which is also called Clear Stencil Sheet in the craft stores is the best when it comes to replicating glass in models.

Here's a quick and dirty tutorial on how I did wraparound glass on the '55 Ford which is stalled for now. This comes in handy for special built models where you have no previous pattern to use, or the kit windshield is lost or broken in several pieces.

For consistency, you may want to do the rear window in the same fashion so the optical clarity is the same for both. Of course, if the rear window is for something like a '57 Chrysler 300...................Weeellllll you may be outta luck!

I take a 3x5 card and cut it to the approximate size to the windshield opening. Then trace the window opening on the card.

Cut the card to the shape of the window and then test fit it inside your opening...........

It would be a good idea to make some kind of "trough" or lip inside of your window frames to hold the templates in place. This will also aid in holding the acetate once you begin to epoxy.

Now you want to take the pattern of the tracing, lay it on the acetate, and trace on that. I use a Exacto blade as I can see the faint lines it creates..............it's also thin enough that the cutting point will be more defined as opposed to using a fat magic marker or Sharpie.

Once you cut the pattern on the acetate, now you can test fit that inside your window openings. When it all looks good to you, epoxy the acetate in place. Compound curves can be tricky, so when I'm doing wraparound windshields------I'll epoxy one side of it first, let that cure fully, then epoxy the other side. You then might want to epoxy a layer inside the windows once again to "trap" the acetate to ensure they won't pop out on you when trying to clean them up.

Here's the end result of the scratchbuilt windows...............

Your windows are gonna be quite a mess once you've epoxied 'em in. I use rubbing alcohol and Meguiar's Car Cleaner Wax to clean everything up once the epoxy has fully hardened up. That for me is usually overnight.

To cover over some of the overlap of the epoxy you may get, cut a very thin piece of electrical tape or whatnot to simulate weatherstripping as what's seen on 1:1's.

Hope this helps!

[N~8~Ball]

Thank you so much Mr Obsessive for the great reply and photos of your project. I will definitely try out all the tips & tricks everybody has presented to me. I have never made my own glass before and I will have to give it a try. Home made glass sure does look more realistic than the stock model styrene glass. I like the tip about the weather striping in the final steps, That sure would give the model that 1:1 look and feel we all want. Take care everyone. Nate

[FactoryStock54]

For cleaning up slight flaws in kit "glass" I swear by the Creations Unlimited Triple Grit Polisher.

And, thanks, Mr. Obsessive, for that excellent tutorial on replacing kit glass with acetate! I may just have to try that some day!