Scale Soaring UK

After stripping right back, re-priming and re-glossing I’ve got a finish I’m happy with.

It’s actually really shiny so I’m not sure whether to
a) cut back with 1200 used wet and then polish it up,
b) just spray it with lacquer,
c) not even risk the lacquer?

If I cocked it up again I honestly think I’d cry...

More phots

Hi Roger, looking very smart, I know your problem, you get a nice finish, and think about a coat of lacquer, only to find there is a reaction

Hi Rog, the ASH is getting there. Paint, lacquer- I hate them, but they are necessary on a scalie. I try not to go for a super shiny finish, even on a glass ship, as it tends to make the model look like a toy. If I order gloss paint I tend to ask for it to knocked back about 10% to give me a gloss rather than a shine. I think it looks more like the machines I see at gliding clubs.
Brian.

Thanks for your input gents.

Is the point of the lacquer to increase the scratch-resistance of the gloss paint, or to restore its shine if you've cut back the gloss with wet and dry?

The purpose of lacquer is to immortalise the dirty thumbprints that you missed...

Today was going to be the day when I vac-formed my first flawless gleaming canopy.
It didn’t quite turn out like that.
I practiced on some white HIPS plastic, overheated it and melted my former.

So this is why people send stuff to Sarik.

Will have to mend my former and start over. > sigh <

oh Rog, I feel your pain.

At least you didn't fall off your stool this time! I fell off mine t'other day, nearly flattened my wilga before it gets finished... That'll teach me to lash up temporary sitting down structures.

As an aside, I used you r parcel tape technique to take a female mould of the 213 before I cut it, it worked way better than I could have imagined - ta!

Deep breath, sand, seal and send to Sarik then.

Ell.

Cheers Ell.
I’m pretty philosophical... setbacks are all part of the creative process. I don’t mind as long as I learn from them, f’rinstance 3 layers of 200gsm cloth is not strong enough for my school vacforming machine!

I may try it manually with a heat gun and simple wooden frame to hold the plastic.

Happy to hear your moulding went well. It can be very satisfying. You must be pretty much ready to test fly it.

After my utter fail with the vac forming machine, I spent a few hours with filler repairing the plug and adding another few layers of 200gsm then filling and smoothing. Fun times.

I decided that simpler is better and that I’d just pull the heated plastic down over the plug with brute force, all the time blasting it with a heat gun.

This seemed like a 3 handed job so I enlisted my youngest, Kitty, to help. I rubbed down the plug with sunflower oil to make it easier to remove the canopy, clamped the plastic sheet between two timber battens, and Kitty got medieval with the heat gun.