Scale aviation modeller international

the NF 11/12/14 variants) also

comes in two halves, so I took

the opportunity to fill these with

Deluxe Liquid Gravity to help

with the potential tail sitting. I

built up the cockpit from the tub,

the two seats, and what I finally

worked out were the instrument

binnacles, the lack of instructions

proving a bit of a challenge.

Foolishly, I now committed my

second big faux pas by gluing the

fuselage halves together, expecting

that I could drop the cockpit in

afterwards...alas, no, since the tub

fits under the lip of the fuselage

opening; the only remedy was to

cut away the side of the fuselage

and slide the cockpit in sideways,

replacing the cut part and filling.

Of course, the presence of the

cockpit is only relevant if one can

see it, and in the absence of the

promised clear canopy, I decided to

attempt to vacuum form a new one

using the kit’s resin version as a

master – not wholly dimensionally

correct, because if the resin one

is correct, the vac form would be

slightly oversized, but it was the

best I was going to get without the

effort of shaping a new master.

I used my homemade vacuum

former, which is connected to my

workshop dust extractor, and a

hot air paint stripping gun as the

heat source (see below). I tend to

use salvaged packaging material

as clear stock, which leads to lots

of failed attempts, as different

batches respond differently

to the heat. Nevertheless, I

managed to get a couple of

satisfactory items to play with.

Masking the glasshouse-style

canopy was always going to be

an issue, but 144th provide some

tidy decals for the solid resin

option. Taking advantage of this,

I scanned the decal sheet, then

taped the paper image over a wide

piece of masking film so I could

carefully cut around the decal

panels to produce a set of masks.

The nose looks to be a bit

too big in diameter and needs

some trimming to get a flat

perpendicular face to glue

to the front of the fuselage,

and some super glue as a filler.

Sanding is needed to get the

contour right where the bulged

fuselage meets the nose, leading

to the loss of some of the surface

detail, which needs to be either

re-scribed or filled completely.

The wing assembly and tail parts

fit the fuselage without too much

aggravation, and the drop tanks fit

into neat recesses in the lower wing.

With the airframe essentially

complete, it was cleaned up and

then primed to highlight panel and

joint flaws. A couple of iterations

later, the final scheme could be

applied. I decided to go with the 264

Sq option since I liked the overall

lighter look. For the medium sea

grey (BS381C:637, FS16270) I used

Mr. Hobby H306, lightened a touch

with white to get a more scale effect,

and for the dark green (BS381C:641,

FS14079) I used Mr. Hobby H73,

rather more heavily lightened.

The hard masking along the

horizontal fuselage line was done

VAC FORMING

O

ne of the issues often found

with 1/144 scale aircraft is

the inevitably thick canopy,

offered either in injection moulded

polystyrene or clear resin, although

some manufacturers offer vacuum

formed canopies in base kits or as

aftermarket items (Brengun being

particularly noteworthy in this).

When the kit canopy really

needs to be replaced with

something more in scale, or when,

for instance, a canopy is to be

shown open, then given the small

sizes involved, vacuum forming

at home is a reasonable option.

The first thing needed is, of

course, a male master on which to

mould; in many cases, the kit canopy

can be used, the minor oversizing

due to the thickness of the vacuumed

acetate being generally acceptable.

If the kit canopy is to be preserved

from potential damage, it’s possible

to make resin copies

to use as masters.

The master

needs to be held

securely on a plinth

through which the

vacuum is drawn.

I built a small MDF

box about 20 cm

x 15 cm x 15 cm as a

plenum chamber and

fitted a 4 cm square plinth to the top,

drilled with a matrix of 1.5 mm holes.

The master is mounted on one or

more pieces of cocktail stick, which

locate in the holes; I usually stand

the base of the master off the plinth

surface by 1 or 2 mm to allow a slight

undercut and therefore a sharper

lower edge to the canopy. The plenum

box is connected to my workshop

dust extractor system, although I

suspect a powerful garage vacuum

cleaner would provide enough suck.

Clear plastic blanks are mounted

loosely in a frame with a square

hole sized to fit over the plinth. With

the vacuum on, the plastic is heated

using a DIY hot air paint stripper;

some coordination is required to

drop the plastic over the mould

without it cooling too much.

I tend to use clear sheet

scavenged from packaging, some

of which has been vac formed

already (which is a good indicator

of suitability), but as there’s

invariably a significant range of

properties and thickness, inevitably

there’s also a lot of trial and error.

However, I reckon to get one good

canopy in about six or eight tries.

Here’s my homemade plenum box for vacuum forming. The hose

connecting it to my workshop dust extractor is at lower left.

The male master. The kit’s resin canopy

is mounted on cocktail sticks to locate it,

and spaced above the plinth with bits of

plastic tube

Here’s a successful mould. Note how the

master is trapped by the slight undercut

resulting from the stand-off. This makes

accurate cutting of the canopy much easier Here’s one I prepared earlier.

32 • APRIL 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

030-33-QB-Meteor-0418.indd 32 09/03/2018 16:07