Scale Aviation Modeller International — February 2018

(Jacob Rumans) #1
and reshaping the flaps to show
them in the raised position. I nearly
gave up on the project and cursed
myself several times for trying
to do something like this. But my
persistence paid off in the end, as I
was able to raise the flaps, though
I will say that this was truly not
worth the effort I expended on it.

HOW TO POLISH OUT SEAM
LINES ON CANOPIES
The canopy is one area that
might be off-putting for some
modellers, as it has a rather thick
seam line going down the edge.
The trick to correcting this is to
have the proper tools at hand and
to be patient with the process.
I began by sanding the
seam line with the black side of
Squadron Tools Sanding Stick
Tri-Grit (SQ 30505). Using the
black rougher grit first, I sanded

away the area until it was nice
and smooth. At first it looks quite
foggy, but this is just the first step.
Next, I used the white side of the
sanding stick. This is a finer grit,
designed to get rid of the thicker
sanding marks I just made with the
black side. Sand in the alternate
direction as you did with the black
side, and be careful to keep the
sanding strokes small, to keep the
cleanup space to a minimum.
Lastly, I used the grey side on
the back. This side feels completely
smooth and doesn’t seem like it will
work, but it’s carefully polishing
out the scratches you made earlier.
Essentially what you are doing is
making the sanding marks smaller
and smaller, before you use a
polish to buff them out clean.
I used Novus 2 Plastic Fine
Scratch Remover with the red
bottle (available in the UK from
Amazon Ed.), a paste designed to

remove small scratches. If Novus
isn’t available in your area, try
Tamiya polishing compounds.
I applied a good amount to the
seam line, and being careful to add
some pressure, but not enough
to crack the clear part, I used a
small piece of fabric and polished
in a small circular pattern. Keep
polishing until the Novus 2 on
the cloth is basically all used up.
I now took Novus 1 Plastic Polish
(blue bottle), which is a plastic

cleaner, to help provide a beautiful
shine to the window, and remove
any grease left behind from the
Novus 2. I applied a few drops to
a cotton swab, and then used the
other end to buff the window.
If any scratches remain, simply
repeat the sanding, buffing,
and polishing process. The only
scratches that remained on my
model were closer to the front.
This part of the window was
more recessed than I originally
anticipated, and Meng uses a
very tough styrene for their clear
parts. In hindsight, I should
have sanded and polished this
area a lot more with the stick,
before going onto the Novus 2.
If you have another kit with clear
parts that have deep scratches, you

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