As we all know, an aircrafts canopy is one of the most exciting parts to the kit as its often the final touch or angel on the christmas tree! However, that said, more often than not it is one of the least realistic parts of the kit! A standard injection moulded canopy will show firstly seam lines where the two mould halves have been taken apart and secondly imperfections and an inconsistant width of the plastic. It is the latter which is most concerning as it will produce what are known as bubbles. These are where the cannopy itself is not actually see through due to ripples in the surface of the plastic. Not only does this ruin the look of the plane it also hides all the hard work youve done on the cockpit.
So what can be done about this? Well, some people scrape the seam lines off with a scapel and polish the plastic with emery cloth. This is often long winded and dubious as far as consistant results are concerned. A simple fix is to purchase a vacformed canopy. These are rather cheap, never costing more than a fiver but are worth every penny! The vacum forming process is entirely different to the injection moulding process; A die is created, then ultra thin plastic sheeting is heated up and via compressed air sucked over the die. This ensures that the plastic stays at a continous thickness with no seamlines.
Using Vacformed canopies requires a little more infomation and time than their lesser counterparts. Firstly you will notice the canopy is all one piece of plastic rather than on a sprue. This rarely makes any difference to the removal of the piece, simply cut round the edges using a sharpe knife; its always best to save at few mm`s round the edge just in case, you can always cut it off later. At this point it is also worth noting that certain painting routines such as braces will be easier when the cannopy is still part of its card. Application is identical again using your glue very sparingly and braces of tape.
Here are two Fw190 Canopies, the one on the left is vac-formed, the right is injected.
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