Question on cockpit canopies

In addition to problems fitting a perfect seam on the windscreen portion of the canopy, masking the cockpit area may be difficult depending on how detailed you make the interior. If you have really put a lot of detail in there, and you mask it off or cover it with anything, you risk two problems. 1, paint getting in through a small area you missed masking, and 2, breaking or pulling off a small part when you remove whatever you are masking the area with.

I have, on occasion with models with very complex greenhouse areas (T-6, SBD, etc) made cardboard dummy canopies that I stuck in place with poster tack, and painted the greenhouse structures seperately.  If you make the dummy canopy carefully it is easy to attach and masks the area well.  Doesn't matter what the shape is, as long as it matches the mounting flange.

Hi, Spitfire- I also try to attach at the last of the build, especially if it's one color. If camo pattern extends into the canopy, (they almost all do,) it pretty much has to be painted on the fuselage. In which case I do my filling with strip stock, sanding and fitting in stages, not difficult, maybe a bit more time compared to filler from tube. When fuselage is ready for base coat I mask inside and leave canopy off, then spray. That base is sprayed on the canopy, while off the fuselage.

Then, to spray the camo patterns I temporarily attach the canopy with a variety of canopy adhesives, Testors, Future, even white glue, which actually does a pretty decent job of holding it in place, on a temporary basis. After spraying the camo pattern, the canopy can then quite easily be removed with very little force applied, clear coats can be applied to masked fuselage, canopy again spayed with clear coat off the fuselage.

Any mishaps like mask leaks, or any other flubs, can be addressed and remedied with the fuselage and canopy as separate units. When model is completed I attach canopy with those mentioned adhesives, even after the model has been completed for months, dust and just crud can find it's way into the inside of the canopy, there to reside forever and infuriate me. The less aggressive adhesive allows me to gently just pop the canopy off and clean, then re-attach.

Might sound an odd system, but it's worked well for me for quite some time. Cheers.

Patrick

Attaching it before painting is the only way to fill / sand the seams around the canopy (needed for most kit canopies).  There is no way to do this after painting without noticing where the paint has been touched up.

Ditto on saving it to last. Don't want to make mistakes when it's on the plane. Easier to soak it in Windex to get the acrylic paint off and repaint when it's off the plane.

Jim 

For me it depends on the fit of the canopy. If its going to need some filling and sanding, it will also need touching up with paint, and this will be after the rest has been painted weathered and varnished. If I attach it first, I can do the filling and sanding before painting. Also, ifs its more than a one colour scheme, it may well be that the line between two colours will continue onto the canopy framing. If the canopy is painted off the model, these lines might not match up. And the canopy has to be painted some way. I would rather mask it and use my airbrush than hand paint it. Even if the canopy isn't on the model at the time of painting, I still mask it and airbrush.

I do it the same way you do.  I've had too many experiences where I've had paint bleed under the mask, so I don't trust myself to mask canopies.  Especially complex canopies like Stukas or Dauntlesses.