Miss Port Columbus Build - Canopy

No need to apologize for being a newb! We've all been there. Ok, there's two basic schools of thought on your dilema:

1) Mask off the cockpit area, paint your model, paint the canopy separately and attach afterwards

2) Attach the canopy, mask, and paint the model

Now, I tend to do a hybrid of the two, depending on the canopy shape. Sometimes I'll take #2, but others I mask and then attach, then paint. I feel like this gives me a chance to address any fit issues on the canopy to plane bond. Sometimes canopies fit great and don't need any fiddling, other times that joint needs a lot of attention.

If I was in your shoes, I would do as much masking as I could off the model, attach, and paint. An aside, I mask my canopies by cutting thin strips of masking tape and outlining the frames, followed by bigger pieces to fill the gaps. Also, before you paint the final color, maybe try to paint the interior color on the canopy first, then the topcoat over that. That way, the interior color can be seen inside the canopy, but it's painted on the outside! It adds a bit of reality to the kit.

Wow, sorry for the information overload there, jburns! I hope some of that helped! Don't forget to post photos in the Aircraft Section! I'd love to see this plane (I live 15 minutes from Port Columbus!).

Thank you for your reply! The information was helpful. Miss Port Columbus should be finished this weekend.

 My daughter dropped it on its nose and knocked one of the cylinders loose in the third row so it rattles now and no way to really fix it. :\ I guess it coulda been worse. 

Pix to follow. Take care!

hey thanks for your input. the model turned out great. look for pix to be posted in the next couple days. take care!

I also, like RadMax 8, use a hybrid approach. In general it is a "paint a little, assemble a little" approach.  However, I generally put canopies on pretty early, after fuselage sides are glued together and seams filled.  I generally find I have to fill and sand the windscreen/fuselage joint before painting, so I do this pretty early.

Sometimes I will attach only the windscreen portion if it is a two piece canopy, putting masking tape over the resultant opening.  Thus the front windscreen portion gets painted with the fuselage, the rest (sliding/opening portion) seperately.

thanks for the input. this one is finished and turned out great for my first vac form canopy but will keep your input in mind for future projects. :)

here are pics (crossing fingers and hoping this works). if not will regroup and post again.

Looks pretty good to me! The blue might be a little to dark, but it's a real clean build, one to be proud of, for sure! Keep building and keep posting your work!

Thanks! Yes I agree on the blue, but part of it is the lighting and camera, I think. I used a cell phone to take the pictures because the digital camera is broken. Your input and feedback is appreciated! Will be posting pics of other builds soon. Thanks again!