Cutting and masking odd Vac-formed canopies.
Ok, this is something that might interest the Sci-Fi guys.
I have a few kits in the stash that have vac-formed canopies, that got very little to no outline markings.
Granted that makes them easier to be copied for replacement parts.
Ok, the kits are as follows:
1/72 SPT New Lazyner
1/48 Silent Moebius Police Spinner
1/24 Kauser Domani (yeah, I sneaked a peek)
The Lazyner is more like a plane canopy but will need to be cut into 2 sections so that the canopy can be opened. Plan on masking the line with a thin strip of Tamiya Tape and than scribing through it with a scalpel blade.
The Police spinner has a PE fret to create the frames for the canopy. Plan on assembling that(needs bending and gluing) and than glue the uncut canopy into it. Later on use the PE fret as a guide to scribe/cut the Canopy.
Krauser Domani(yikes), the windscreens for this consits of 2 pieces that come of the same vac-formed sheet(right next to each other).
Since like with the Police spinner it is simply a sort of bubble with no lines to mark the outlines I have decided on the following.
The kit has decals for the black marking on the windscreeens, plan on photo-copying those onto a A4 sticker sheet(multiple times).
Than cut them out and use the sticker as a mask to identify where I need to cut.
Naturally care will need to be taken on placing them onto the vac-formed sheet to get it all aligned right.
Hope this collection of ideas helps someone, somewhere, sometime.