Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten), John (@johnb), gary (@gwskat), Eric (@eb801), Brian (@brithebuilder), and Louis (@lgardner). Thanks for your comments. This model has turned into a quest, and I reached a point where I needed to take a break. The quest came in the form of problems with the canopy. It all started with the windscreen. The Kingfisher had a tube gunsight that extended through the front plexiglass. The Monogram windscreen has a slit for the gunsight that extends halfway up the windscreen rather than the single hole that should be there. I had a vac canopy from Squadron that is designed for this kit which would solve the problem, but I have never used a vac canopy before. The windscreen and the front sliding portion of the canopy were formed as one part, so I cut them out together. Everything was looking good until it was time to get down to the final shape. I was using a fairly fine sanding stick so that I wouldn't remove too much, and I managed to remove a portion of the frame on the sliding portion of the canopy. I couldn't think of a way to fix it, so I cut away the sliding portion and used just the windscreen. After having so much trouble shaping the forward canopy, I decided to use just the vac windscreen and use the kit plastic for the rest.
I tried my hand at creating some masks on my wife's die cutting machine, but I only mask that fit was the front panel. I masked the rest with tiny bits of tape. I tried various glues to cement the windscreen to the model: white glue, canopy glue, styrene glue, Gator Glue, and super glue. In the end, none of them would firmly attach the vac canopy to the plane. By this time, I was starting to realize that this endeavor had become a soul-sucking operation. At the same time, my 3D printer decided it wasn't planning to correctly print things, and them temp here in central Texas went up to 112 plus. So, I decided my Karma was out-of-sync with the universe, and I needed to take a break.
So, I took a week off. Then I built a really old model and stuck it in the display case. Then I went and looked at the canopies that all needed masking, and I took another week off. At this point, I realized I had become too dependent on pre-made canopy masks and decided to jump back in.
First, I cut a piece of clear plastic that would fit in the slot in the front windscreen. I glued it in place with liquid cement, and then polished it on both sides using ever finer grits of sandpaper, and finally some paste metal polish. All of the clear parts had been floating unrestrained in the kit bag for 50 years or more, so there were lots of scratches. I polished the scratches out using metal polish, and then all of the pieces (including the front windscreen), were given a bath in some nice, cool Future. I wanted to let them dry for 24 hours before I masked them, so I finished out all of the last parts on the interior, including the seat, the stick, the gunner's seat, and the rear machine gun.
Feeling better about things, so masking will be soon. Probably won't get much done next week. I live a couple of hours from the location of the IPMS National Convention, so my wife and I have a room and we plan to spend a couple of days in San Marcos at the show. I don't build for contest anymore, but I have never been to a national show, so time to check it off the bucket list. I still have a couple more models I want to do for the group, so I need to get moving.
8 attached images. Click to enlarge.
