SIG 144 Members forum

I have noticed that many of the models have blacked out canopies. This may be due to the thickness of the clear plastic in kits which is not at all like the real thing scaled down. My question is - is the black paint applied to the inside or outside of the plastic?

For what my two-penn'orth is worth I always try to go for clear canopies. Some kits - especially resins - have solid mouldings intended to be painted.

Clear parts in our scale are often too thick. If they are irretrievable as clear items they should be painted on the outside as internal refraction will only emphasise the thickness if the paint is on the inside.

HOWEVER. As a matter of course I always paint the edges of any canopy moulding black as this dramatically cuts refraction and actually makes them look thinner. I usually paint the frames black too as this prevents the final colour appearing translucent.

In this respect the greatest invention of all times has been pre-cut canopy masks - worth every penny in saved time and frustration!

I'm sure others have better techniques but hope this helps

What you might be seeing is the scratch build collections. Several of our members do a mighty fine job of whittling wood or mashing plastic parts into rare, prototype or even purely fantasy creations. These do as a result usually have solid canopy areas which are typically painted gloss black as there are no actual transparencies involved.

A small number of old resin kits have solid canopies - the earlier 144th.co.uk models for example - or very poor clear resin - Kami de Koro - which get similar treatment.

Some 3d printed models are the same, although even there the technology is advancing thus that many now come with clear printed canopies or vacform parts.

I don't know of any plastic kits that needed the blackout treatment, some pre-2000 mouldings lack any sort of cockpit, but typically these are handled by painting everything inside the cockpit black and leaving the canopy clear.

Painting windows black or another colour is a convention that currently runs at its strongest in airliner modelling. Opinions vary but many civil aviation modellers prefer the appearance of black or dark grey windows to that of glazed passenger cabin windows, which often resemble little lenses rather than clear transparencies. I have to say I agree for the most part. Some ghastly results can be achieved with the likes of Clearfix and Krystal Kleer, though they have their place.

Some of the finest static model aircraft ever made, such as those which graced RAF recruiting offices in the 50s, had their cockpits represented by black paint, and this convention of modelling transparencies with solid colour was also seen on the sublime Westway airline models. PacMin Studios often still represent windows in this way and even show solid "paint" glazing in some of their 1:1 mock-up work. See the T-X mock-up at https://www.pacmin.com/full-scale-mock-up/

So the painted glazing convention is not confined to 1:144, and it has been seen on some extremely fine models. In 1:144, as well as being widespread in airliner modelling, it avoids the problems of glazing being too thick - which it always is, even when vacform glazing is provided. It also avoids glazing which does not fit. This was an endemic problem with kits that offered vacform glazing, and it has not been entirely banished from injection moulded, resin, or 3D printed kits. There are whole resin ranges that you seldom see built, and the canopies are often the point of giving up on them.

The chief advantage which painted glazing offers and which you can see on the SIG144 stand is to the scratchbuilder. Although 3D printing is extending the range of subjects available to the 1:144 kit builder, it is likely to take some time before kits of, say, the Ogden Osprey or the Kreutzer Air Coach become available. (Now I've said that, look out for the reviews.) Even if they did, reproducing their little windows would be likely to produce a poorer representation than the paint approach.

All model making involves compromises and an acceptance of conventions. Even excellent 1:144 models like those produced by some of our colleagues in the SIG from the quality kits available now, involve compromise and the acceptance of conventions. If Alf Airfix the fitter climbed in scale on some of the best recent kits, his foot would get stuck in a crevice between panels. The convention of painted canopies enables us to represent a wider range of aircraft. This is one of the strengths of 1:144 and our SIG - accepting and showing everything from beautifully assembled "Kits and bits" to models whose materials grew, rather than being manufactured. We even do cardboard now. It's probably why, in addition to the fact that we actually come to the front of the stand and talk to people, show visitors spend so much time with us.

Point of order m'lud

'materials that grew rather than manufactured'

A great deal of the plastic we use is oil-based which means that 50 million years ago it was trees

I would submit a greener use than burning the stuff........ SIG144 - saving the planet!

That said unbounded respect for our members who have the ability to cut out the middle-men (not to mention the 50 million year wait) and fettle wood directly. As a mere kit-herder I will never have a Hoskins-Smyth Skylark Mk I (so much more elegant than the Mk VI)painted windows or not.

With reference to canopies I would just like to inform the SIG that I had an article published in www.internetmodeler.com back in 2010. It concerns the construction of transparent canopies for 1/144th scale models.

It can be seen by selecting the above.

This will take you to: Internet Modeler

Then select - Enter internet modeler here.

Next scroll a long way down to - Construction, the article is the third heading.

Terry

I used to plug mould canopies quite a lot in my unredeemed 1:72 days but I find it very hard to reach the level of precision needed in 1:144.
If I remember rightly the canopy on this scratchbuilt Cutlass is plug moulded (it's a very big canopy for 1/144) but I wouldn't have had a hope of moulding the canopies for my scratchbuilt SE1010.

Mike's post has given me a new insight. Hoarding plastic kits is a means of carbon capture!

Thank you for many interesting replies