Thursday 18 June 2015

SS-23; New windows again!

After a couple of days away from it and having lost the urge to drop-kick the model into the rubbish bin I've made new windows. I used a vernier gauge to get an exact measurement for the windows and because the clear styrene is fairly thin I knew it would be tricky to fix them in. Doing one window at a time I used a blob of Blu-Tack on the end of a wooden rod to get the piece into place then used liquid polystyrene cement to tack the window to the frame (yes I know poly cement does'nt work with resin).  I thinned down some PVA wood working glue with water then brushed it around the window to hold it in place, finally cleaning the Blu-Tack residue off with IPA.
I did this instead of using cyano glue as it would 'fog' the styrene and I did'nt really want to coat the clear styrene in Johnsons Kleer, also it looks a lot neater than cyano due to the fairly slow drying time of PVA glue.
All that's left to do is paint the rubber window seals then I can continue with the weathering.

Monday 15 June 2015

SS-23; FFS! A word of caution using masking fluids

Parental advisory as the following contains strong language.

So the thing is finally painted and I'm moving on to the weathering stage which means it's close to finishing....
HOWEVER I used a masking fluid (Winsor and Newton) to mask the windows which is not THAT unreasonable I suppose as I've used the stuff before with no issues, unfortunately this time it has solidified under the paint. The masking fluid had stuck fast so I've had to use a chisel shaped craft blade to try and remove it and of course this has completely fucked up the side windows, fortunately the front windows have been spared as the masking fluid was applied later.
SO I'm back to replacing windows and putting more shit into the cabin, when I can face the model that is. At the moment I've put it back into a box before I trash it as I've really had enough of the fucking thing.
Rant over, we now return you to your regular programmes