Williams Brothers Curtis C-46 Commando

[LyleW]

Thanks, guys. I really don't want to give up on this for a couple of reasons. 1) I give up on too many, now. 2) what Dick Mulloy meant to me and my flying adventures. More this than #1.

Now, do I paint the canopy black, a dark gray, smoke, or dull coat to fog it? Your opinion matters. When I am done, it will be smooth, and flush to the fuselage. I can polish most of it to a state of being clear enough, but that seam along the top is probably too much.

Pics...
Gap first filling with Bondo



Second fill with Bondo



The "big ugly"



And final (I hope) fill with Tamiya Gray putty

[jeaton01]

Kyle, I would just get it all filled and sanded smooth and paint it black. Mask the windows (don't forget the eyebrows) and paint the rest of the airplane. I think that will give you a nice result. There isn't much to see in the cockpit, I certainly never look in there in mine.

[Stikpusher]

Well Lyle did put all the tiny PE stuff in there on the flight deck. Concealing that with paint kind of defeats the purpose of that effort….

[LyleW]

Thanks, John and Carlos. Yeah, I did do some of the PE in the cockpit. I'll miss the instrument panel, but John said, I never look at them afterwards. It is pretty smoth now.



one coat of satin black applied...because that is what was in reach.

[Stuart]

Probably a good idea Lyle, it'll certainly help get it all filled, and at least you can carry on with it.

[jkim]

I was going to agree with John... paint it a solid color like black or blue, mask the windows and continue on. And I think it looks better already.

[LyleW]

Stuart and John, thanks.

[BlackSheep214]

I was going to suggest a coat of Future on the canopy. Usually it helps remove some of the scratches. I would have used Mr. Surfacer to take care of those gaps around the sides. But hey, it is a shame you have to paint it black to hide the PE. Ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.

[LyleW]

It was coated in the Gauzy glass coat. There was hope until I had to re set the halves. I don’t know how, but the center seam went from very manageable to Grand Canyon. And the was some junk that appeared on the inside. The outside was coming along nicely but with the other stuff, it was not salvageable.

[mustang1989]

I really hate it when this kind of stuff happens but it looks like your recovery efforts are prevailing here Lyle. Way to go on continuing onwards bud.