SPA Modeler

Input is always appreciated. I think everyone knows what it feels like when a post or update doesn't generate any response. It can be disappointing but that's the nature of online interaction... there's always a time lag associated with the communication and sometimes updates can go unnoticed. Although I'd like to provide comments to every build thread that I run across, I don't have the time to monitor and interact with each one so I pick and choose the topics that interest me. Nothing personal against the posters that I haven't provided a response to and I try not to hold any grudges against people who don't comment on my posts or get too disappointed when I don't get as many responses as I would have liked or expected.

The canopy question is a very good one and I was recently thinking about it. One way of painting clear canopies is to mask the outside only. You can replicate the interior color of the frames by painting this color first. The exterior colors go on top. I like to sandwich these two by spraying a black coat between to reduce the opacity of the frames... I want them to look as solid as possible. When the masks come off, the interior side of the frames have the correct interior color. However, the shiny clear plastic on the inside of the clear part may mar the effect, especially on larger scales when the canopy is posed in the open position.

When closing the canopy, I think the above technique is adequate for my 1/32 and 1/48 scale builds. When I pose the canopy open, I like to, at least, spray the inside of the frames on the outer edges of the open canopy. If you want to be a completist, you can choose to mask the interior frames from the inside AND the outside frames from the outside and paint them separately. That would yield the most accurate result but given the limited clarity of clear styrene, I haven't seen the need to go this route.

Very nice work on the canopies. I always hate masking them off.

Looking better and better...

Thanks so much for the information, John. I was really wondering how to address this issue in 1/48 scale, perhaps 1/32 scale some day!!

Haven't gotten a chance to see more of your amazing work due to work and family stuff. I just love watching it all come together. Everytime I see your progress, I simply smile and shake my head in admired amazement. I think that's a good thing.

Thanks for the nice comments people! It's really appreciated and helps to motivate me back to the build. It's been busy around here so I have been doing lots of other things besides modeling. This weekend has been no different. We had nieces over for the week. They left in time to watch the McGregor/Mayweather "fight" and then all-day fishing at my favorite lake on Sunday...

Now that looks like a good day!

I enjoyed it but it was a LONG and HOT day out there. Fishing was tough which makes the heat even more oppressive. We toughed it out the entire day and were rewarded by a nice evening flurry of hungry bass. Here's a short video clip that I cobbled together...



Please note that the elapsed time between that first slow-mo cast and the evening flurry is about twelve hours.