SPA Modeler

A really neat-o-rino subject! Nice work and looking forward to more.

Thanks so much Joe and Lyle! Happy New Year to you both!!



I will need to trim the sides to fit, and clean and polish the plastic. Any advice? I am running out of 2-12K sandpapers, as well. I need to resupply and I wonder what I might need in addition to Novus system in order to make a clean windshield.

I am also wondering how to do realistic damage to the car or if I should skip this part? I kind of want to put a fine spray of dirt over the wheels and splatter of dust on the quarter panels. I think usage and wear n’ tear might be effective in creating realism.

Polishing / Hand-forming the shape
About halfway done so far removing wrinkles

A picture of clear plastic:



And... another:

Very nice, there is a great amount of craftsmanship in producing clear parts; you cannot cover any short cuts or mistakes with primer and paint.

Scruffy wrote:Very nice, there is a great amount of craftsmanship in producing clear parts; you cannot cover any short cuts or mistakes with primer and paint.

Thanks so much! Very true comment about clear parts, Scruffy. Nowhere to hide! Surface preparation is the only thing with clear parts. I am trying to figure out if there should be pillars on the sides of the actual piece. I don’t think so, though. It looks like it was a very tough piece of Perspex with just a bottom mount. I don’t plan to make the pieces on the doors because these look like they were left off during races. Those look like they sat on two posts.

Do you have any thoughts to adhere the windscreen after painting? I was thinking about a 2-part epoxy.

I would not use epoxy, too hard to clean up and every time I use it the mating parts always seem move a bit requiring readjustment, so there is cleanup of excess glue. If you try to wipe it off before it cures it just smudges, if you wait until after it cures you are left with sanding or scraping it off.
Perfect world I would attach the bottom frame to the windshield and mask the bottom of it and the corresponding area on the body and attach it after all the paint work is done with Tamyia Extra Thin as it has very good capillary action and a drop on each side would be enough.
Probably the most practical option would be to align it in place after painting, tape it in place and use very thin CA glue applied same as the Tamyia Extra Thin, wait for it to fully cure before removing the tape. Either of the these last two options would be the way I would do it.

Thank you so much for your great advice, Scruffy! I sincerely appreciate your time—and that is a fantastic line of reasoning. I was thinking of something “rubbery” to keep the windshield in place... but I can see that a superior bond, what is it sheer strength or torsional strength is in the meeting of the join to the body, there’s no need for flex as much as strength... and also having to protect the areas from glue and while applying glue is a great tip! If I misunderstood what you wrote or if any of my reply is garbled, let me know. I want to get this part right before I start adding layers of paint.... Thanks again!

Yes, you have it!
If the bottom of the windscreen fits perfectly to the body, you could also use Micro Scale's Krystal Kleer, but it is not as strong so having good contact with the mating surface is imperative, the fit would need to be nearly flawless due to the thinness of the windscreen; not much gluing surface so you would need to maximize its contact area with the body. However clean up would require nothing more than a damp Q-tip. If it looks like it would work, I would try that first as the clean up will not damage either the paint or wind screen. If it doesn't work satisfactorily, then go on to the superglue etc.

speedgraflex wrote:A picture of clear plastic:



And... another:

Now that is some super improvisation!