Opinions on Vacuformed canopies

[vonjhn68]

Hello fellow modelers -

      Would like to get some opinions on the usefulness of vacuformed canopies as a replacement for kit canopies. I understand that if the kit canopy is unusable, vacuformed may be the only way to go. However, does anyone routinely replace their kit canopies with vacuformed versions and if so, why?

 

Looking forward to your comments.

Cheers,

John

[Dave Williams]

These days, not so much as kit canopies have gotten much, much better.  Also, companies like Falcon that used to make vacuform canopies are long gone, and there aren’t many companies still making them.  You’re as likely to find the few replacement canopies these days in clear resin, like those done by Aerocraft Models.

[vonjhn68]

59 minutes ago, Dave Williams said:

These days, not so much as kit canopies have gotten much, much better.  Also, companies like Falcon that used to make vacuform canopies are long gone, and there aren’t many companies still making them.  You’re as likely to find the few replacement canopies these days in clear resin, like those done by Aerocraft Models.

Thanks Dave. Do you have any experience with Squadron canopies?

[Dave Williams]

They seem OK.  I think they were actually made by Falcon for Squadron, or something like that.

[Charlie D.]

3 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

These days, not so much as kit canopies have gotten much, much better.  Also, companies like Falcon that used to make vacuform canopies are long gone, and there aren’t many companies still making them.  You’re as likely to find the few replacement canopies these days in clear resin, like those done by Aerocraft Models.

Falcon is still in business! I ordered from them about a year ago. Squadron is doing canopies again as well. 

[andyf117]

The main advantage of vacuform canopies was always that - when it came to displaying them open, at least - they were much thinner, and therefore more to scale, especially in 1/72...

[vonjhn68]

I have only tried one, but it seems to me that their raised detail is pretty poor (at least in 1/48 scale) compared to traditional plastic.  Scale thickness is a plus though...

[habu2]

They Suck.

 

(that's a little vacu-form humor...)  

[Ryan Hothersall]

In my opinion vacuform canopies are a creation of the devil. 
 

I avoid them. 

[FlyAndFight]

I don't regularly use them, but when I have a damaged kit canopy, I really don't mind replacing them with a vacuformed part.

 

As far as clarity goes, they are hard to beat.

Here is a quick pic of an old build that I utilized a vacuformed canopy on.  The canopy still looks amazing (to me).

 

 

[cruiz]

I've used them only three times, two of them because they were the only way to depict an open canopy in an effective manner (Hurricane in 1/48 and a Zero in 1/72).

 

The third and most recent was to replace a broken windscreen but ended using both parts of the canopy because of its fine thickness allowing adding the internal ribbing detail.

 

They are not easy to work with; the external framing detail is not as sharp as a kit part, but the clarity is superior, and the thickness is more on-scale.

 

Here's a link to a modeler who has the habit of replacing canopies with vacuformed ones he makes.

 

TK

[vonjhn68]

3 hours ago, FlyAndFight said:

I don't regularly use them, but when I have a damaged kit canopy, I really don't mind replacing them with a vacuformed part.

 

As far as clarity goes, they are hard to beat.

Here is a quick pic of an old build that I utilized a vacuformed canopy on.  The canopy still looks amazing (to me).

 

 

Very nice work.

[vonjhn68]

1 hour ago, cruiz said:

I've used them only three times, two of them because they were the only way to depict an open canopy in an effective manner (Hurricane in 1/48 and a Zero in 1/72).

 

The third and most recent was to replace a broken windscreen but ended using both parts of the canopy because of its fine thickness allowing adding the internal ribbing detail.

 

They are not easy to work with; the external framing detail is not as sharp as a kit part, but the clarity is superior, and the thickness is more on-scale.

 

Here's a link to a modeler who has the habit of replacing canopies with vacuformed ones he makes.

 

TK

Thanks for the input. Can you post some photos of the metal framing that you used with the canopy. I am very curious to see how that is done.

 

[ya-gabor]

Especially in 72nd scale they are far superior to any injection moulded in terms of scale authenticity.  Also when trying to get that true Omega shape both outside and inside. Most kit companies with slide mould technology can make the Omega shape canopies only from the outside (with a mould line on top).

 

 

Yes, they are harder to work with, cutting to exact shape and also gluing. But this is model building in my opinion.

 

 

Frames are best done with exactly the same masks as for injection moulded examples. Also due to thin plastic one can paint both inside frames and outside frames without "seeing under" so to say. (On a thick injection moulded canopy one will see under between the painted frame on the outside and inside. )

 

 

As to makers. On the Czech Republic’s side of the border there is an excellent maker Rob Taurus. He is doing a lot of work for other kit companies but also sells his own canopies under his name.

One new comer to the vac-form canopy business is Quinta (the 3D printed decal boys) from Russia with some excellent products.

 

Best regards

Gabor

[vonjhn68]

12 minutes ago, ya-gabor said:

Especially in 72nd scale they are far superior to any injection moulded in terms of scale authenticity.  Also when trying to get that true Omega shape both outside and inside. Most kit companies with slide mould technology can make the Omega shape canopies only from the outside (with a mould line on top).

 

 

Yes, they are harder to work with, cutting to exact shape and also gluing. But this is model building in my opinion.

 

 

Frames are best done with exactly the same masks as for injection moulded examples. Also due to thin plastic one can paint both inside frames and outside frames without "seeing under" so to say. (On a thick injection moulded canopy one will see under between the painted frame on the outside and inside. )

 

 

As to makers. On the Czech Republic’s side of the border there is an excellent maker Rob Taurus. He is doing a lot of work for other kit companies but also sells his own canopies under his name.

One new comer to the vac-form canopy business is Quinta (the 3D printed decal boys) from Russia with some excellent products.

 

Best regards

Gabor

I'll check them out, thanks.

[cruiz]

32 minutes ago, vonjhn68 said:

Thanks for the input. Can you post some photos of the metal framing that you used with the canopy. I am very curious to see how that is done.

 

 

Of course, here it is; this is 1/48 Corsair from Rob Taurus.

 

 

[vonjhn68]

48 minutes ago, cruiz said:

 

Of course, here it is; this is 1/48 Corsair from Rob Taurus.

 

 

Wow! that is some great work with plasticard. Very nice. When you first mentioned metal framing, I thought you meant PE framing. I have a few PE cockpit sets that have the canopy framing included (Ju 87B comes to mind). I have never seen anyone actually use those and I assumed that they could only be used for vacuformed canopies.

[vonjhn68]

I always assumed that PE set like these were meant for vacuformed canopies.

[vonjhn68]

Otherwise you would have to sand off all the raised detail on a traditional plastic canopy and use white glue or PVA to get the metal framing on it.

[cruiz]

2 hours ago, vonjhn68 said:

Wow! that is some great work with plasticard. Very nice. When you first mentioned metal framing, I thought you meant PE framing. I have a few PE cockpit sets that have the canopy framing included (Ju 87B comes to mind). I have never seen anyone actually use those and I assumed that they could only be used for vacuformed canopies.

 

Thanks, it would've been the same work because the plasticard it's attached using cyano as you will do with a PE frame.

 

The original plan was to use the PE frame included with the Aires set, but the dimensions are such to fit inside the kit part; it could work at the front because the frame in the real plane is as thick as the kit's part, but in the back, the frame is thinner so it wouldn't fit.

 

 

[cruiz]

2 hours ago, vonjhn68 said:

I always assumed that PE set like these were meant for vacuformed canopies.

 

It depends, generally they are made to fit the thick kit's parts unless it's included with the vacuformed canopy.

 

In my experience, I've only seen one example, a frame for a B-17 canopy in a Verlinden's detail set, but instead of a vacuformed part, it has a sheet of acetate since the windows are flat.