1/350-scale Aircraft Query

Aircraft
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1

I’ve just bought a set of Tamiya’s ‘US Navy Aircraft’ in 1/350 scale.
Disappointingly, the cockpit canopies are simply an extension of the
fuselage moulding, rather than being clear parts.
Any suggestions as to the most effective way of painting these to give
the impression of glass? The instructions call for a coat of X3 (Metallic
Blue), though I can’t imagine that would be particularly convincing. My
thought is a very dark grey, followed by a coat of gloss or satin varnish.
Without cutting away the canopy, and replacing it with a scratch-built
clear part, there is no way of adding any interior detail … great shame!

Thanks,

Paul

2

While you can try various colors on the canopies, I think your best bet would be to buy a few boxes of Trumpeter’s 1/350 aircraft - I think they’re ALL done in clear plastic at this point so clear canopies are simply a matter of careful masking. You only get one type per box but you get six of them at a time. And there are photoetch kits available that even have ejector seats.

3

loncray,
Yes I’m familiar with the Trumpeter sets. These would certainly solve this particular problem.
However, I just happened to come across the Tamiya set in my local hobby shop, and thought
I’d give them a try. No doubt I’ll come up with a reasonable solution.
Actually, they’re going to be used to depict 1/5-scale RC aircraft in a forthcoming diorama. To
populate the scene, I intend to use various 1/72-scale figures, which will be just the right size:
350 divided by 72 = 4.86 (so near enough).

Paul

4

I have some older Trumpeter sets,10-15 years old from Lexington, and Wasp, they are solid plastic with separate clear canopys.Hasegawa has clear aircraft for sure.Unless newer Trumpy sets are all clear.

5

Newer sets are all clear. The original sets (modern aircraft) had black plastic nozzles and landing gear, clear canopies and gray plastic fuselages and wings, all on the same sprue. My guess is that was expensive and possibly hard to keep the molds maintained because they abandoned it pretty quickly for the all-clear sets.