discussion vac form canopies

[Guest]

Can any body tell me the advantages/disadvantages of using a vac formed canopy as opposed to the out of the box canopy? thankyou

 

[stona]

The main advantage of a vac-form is that it will be much thinner,much more in scale,particularly in small scales. It may also be a more accurate shape. The only (slight) disadvantage is that you will have to carefully remove it from it's sheet. That's assuming it fits your model properly!

Steve

 

[stona]

I've just sawn the front windscreen off the rest of the hood on a 1/72 scale Kittyhawk as I need to pose the hood open. I've attached a picture of the result. In scale that edge would be about a foot thick! In reality it is ,of course, much less.

I've also attached photos of a pair 1/48 scale vac form canopies for a Sea Fury. I knew I had them in the bottom of the spares box! It's hard to photograph but they are much thinner and relatively in scale.

I hope this illustrates the point.

Cheers

Steve

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[Guest]

The other BIG advantage of a vac-form ( usually the best are made by SQUADRON ) - is that it is the only alternative

to use to display the cockpit open , as the Kit canopy is one-piece from the manufacturer .

The Models that come straight to mind that are essential ( by Hasegawa for instance ) in 1/48 ,

are the Hawker hurricane , Ki.61 & ki.100 and also the J2M3 Raiden