Quote:
Originally Posted by Baxter!
One thing though, you have to break down how you do your window frames!!! They look amazing with the thin black to simulate the gasket. Please!
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I honestly didn't do a good job on the window frames. I painted the interior black. The thin black gasket probably is just a reflection.
In this particular kit, all the windows came in a single piece vaccum formed acetate, just like in 1/24 kits. You won't always find this in 1/43 kits as many manufacturers now use individual pieces and PE frames.
Here is what I did, a pretty standard method. I cut the windows into individual pieces and trimmed them slowly with 800 sand paper to fit the frame. The fit was far from perfect in this kit. I think one of the biggest problems with antique 1/43 kit is in fact the window. In addition to fitting problem, the acetate sheet is often yellowed (due to aging?) and quite bumpy on the surface.
The best solution, but not the easiest, is to remake the window using a custom vaccum setup. Unfortunately I don't have one. Here is a demonstration from a Japanese site:
http://webspace.ddo.jp/ws43/diary.cg...AZDA_787B_1/24
So, back to trimming the individual windows as mentioned earlier, making sure they are absolutely ready to fit. Sand the surface of the windows lightly with 1500 sand paper. Do NOT aim to smooth the surface in one shot because you can easily sand through the acetate sheet. Clean the surface dust free, spray 1-2 very thin layers of Tamiya clearcoat (from can) and let it dry (use a hair dryer to speed up the process with caution). Repeat sanding and spraying until the surface is eventually smooth. Spray a final clearcoat on both sides to achieve a crystal clear look (well, almost).
I used Tamiya masking tape (cut into strips) to first fix the windows in place. I then used white glue, diluted with water to flow better, to glue the windows. Once the white glue has dried, I applied Future to both inside and outside along the sealing. The white glue will turn white when in contact with water or in this case Future, but everything will eventually dry to completely clear. I noticed that the additional treatment with Future makes the sealing more translucent. I will try to go over the preparation in detail in my next project.
1/43 is really a lot of fun and you can find cars that are not available in 1/24 (another reason I got into this). This is something that I would easily recommend to any modelers.
Save primer and paint too
