oriental 2nd. color and canopy

Here is the red over white. I just took off the fine line masking tape. The tape on most of the plane just needs a card scraping on the line edges. My question is the canopy. What is the next step to make a smooth canopy line. The photo shows the detail where the paint line on the canopy is in need of work. Thanks!

>Here is the red over white. I just took off the fine line
>masking tape. The tape on most of the plane just needs a
>card scraping on the line edges. My question is the canopy.
>What is the next step to make a smooth canopy line. The
>photo shows the detail where the paint line on the canopy is
>in need of work. Thanks!

I'm working on the photos. sorry

>>Here is the red over white. I just took off the fine line
>>masking tape. The tape on most of the plane just needs a
>>card scraping on the line edges. My question is the canopy.
>>What is the next step to make a smooth canopy line. The
>>photo shows the detail where the paint line on the canopy is
>>in need of work. Thanks!
>
> I'm working on the photos. sorry

Without seeing the plane in person, the first thing I would do is knock the edges off with a credit card. Do the whole plane while you are at it. This will give you a better idea to tell you where you are at. It still looks like to me that along the side of the canopy the tape took off a little paint where you really want the red. The only thing that you can do is remask that area and paint again. Since it is a small area, all you would need to do is just put down the fineline tape and brush a little red color right in the bad spot. You may want to mist a little clear along the edges of all the red first (assuming you are using dope). Even on the canopy. This will soften the edge a bit. Check the other red lines while you are at it and do them at the same time. When you are satisfied with the edge, put some more clear right on the edges then put some clear over the whole plane. After a couple of coats of clear on the whole plane, go back and lightly sand the edges of the red and the white. Be careful not to go through the clear on the white. Now put a little more clear on the edges only and then a couple more coats of clear on the whole plane. At this point the edges should be kinda "melting" into a soft edge that looks good. Just make sure that you put more clear on the edges than on the flat area without the edge. This will cut down the weight.

>Without seeing the plane in person, the first thing I would
>do is knock the edges off with a credit card. Do the whole
>plane while you are at it. This will give you a better idea
>to tell you where you are at. It still looks like to me
>that along the side of the canopy the tape took off a little
>paint where you really want the red. The only thing that
>you can do is remask that area and paint again. Since it is
>a small area, all you would need to do is just put down the
>fineline tape and brush a little red color right in the bad
>spot. You may want to mist a little clear along the edges
>of all the red first (assuming you are using dope). Even on
>the canopy. This will soften the edge a bit. Check the
>other red lines while you are at it and do them at the same
>time. When you are satisfied with the edge, put some more
>clear right on the edges then put some clear over the whole
>plane. After a couple of coats of clear on the whole plane,
>go back and lightly sand the edges of the red and the white.
> Be careful not to go through the clear on the white. Now
>put a little more clear on the edges only and then a couple
>more coats of clear on the whole plane. At this point the
>edges should be kinda "melting" into a soft edge that looks
>good. Just make sure that you put more clear on the edges
>than on the flat area without the edge. This will cut down
>the weight.

Well I will keep the photos coming . I carded the lines and they aren't bad. But the canopy has something else to be desired. What will work to take off the tape marks on the canopy, Alcohol didn't work.

I can see why others hide mistakes with dark trim around the canopies

LAST EDITED ON Sep-28-04 AT 09:55 PM (CDT)
 
Well, As I see it, I would sand the areas very carefully with 1200-1500 grit wet and dry sandpaper. Wet down the sandpaper with a spray bottle filled with water. More so on the edges of the paint lines. You should do the whole airframe anyway before decals, clear,etc. This will help to blend all the ridges of the paint lines. If you get a problem at a paint line, just mask and re-apply the red. Only use as much red as necessary, trying to keep the edge down. Sand and blend again and you'll be ready for clear. Looks good so far....

If you sand the red before a clear coat is applied, even with as fine a sandpaper as 1200 to 1500, you run the risk of getting the red paint dust ground into the white paint. Then you will have no choice but to touch up the white which is harder to do with a brush. Your only real choice at that point would be to back mask and touch up with an air brush.

If you put the clear down first, you wind up sanding mostly clear and not the red in this case. You want to sand the color paint as little as possible because of the possibility of "smearing" no matter what the colors. A general rule I use is to sand bare color as little as possible from the word go. The clear will also have a tendancy to "melt" the edge just a little causing it to flatten out. This can also cause some of the "fuzzy" edge to go away as the melting tends to blend things together.

I would suggest you try and clean you canopy with some prep-sol or equivalent.

I do have an extra canopy to test the cleaner on. That's one good thing. The elevator and flaps are white, going to try to keep it simple. Just a beginner you know. At this stage of construction and looking at this fall weather around the corner, I'm a little quick on the draw trying to finish this. Will post some more shots soon. Going to run a Brodak 40 in her with a 4 and a half ounce tank. Prop, well will figure that out when the time comes. Will start out with a APC 11.4