How to make a vacform canopy

[@cosibuster9738]

Great work! Thanks for sharing.

[@KitKabinet]

Thank you and you're welcome!

[@francescomusso9409]

Great tutorial! Than you!!!!

[@KitKabinet]

Thanks, you're welcome!

[@StephenDawson-ih5mm]

Thanks for those tips. Steve U.K.

[@KitKabinet]

You're welcome👍

[@767bob]

Great video, and your Firefly looks amazing!

[@KitKabinet]

Thanks! Although the Firefly itself is not completely finished at this point, it served as a nice example for the vacforming result.

[@andreasgurski8200]

Thank you for the tip, well done!

[@KitKabinet]

You're welcome! 👍

[@danielsunionblog]

great tutorial this will help me greatly thanks for taking the time to share

[@KitKabinet]

Thanks, you're welcome!

[@lionelramsal7354]

Thanks for the tip, well done 👍.

[@wildolan]

very useful, many thanks. I have a couple of kits lined up for this already. a revell 1:48 dauntless and a Ertl 1:48 viking, that canopy is almost black. cheers

[@KitKabinet]

You're welcome! I don't know if it's possible to get a tone that dark for the Viking canopy with acetate sheet; I have never seen this material in that exact colour. Maybe you can colour it with a bath of Future, strongly tinted with acrylic ink. Or spray it with Tamiya clear colors. Anyway, good luck with your builds!

[@tylerhafley8728]

this is exactly the tutorial i was looking for! thank you for making this. i copied the general idea and made one for myself. it worked wonderfully to make an FA/18 canopy. i got my sheets of acetate from my local joanns, michaels had em too but joanns was closer. i used regular CA gorilla glue on a test piece and it stuck just fine, granted im working with paper so it may be different with plastic. be careful though, it will cloud any clear part it touches.

[@KitKabinet]

You're welcome! And yes, vac canopies are much more convincing than the 'sky blue printed' canopies on a lot of paper models. By the way, plastic from PET bottles can also work; just cut out a section that does not have an awkward shape and bend it into the vacform frame. Once it's heated it will conform in a similar way as acetate sheet.

[@ramtin-s8722]

Wow had no idea !

[@Randomhero44122]

Awesome video man, had no idea one could do this. Very interesting and will definitely try it out. Thank you :)

[@KitKabinet]

Thanks, and you're welcome! The first runs may be tricky (I had to reheat the acetate twice for this vid) but it will work in the end!

[@grahamulrich2162]

Thank you! Going to make a box now and get going with a whole lot of canopyless aircraft

[@KitKabinet]

You're welcome, and good luck with the vacforming!👍

[@tomthounaojam345]

Thank you, basic not fancy stuff but it works, cheers!!!!!

[@KitKabinet]

Thanks, you're welcome!

[@woody7739]

Very tidy!!! Where would you buy the plastic?

[@KitKabinet]

Thanks! The transparent sheet that was used in the video was bought at a local copy print shop.

[@woody7739]

@@KitKabinet thx, it would never crossed my mind. I use old packaging 🙂

[@mp-modelplastic]

Excelent information of vacuum tecnique , very useful , i´m going to share the video and the chanel with my friends modelers, greetings from Portugal, keep going the good stuff in videos. 😉 👏👏👏

[@KitKabinet]

Thanks, and you're welcome!

[@plastimarcelismo3522]

good job! the best tuttorial, thank you for do this video!

[@KitKabinet]

Thanks, glad it was informative!

[@chadkennedy7261]

Thanks for this tutorial! I attempted to vac form a canopy from a kit and the plastic melted to the canopy and had to be scraped off in pieces. The only step I missed was the Gloss Varnish. Would that have prevented that from happening?

[@KitKabinet]

You're welcome! Theoretically, the PET/acetate plastic used for the vac canopies should not stick to the original styrene master as it is thermaformed at a relatively lower temperature than the temperature at which polystyrene melts. The gloss varnish may also help to smoothen out any irregularities where the vac plastic could adhere onto, and it might help a little to dissipate any excess heat. On that note, the original canopy used in the video was quite thick and was also filled with putty and plastic, so it also acted like a heat sink; it would't get hot and soft very fast and thus less likely to stick to the PET/acetate sheet.

[@chadkennedy7261]

@@KitKabinet OK so I'm back at this and I'm using a different material but my issue now is I can't seem to get the kit canopy out of the vacuum form without breaking the thin plastic. It's extremely brittle. I've been using a product available at my local craft store but it doesn't say what the composition is. Are there different types of clear plastic that are softer or more flexible? I know there are sheets you can buy specific for this but its kinda pricey. I don't mind spending more if I know it'll work better but I don't want to pay more and have the same result...

[@KitKabinet]

@@chadkennedy7261 Hi again, sorry for the late reply. Other viewers had a similar question, and I think the plastic from PET bottles is quite suited to make canopies. This material is cheap (by the way, the acetate sheet used in the video wasn't very expensive either; less than a Euro for an A4 sheet), and is easy to get (most softdrink bottles are made from it). The material was specifically developed for thermoforming, and it is rigid yet flexible and should not become brittle. You could cut a section from a PET bottle (preferably a 'straight' part avoiding any awkward shapes) and tape that between the square frames as shown in the video. Hope this helps.

[@chadkennedy7261]

@@KitKabinet OK thank you! I will give that a shot next time.

[@pablocalcaterra5609]

Hi i have built a box. Have very good vacuum. Yet I can’t manage to get the plastic to conform around the bottom edge of the master. I have tried with a shorter support to get the plastic closer to the holes. Worse. If I go taller I stretch the plastic too much and it breaks…I am wondering maybe my box is too small?

[@pablocalcaterra5609]

I don’t know how to attach an image of box and master for you to see…

[@KitKabinet]

Since I don't know the precise specs of your gear, I'll try to give some pointers. -Is the acetate hot enough? You have to heat it until it becomes somewhat 'floppy'. It tends to cool down quickly as well, so you have to work fast. For every transparency I vacform, I need about 3-4 tries to get it right. -It may be necessary to add extra holes right next to your master. Sometimes the grid of holes is just too coarse for smaller objects. I recently vacformed a small fighter canopy (D.XXI) and I had to add some mall extra holes closer to the mount of the master, to get a proper vacuum at that position. Hope this helps.

[@pablocalcaterra5609]

Hi Kit Kabinet. I have added holes snd the plastic is quite soft. In fact sometimes it has shrunk and got unglued from the holder! My suspicion is that my box is too small relative to the master and therefore there’s not enough plastic I have tried placing the master almost on the box and also taller using some Legos which seems to work better…except for the potential need of more plastic to sag around the base of the master I am sure I have very good vacuum Is there a way to share a pic of master and box to get your input? Thanks!

[@KitKabinet]

@@pablocalcaterra5609 Hi again, Sorry for the late answer. Since you have a Google/KZbin account you also automatically have a Blogger account. There you can post pictures and accompanying text. www.blogger.com/

[@anthonysheffield5717]

How can I use an existing acetate canopy as the master?

[@KitKabinet]

Although I have never tried it, I think it may be tricky to use an existing acetate canopy as the direct master. 1) Acetate canopies are typically very thin and may buckle under the pressure of the vacuum. Of course the master canopy can be filled (eg. with putty) to withstand the pressure, but.. 2) since the heated acetate sheet is made of the same material, it may still deform or even stick to the master as it transfers its heat. 3) A canopy formed over the master will also be slightly bigger, and fine detail from the original may be lost. You could try to make a plaster mould over the original acetate canopy and use that as a 'female' mould, but this is a much more elaborate procedure than the method used in this video. Hope this helps.

[@jeremiahwasabullfrog957]

That was so helpful. Could I re-use an existing piece of vacu-form from a piece of packaging that I already have?

[@KitKabinet]

Theoretically, you could do that, but I'd advise to use a piece of plastic with as few unwanted shapes in it as possible. The point is that as the plastic is heated, it gets soft and then it might sag in an unpredictable way. Even with the flat piece that I used it took 2 tries at first (which I edited out of this vid 😮) before I got it right!

[@-thefightingviper5319]

warns of loud noises proceeds to violate my eardrums with the wackiest dubbed in music I've ever heard awesome tutorial, mate. thanks

[@KitKabinet]

Haha, glad you like it 👍

[@Yosemite-George-61]

Brilliant ! I don't have UV glue... what elsa could I use?

[@KitKabinet]

There are two alternatives I can think of, as polystyrene glue is out of the question since it will not bond with acetate. They may however give different results depending on circumstances. One is to use Micro Kristal Klear, which you can substitute with PVA glue or white wood glue. This type of glue does not affect the plastic negatively, but the bond is not as strong, and this glue needs to have some 'body' (a thicker layer than usual) to be effective. Number two is using cyanoacrylate or 'super' glue. This gives a very strong bond, but the aggressive fumes can affect the plastic negatively; transparent plastic tends to 'fog' if there is insufficient ventilation. Especially with a fully closed canopy the fumes have nowhere to go and can possibly attack the inside of the transparent parts.

[@Yosemite-George-61]

@@KitKabinet Thanks !

[@wildolan]

hi great video, nice and clear (no pun intended). I have been researching making a new clear canopy for a Lockheed Viking, the academy kit has great potential for adding detail, weathering etc but the standard canopy is smoked to the point of almost being blacked out. I will check out your how to make the vac form box video as well. One question if I may, I hear you on the careful warning. If I am using plastic existing canopy as the base like you did what's stopping the hot acetate heating and deforming the mould canopy? I was thinking i might have to make a separate hard plastic mould to prevent that. Many thanks from Ireland.

[@KitKabinet]

Hi, sorry for the late reaction.. In the video, I filled the original canopy of the Firefly with putty to support it against the vacuum pressure, and my original was too frosted to use anyway, so nothing was lost there. I can imagine you may want to keep the original of the Viking canopy, but in that case you may first have to make a copy of that one. Perhaps cast it in plaster? I have no experience with that so I can give you no precise pointers there, other than that I know that plaster casts can be used to make a 'female' mould. This is a more complex process, but when executed with care, can give sharper results. Most aftermarket vac canopies are made this way. What scale is your Viking? Possibly there is an aftermarket canopy available.

[@wildolan]

@@KitKabinet hi. thanks for responding. it's 1:48.i think Yiu are right about molding a master canopy from the original and the using that to make the new canopies. it's a skill I want to use learn anyway so il give that a lash. cheers from Ireland!!

[@patrickhayden5031]

What gauge of acetate do you recommend?

[@KitKabinet]

Hi, the sheet used in this video is about 0,35mm thick, which is around 0.014 inch. For vacforming over a male/positive master (as in this vid) the sheet shouldn't be too thick, as the canopy frame detail will get too rounded/soft as the acetate thickness increases. Some aftermarket canopies that are made from thicker material (for example Rob Taurus canopies) are often deep-vacformed into a female/negative master to get sharper details, but female master molds are also more difficult to make. Hope this helps.

[@patrickhayden5031]

@@KitKabinet Thanks!

[@gyorgyerr830]

Hello, excellent video, thanks. Did you already try the canopy forming with polycarbonate sheets, it would be worked, too? Thank you.

[@KitKabinet]

I have not tried any other plastics yet, but I think they will work similarly as the sheet I used. PET bottle plastic is maybe the best type to use as it is specifically developed for thermoforming.

[@gyorgyerr830]

@@KitKabinet OK, thank you for your tip.

[@gordonyork6638]

Can you use pledge on it?

[@KitKabinet]

Yes, although I did not do it in this video, dipping the vac canopy in Future/Pledge will work.

[@frankenscale6549]

Great video, I am also from the Netherlands. Can you tell me where I can buy those acetate sheets you use and wich thickness I need? I want to make a vacuform canopy for my 1/48th scale Zero. Thanks!

[@KitKabinet]

Thanks! The acetate sheet was purchased at a regular copyshop; it is used for making transparent photocopies/prints. I just asked the heaviest quality they had, which turned out to be about 0.35 mm. I have also seen people use plastic from PET bottles. This takes a bit more work to fit into the frame since it isn't nice and flat, and you have to cut a piece from the bottle that doesn't have any awkward shapes. But once it is heated it behaves in a similar way as the acetate sheet. Hope this helps, and good luck with the Zero!

[@adam2540]

J have this kit, this kit made in Poland

[@KitKabinet]

The exact same kit was produced in several other countries as well but this release is indeed Polish.

[@ramtin-s8722]

Funny…I saw this video and the next day I accidentally ruined a canopy ..I guess I’m going to try this out

[@KitKabinet]

Good luck! If the original canopy can still be restored to its original shape you can use it as a master just like in the vid.

[@ramtin-s8722]

@@KitKabinet the shape is still intact thankfully. Perfect test bed for this technique

[@viper341]

In most cases you can restore the original clear parts, as long as they're clear and not really foggy from the manufacturer like in this video. If you got paint in the wrong places it can be taken off with isopropyl alcohol (unless it's an enamel then you need enamel thinner). If there are scratches or surface fogging you can sand it out and repolish the canopy by gradually increasing grits until you get to polishing using polishing compound, l use infini sanding sponge sticks with tamiya polishing compound.

[@kontoprezent7993]

Hello could you do a vacform for me? I could pay you $5 and the prices for shipping.