Monday, May 14, 2018

Glazing without pane


Flush glazed windows always look better than those where the front of the frames are 6 scale inches from the sheet of plastic stuck behind them. I know this is easier, but then doing it properly isn't too hard.

The trick is to use Micro Kristal Klear (Yes, that is how you spell it. Americans). It's a high quality, clear drying PVA style liquid designed for plastic plane modelers. The idea is that you take a drop on the end of a cocktail stick, waggle it around the edges of your window and then form a skin covering the hole. The liquid then dries clear (ish) and looks like glass.

If you need to fill a bigger hole, the you need a bigger waggling stick. A small screwdriver is enough for the Dapol windows.

For best results, use as little Klear as possible, that way the meniscus doesn't curl up the edges too much. With practise, once the gap is filled, rotating a small screwdriver in the pool will allow you to pull out some Klear.

When glazing large areas, it's important to let the pane dry horizontally. If you don't, the liquid runs and the bottom ends up thicker than the top.

Mistakes are easily rectified as the rubbery dry skin can be peeled away from plastic cleanly once set, then you try again.

2 comments:

cparkstone said...

I've done this process Delux Materials, glue and glaze. It must be a similar formula because it gives exactly the same result.
Colin

Phil Parker said...

Glue & Glaze is a bit thinner than Krystal Klear, but I agree, they are probably a very similar formula.