You're doing a great job, and just like all of us scratch builders, you're pushing the envelope and exploring new techniques. Well done, I'm enjoying this build.

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

Thanks Dave for the positive comments.🙂

You are an absolute genius, a modelling wizard! That video passed in a flash! I kept forgetting to breath during the Clear Coat section. I'm exhausted! ☺️

@modellingmisadventures

5 ай бұрын

Thanks so much. Didn’t know these videos caused that much tension!

@Charlie_Duz

5 ай бұрын

@@modellingmisadventures I'm now a shattered husk of a man! 😁

Looking AWESOME! 😱😁👍👍🇺🇲

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

Thank you 👍

Hi Peter and well done , I've done a lot of vac forming and the plastic shows up every flaw even when you think it's perfect so I think when you put the pink frames and little finishing details it will look great, nice job.

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

Thanks Niall. It's certainly not perfect but as I say with all of my models, it's good enough for me!

Great ingenuity and perseverance!

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

Thanks 👍

That looks great. I use Mothers wheel Polish to buff my acrylic head light lenses, works great.

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

I did try polishing all the scratches out with modelling polish, which I imagine has similar properties. Too late to experiment further now - it's been covered in clear coat!

Looking good! Vacuum forming was definitely the way to go. I really thought you were going to sand the mould before vacuum forming though!

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

I did sand the mould before vac forming. It was actually really smooth.

Clear acrylic (or any clear) is tough to work with for anyone. If that was a factory molded piece it would be blow molded in a super expensive, super polished steel mold. Regardless, it mustn't have been cheap for the guys at the plastics place to do it either. I've watched professional model makers struggle with vacuum forming simple opaque polystyrene and had to make several attempts to get it right and that's just easy polystyrene not clear. Being that you're a home DIYer, under the circumstances, you did an fantastic job mate. Well done. Just as a suggestion, if I may. If you ever have to deal with a mold like this again, just fill the darn thing with plaster of Paris which will give it all the rigidity you need. Anyway, just a thought. But again, great job.

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

Thanks very much.

you should have covered the mold with bondo all over so that it would have been mirror smooth , also as a heat barrier because pla will go soft when you even sand to hard so hot plastic will make it soft definatly ,, also clear paint ( if it's not uv resistant ) will go yellow in no time so make sure you have a uv resistant clear paint !!

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

Had to look up what Bondo was. Apparently it’s the same as bog in Australia, which is what I used on the inside. If I had put that on the outside it would have been difficult to get it perfectly even. If I was to do it again I would probably try the self leveling resin. I think the clear coat will be fine because it’s non yellowing and the car won’t be exposed to UV.

It looks like the Thunderbird 4 canopy might have had a lower percentage infill compared to the the FAB 1 canopy, and the dimples are from the hollow parts from the honeycomb structure inside

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

That is absolutely right!

Brilliant job Peter...especially considering it's such a unique shape. Makes you wonder how the OG designers were able to fabricate such pieces in the 60's. BTW - have you done any research into the technique used back then?

@modellingmisadventures

2 ай бұрын

Don’t know exactly how they made the original but they used a professional model making company to build it. I suspect the big one would have been moulded out of fibreglass.

Hi Peter nice job mate. I see you bit the bullet and learned fusion 360. Well done

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

Yes, it was the only way to go. And it will be useful for future projects 😀

Looking absolutely FAB (see what I did....)

@modellingmisadventures

10 ай бұрын

👍

Would love to know the cost of getting the parts vacformed. Thanx

@modellingmisadventures

Ай бұрын

It was about $300 Australian dollars.

@skyworlka

Ай бұрын

@@modellingmisadventures Pricey but would be worth it in some situations. Thanx for the info.