1:144 MiG-19 vacu canopy (Attack, Mark I kit)

The MiG-19, the first production supersonic machine of Soviet manufacture

The fighter from the Mikoyan and Gurevich design bureau came about as an answer to the need to exceed the speed of sound in level flight. It reached the line regiments from the middle of the 1950s, had a pair of engines, a strongly swept wing and armament built on 30 millimeter cannons. In the service of a number of countries including Czechoslovakia it lasted a long time, and in its Chinese licensed form it flew into the new millennium.

The cockpit is fairly small on this type and in 1:144 scale it becomes a tiny transparent shell. An injected part usually renders it with a wall several tenths of a millimeter thick, which distorts the shape of the frames and turns the view inside into a milky haze.

Why reach for a vacuum-formed film

A thin-walled molding is crystal clear and its outline matches the real shape. It moreover allows what is practically impossible with rigid plastic: to divide the canopy and show it open.

• Cut the molding out with a margin and only then sand it to a line marked on the mat.
• Level the edge by drawing it over fine abrasive paper laid on glass.
• Mask the frames with narrow strips of tape; the film takes only a little pressure.
• Glue it with PVA glue for transparent parts, which does not fog them.

In the package the part tends to be molded in two pieces, so a first unsuccessful attempt is not the end of the work. Reckon with the fact that sanding the film is a slow activity and that haste is punished with a crack.