Something new: making clear canopies

[Build Mon$ter]

For those who have read my previous posts it is no secret I'm a 1/350 scale fanatic.
So in the past few days I discovered something new and figured I'd share.

One thing that always bothers me is with certain ship kits is the aircraft don't have clear canopies.
So I was looking for a way to make canopies with little mess or chemicals.
My solution I bought some amazing putty which comes in two parts, you mix equal parts and then press your part into it and let it dry. It becomes rubbery and releases your original part easily and with out any clean up and the putty takes on detail lines extremely well. Now what to make the castings with?
I did not want to use epoxy because of the odor and mixing so I decided to try my wife's gell nail top coat that you use the UV light to cure, well the outcome is really good, it's fast and the canopies come out crystal clear, just need clean up.

When I get my first set done I will post pictures.

[biggles2]

What is it? RTV rubber for mold making?

[Build Mon$ter]

It's just called Amazing mold putty, made here in the USA they have a web site www.moldputty.com comes in a yellow box.

[biggles2]

I read the product description; first they call it "silicon mold putty", and later, "rubber mold", in the same paragraph. A little confusing. I've used their RTV mold making compound before, and their Alumilite for casting. So how are you casting just the canopies? Did you just carefully cut out the canopy section of one aircraft and use that as a master? Or are you casting complete aircraft in clear resin (or whatever)? BTW, Dragon have a set of US carrier-based aircraft cast in clear styrene, and with separate canopies, so they can be modelled open.

[Build Mon$ter]

Hi, no nothing that complicated I simply mix the mold putty and then press the aircraft nose into it making sure I get the whole canopy and then cast it, it needs to be cleaned and sanded on the bottom if you used to much but then I cut off the old canopy and install the new one.

I have included a pic of one of the aircraft I'm working on.