Friday, June 24, 2022

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet Development & Build, Part 10, Decals & Canopy Gluing

The cockpit decal is placed first. 
The front end is placed 3/16" back from the front edge of the body tube.

Dry set the stripes to get an idea of the angle needed.
The top ends can set over the black in the cockpit decal a bit. The underside will cross over the decal line on the other side.
After the decals are almost dry
Use a single edge razor blade to cut through both decal strips.
Use only enough pressure to cut through the thin decals - don't cut into the paint.

Lift the top decal and remove the overhang. Remove the overhang from the lower decal. Wet the surface and reset the strip ends down.

Now the canopy can be glued in place.
Do a dry fit to see how much border spacing is around the cockpit decal.
Hold the canopy in place when applying the glue with a toothpick. Glue a small area of the canopy at a time.
Squeeze out a drop of Medium CA Super Glue onto a scrap piece of cardboard. Dip a toothpick into the CA glue. Drag the small drop of CA glue around the edge of the cockpit edge.
Continue until the contact edge around the entire canopy has had glue applied.





The rear of the jet engines gets a wrap around decal.
Start the decal placement at the center point where the tubes touch. Roll the decal around the tube.

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