Hi. Just building my first ever aircraft kit since Airfix back in the 1970s! Have a question! I want to depict the canopy of an Me 109 (1/32) in the open position. Do I temporarily close it/mask it for spraying and then assemble open? If so how do you guys do this? Any advice for a newbie would be of help!! Thanks

I usually completely finish the interior of the cockpit but omit the (ejection) seat when possible (when it can be placed after putting the fuselage halves together).

Then I gently fill the cockpit with some tissue to protect it during the painting phase for accitental cases when the airbrush blows of the canopy.

Then I mask the canopy

I place the canopy in the closed position and "point" glue it with white glue from microscale that is aimed at making temporary joints.

I airbrush the transparent canopy in the color of the inside of the canopy

I airbrush the plane

I remove the canopy, remove the tissue, clean up ...

I glue the canopy in its final position, open or closed.


The alternative is to use the canopy as a kind of template to cut masking tape and close the cockpit with masking tape. It remains a problem that you then have to paint the canopy seperately, and in my experience (or clumsyness) this often leads to holes and overspray inside the cockpit.

I hope this helps

Many thanks!!
I don't have any Microscale glue so I'll try masking fluid!
Thanks again
Paul