Not sure if anybody covered this or if this should go in the tips section, but here goes thanks to andy (Herberta). I am building a Nichimo M4A1 and iam in the middle of serious conversion work, against the advice of SABOT, should have listened too, anyway, I wanted to make a realistic open periscope since all hatches will be closed, After searching the garage, I found an old Oral-B toothbrush that is a transparent plastic with a slight blue green tint. I cut small blocks off of it in a miter box slightly bigger than the periscope holes on the turret etc. Then started with 600, 1000 and 2000 grit sand paper and a little spit to take them down to fit the slots. Then bevelled the top 45 degrees, super glued the covers and Voila! The spit doesnt allow the plastic to be polished to a high shiny sheen, but a little more realistic semi-shiny. You could use this with a PE set on an open hatch too, just wrap the PE around and paint. Cant wait to try it on an open hatch. HTH

Hey GUYS and DOLLS I recently found out about some stuff called Kristal Klear and am applying it to my M1A1's Head and Tail Lights, Also the Periscope lenses. i.e. drilling out the original (Head & Tails) and then filling in with K.K. and so far it appears to be working pretty good. In the resource guide it recommends using food color to color them, "BUT" I used Clear Red on the Tail's and a Flat White on the Heads. Has any one else used this method before ?? It works even better on B-17G's." Lot's" of glass to be replaced there!! Anyway let me know what you folk's think.

Dagger-1

Hello fellow armor builders. I have used KK on several kits. On some armored cars with hollow head lights and a clear plastic lens I will paint the inside silver (for the reflector) and then keep adding layers of KK until I get the proper shape. It looks good.
Additonally, if you are a glutton for drilling out small spaces, here is another technique. I drilled and filed out the vision blocks on th cupola of the Tamiya M60A1, painted the insides of the openings with flat black enamel to represent the rubber gaskets, and then filled the holes with several layers of Krystal Klear. It took a couple days for the "glass" to dry clear, but, it looks good and you do get light through to the inside of the cupola. My model represents a pre-blue interior light version (dome lights were still red), but you good use blue-green food coloring to represent the blue filters added to the inside of the cupolas. I add it to dashsboards for instrument glass, and just about all vision blocks. Good stuff.

Good call Dagger-1 :-)

Thank's Ranger, I REALLY like the stuff too. So far it's impressed me.


Dagger: A Weapon with a short pointed blade: i.e. THE CUTTING EDGE !!

Dagger-1