STORMO! Forums

I have been building a few models of airliners recently. To my dismay the most difficult thing is to get the windows to sit flush with the outer fuselage surfaces. I was wondering why the manufacturers do not produce the fuselages in clear plastic. What is the best way to bring this subject to the manufacturer's attention? All suggestions are welcome.

That's a very good suggestion. So what you're saying is to make the entire fuselage halves in clear (for airliners) so that windows don't need to be added separately - this would certainly solve the problem of windows popping out and fit issues as you described. What I would do is go to the manufacturers sites and suggest this to them (there's always contact information available). I think molding separate clear plastic parts for windows and canopies has been the way of doing it for so long that it hasn't occurred to anyone to do it better or differently, and also, before modeling became an art when modelers (especially kids) didn't paint the model or use a primer (in the very "old days") so the fuselage, wings and empennages would need to be as close to the color of what the plane actually looked like. Good suggestion!

That is a great suggestion!
Surprised no one has thought of it yet.

Special Hobby did it for their Capronis, they even give the inside and outside masks. It's a pity they still do them in vinyl instead of kabuki, as vinyl does not stick well to the curved surfaces. But the transparent fuselages work just fine.