Detailing Aircraft Interiors
Try this idea for detailing aircraft interiors of your next warbird. With all of the aircraft specific publications, there are those that include excellent photographs or drawings of the instrument panels and radio panels of the subject aircraft. Regardless of the size of the pictorials, one can always photocopy them, and add contrast if necessary.
Once copied, make measurements of the related part in the, say, cockpit interior. Then use a photocopier that allows you to vary the size of the photo or diagram to the size that fits in it’s appropriate place in the model’s interior. After the rough work has been smoothed out and before putting the cockpit, say, in the model fuselage, paint the interior’s highlights and glue in place (white glue’s good) the cut out portions of the reduced photocopies.
This works great for instrument facings and side mounted radio panels for open canopy displays. It’s an inexpensive way to upgrade a kit where the focus is on the depth of the subject being modeled.
For a “fumble-fingers” like me, this approach is easier and just as effective as the more expensive brass products that can prove delicate as well as difficult to handle when covered with cyanoacrylic glue. My most recent example of this technique produced interesting results in a 1/48 model of the F-80 C as was seen in 1950 at Suwon, Korea.
Modeling, even in plastic kits, should be a journey into an acquaintanceship with the subject. It’s a good way to get to know the structure and reasoning behind the design of an aircraft, armor, or whatever spins your prop.