Canopy explosive detachment cable lines...

[Lt. Z0mBe]

Wise and Sagely Starship Modelers,

I am need of wise counsel. I need to model the backup explosive, canopy-shattering cable attached to some aircraft canopies in my current scratchbuild. I'm trying to wrap my brain around a way to model this without marring the canopy.

The canopy will be open when the model is completed, so I cannot just scribe the detail on the inside.

I was thinking about attaching a thin piece of painted copper cable. I would pre-form the cable, paint it with enamel white (the cables are usually white or grey), drop it in place into the upside-down canopy and place a drop of Future in place to cement it.

I wanted some thoughts on this one, as I am having to scratch each canopy and I don't want to make a new one each time I screw this up.

I appreciate the help.

Kenny

[seam-filler]

The "Miniature Detonation Cord (MDC) system is widely used in British & European aircraft which do not blow off the canopy at all (the RAF established that most bang-outs happen when in a flat spin and a complete blown-off canopy will still be in the way of the crew when they eject - remember Top Gun? - so they always use MDC to shatter the canopy). The cord is usually embedded in the canopy material.

I know some 1/48th aircraft models have this on the decal sheet (notably Hasegawa). An example is this Harrier decal. IMO the decal in the example looks far too thick. In real life the cords are less than 1/2 diameter, so on 1/72 scale they would end up less than the width of a hair. I have seen the method you describe used on a 1/24 scale Harrier and even on that it was only just visible. IMO the decal in the example looks far too thick.

The best way to make all the cords the same would be to make a jig with pins stuck into a base and use this to form your wire.

[Lt. Z0mBe]

The "Miniature Detonation Cord (MDC) system is widely used in British & European aircraft which do not blow off the canopy at all (the RAF established that most bang-outs happen when in a flat spin and a complete blown-off canopy will still be in the way of the crew when they eject - remember Top Gun? - so they always use MDC to shatter the canopy). The cord is usually embedded in the canopy material.

I know some 1/48th aircraft models have this on the decal sheet (notably Hasegawa). An example is this Harrier decal. IMO the decal in the example looks far too thick. In real life the cords are less than 1/2 diameter, so on 1/72 scale they would end up less than the width of a hair. I have seen the method you describe used on a 1/24 scale Harrier and even on that it was only just visible. IMO the decal in the example looks far too thick.

The best way to make all the cords the same would be to make a jig with pins stuck into a base and use this to form your wire.

Good to know like minds are in step on the wire idea. I'd never considered decals for the thing, and after seeing the example, I agree with you. They look out-of-scale.

Keep the ideas flowing. I appreciate it.

Kenny

[Kylwell]

I've got some 44g wire that'd work....

[seam-filler]

I've found this page from Flight International which has a full description of MDC and a pretty good photo from a Harrier. This article gives the dimensions of MDC... 0.063in (1.6mm) diameter!

That will be almost invisible in anything smaller than 1/24th!

[TER-OR]

When I added it to my 1/72 USMC Valkyrie I used a photo-etch set with the cord included. It looked great in scale, and adhered with Future.