Gil Hodges from the Jacksonville IPMS post om how to make clear windows

 Great post by Gil

I bought this "Total Boat" brand of clear resin with the UV flashlight on Amazon for about $25 to try making clear windows, as opposed to cutting and fitting clear plastic. I used a common hole punch to make the holes in the scrap plastic seen above. I then experimented with filling the holes with the resin, which doesn't harden until hit with the UV light. I found the following:

1) I covered some holes with one piece of clear Scotch tape and then simply poured the resin into the holes. I found the resin poured easily and the 2-3 air bubbles (if any) could be moved out of the way with a toothpick. I then shined the light on the poured side for 30secs or so, which set it. I then flipped it over and shined the light on it through the clear tape to further harden it. I removed the tape and tapped it with a blade to find it had set sufficiently hard.

2) I did the same thing next on some more holes, except I covered the holes with a piece of colored plastic tape (unclear). I poured the resin, hit it with the light, and it set just the same. I removed the colored tape from the other side and found the window had set sufficiently without needing to be hardened on the tape side. This is probably because the resin pour is relatively thin. Thicker resin pours would probably require longer light exposure and lighting the taped side.

3) In BOTH cases I found that the resin would pick up ANY slight wrinkle in the tape over the hole, so care needs to be sure the tape is clean and stretched taught over the holes. The tape can be slightly pressed out using a used eraser to create a slightly domed effect if desired.

4) I found you COULD sand the hardened resin (which was slightly bulged or domed) to get any wrinkles out, though it didn't want to polish back out, leaving it flat, but cloudy. However, using a toothpick to spread a VERY light coat of the resin over the flat resin and then hardening that overcoat brought the clearness right back.

5) I also used a toothpick to spread and fill the resin inside a few of the holes like you would if you were trying to fill it using Micro Crystal Klear. I found the resin is thick enough to allow this to be done, but it also tended to allow some excess to spill over the edges on BOTH sides of the hole unless it was done very carefully. This would work easier with smaller diameter holes than on these.

Overall, THIS WILL BE MY GO-TO IN THE FUTURE FOR FILLING AND MAKING WINDOWS! Also, it makes for GREAT landing light lenses if you overfill the light housing slightly to make a domed light. It should also be perfect for making clear instrument glass on IPs. I believe it may also be tinted to make or fill position lights, though I've yet to try that.

I highly recommend giving this stuff a try if you haven't yet done so!

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