Its been a while, life got in the way.....
I had originally covered this about a year ago in my FB group but i ported it here this morning so non members can use it as well...
Had someone ask me recently about making windshields when an original one is broken or damaged.
This is the process i use to make Replacements when necessary.
windshields are not difficult to make for most vehicles. there are exceptions with multiple curves , but for the most part if they are a single arc curved windshield this will work for you. now this is a down and dirty, quick tutorial..literally took me about 15 mins from start to finish.
this is the body i will use as it has a decent arc to it. ( its not flat ) for the record i do have the windshield for it but i needed a guinea pig for the tute to it will have to do.
the plastic i am going to make the windshield out of is from the outer packaging of a pack of xmas cards tina picked up last year. remember when the holidays come around, you should be scrounging all the clear plastic you can from display boxes all the way to packaging on kids toys. nothing is off limits when it comes to supplies
i trimmed off one of the side panels from the clear box top. this is what i will use to make a windshield.
another option would be if you have a look in your local grocery store, much of their signage and shelf pricing is protected by strips of plastic similar to this..one roll could do about 15 cars without a problem. just get in good with an employee and see if they have an extra strip laying around in the back room.
first order of business is to make a template so we know how big to trim the windshield . this starts with some masking tape. i use tamiya tape, but you can use whichever you have to hand.
make sure you cover the opening completely with the tape and burnish the edges a bit, we dont want it to fall off during the next step.
flip the body upside down, this is the business side of things
i use a fine tip marker to make the template for trimming. you want the tip to be as close as possible to the edges so try to avoid using something as big as say a sharpie for this.
i have the outline traced out
when you remove the tape from the body you will have an outline the size of the window opening
tape that to the clear plastic sheet
now, using a pair of decent scissors i am going to cut out our template
leave about 1/8 inch excess around the entire window, you can always go back and remove material for fine tuning after, you cant put it back
with the little bit of overhang it will work out just about perfect for this application.
holding the windscreen in place with my finger tip, i touch each corner with a very small dab of superglue applied with a toothpick. if i were going to leave the window in place i would have followed this up with using pva/white glue along the entire inside edge to lock it in place forever. but since this is just temporary to show how to do it. i am skipping that bit.
new windshield in place, total time was 15ish minutes from start to finish. i could have spent time fine tuning the edges a bit but i find that for this one it is unnecessary
as good as any kit glass and basically free since its from packaging that is normally thrown away. sounds like a win to me.