Gomix is located in Poland and for many years has been the manufacturer of vacuform canopies for card models produced in Poland. Recently Gomix has expanded their line to include wooden wheels for 1/33 aircraft card model kits. They are also in the process of introducing accessories for both land vehicles and ships.

Aircraft: (Canopies & Wheels)

Canopies: The canopies are vacuformed, this is a very popular accessory that has been available for plastic modelers for many years. Gomix has provided this service for card models built in Poland but the canopies have been just about unavailable for those living in the Americas. Only one company outside of Poland has carried, S&S; in Germany. Vacuformed canopies are made by first making a mold of the canopy to be reproduced. In plastic models the actual canopy from the kit is usually used to make a mold which is then used to produce the replica. The same thing applies to the card model, the difference is that in the plastic vacuform you paint the cockpit frame to the vacuform. This is not possible with card models, here you will cut the cockpit frame from the colored card stock in the kit and glue this to the vacuformed canopy. Since most companies do there frames slightly different this means that you can not have a standard canopy for a particular aircraft. Rather you will have a different canopy for each manufacturer of the same aircraft. This is very important!!, when ordering a canopy make sure that it is the one for the kit you have. If it is for a kit from a different company it will probably not fit.

When you receive your canopy it will be on a larger piece of plastic than the actual canopy with the outline of the canopy marked in the plastic. After you have trimmed the cockpit glue it to the fuselage of the model. Since the plastic is not porous, if you used a water soluble glue such as Elmers it will not hold the canopy to the paper model. I use "watch cement" purchased from Micro Mark. This is a clear cement which will hold the plastic to the paper. Now cut out the frames from your kit and glue to the vacuform using the same type glue.

Below is the latest model that I am working on, the Ta 152H by Fly Model. This aircraft used a "blown canopy" and you can see how well the Gomix canopy looks on the model.

Below are shown one of the canopies from different views. This canopy it the one for the GPM F4, notice the extra plastic below the canopy that must be trimmed away before gluing to the model. Also notice the scribing that will allow you to cut the canopy and show it with either or both the forward and aft cockpits.

Wheels: Wheels produced by Gomix are made of wood and shows tread if the tire on the original aircraft had them. The difference between the Gomix canopies and wheels is that the wheels are not kit producer specific. Wheels are made for a specific aircraft and will work on all 1/32 or 1/33 aircraft of that type not matter who produced the model. In fact the wheels will even work on any plastic model of the proper scale.

Wheels are pre-drilled in the center so that you can insert a wire into them. I usually use super glue to glue my wheels, either paper or wood, to the wire. The normal glue that I use, Elmers, when constructing my models will not hold the wood to the wire.

Here are some pictures of the Gomix wheels for the Fly Model Ta 152H

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This page was created by:
Saul H. Jacobs M.Ed.
Avionics Specialist, United States Air Force (Retired)
Microcomputer Technology, Pima Community College (Retired)
Tucson Arizona