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Home made canopy links.

Old 01-29-2014, 08:30 PM
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skaliwag
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Default Home made canopy links.

Help...!!!... Looking for the posts about heat shrinking Coke bottles for canopies.
Old 01-29-2014, 11:07 PM
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combatpigg
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Skaliwag...

Dickeybird and Matchlessarrow used to talk about shrunken coke bottle canopies.

The RCU Tips and Techniques forum might have a thread about it, too.
Old 01-30-2014, 07:09 PM
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Jim Thomerson
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I've read about it several places, but have never done it. You make a buck of your canopy with enough of a base on it that you have to force it into the bottle. Then you heat and shrink the plastic until it suits you. I don't know how much heat. Maybe a hairdryer or monocoat gun. On one of the forums there were photos of fairly small green plastic canopies done that way.
Old 01-30-2014, 09:08 PM
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There was quite a few posts about it here on RCU but the new search feature is one of the "improvements"
Old 01-30-2014, 10:41 PM
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I've had good luck doing searches on Google for info like this.
I've got a [very cheap] Harbor Freight heat gun that would easily do the job.
I can see how starting with a snug fit between the bottle and the plug would make this idea work best.
Something tells me that having a pair of wool gloves on hand would be....uhh......handy.
Old 01-31-2014, 08:35 AM
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Like CP posted, Google searches are many times more productive. Use the following search term with Google:

shrink plastic canopy site:rcuniverse.com

You may choose whatever search terms you wish, but the site:rcuniverse.com will restrict searches to that one domain. I've found that Google's search engine, when targeting a single domain, is usually better than any other third party search feature.

Last edited by Andrew; 01-31-2014 at 08:37 AM.
Old 01-31-2014, 10:44 AM
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http://www.foamflyer.info/canopy.pdf


Old 01-31-2014, 02:18 PM
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Carve your canopy buck, cut the bottom end off a 2 litre flat sided PET bottle , wedge the buck in place with a large piece of lumber under the buck, start shrinking with the heat gun. Thats the bit that takes practice, work slowly. It will take a couple of attempts until you get the feel for the shrinking.Both of these cowls and the canopy shown are from soda bottles . Also you can make wheel pant halves, wing tips etc.using this method.
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Old 01-31-2014, 02:35 PM
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What is that on the left, an H-Ray?
Old 01-31-2014, 03:06 PM
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On the left is a semi scale C/L Cessna 150. SIG Akromaster wing and an enlarged kit plan Guillows 150. OS.15 FP, 50' lines. Flew great.
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Old 01-31-2014, 09:46 PM
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Oh yeah, once the cowl is opaque it all looks different. Cool, gotta try me one of them canopies.
Old 02-01-2014, 12:01 AM
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Aeroflyte Spitfire in the second pic? - John
Old 02-01-2014, 12:18 AM
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Yes it is.

Last edited by vauxhall; 02-01-2014 at 06:46 PM.
Old 02-03-2014, 03:09 AM
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More than one way to skin a cat.
http://www.ffscale.co.uk/page4f.htm
Old 02-03-2014, 06:48 PM
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That's a cool way to do it.

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