cessna 188

Is there a company that can make a replica of my kyosho agwagon canopy? Any opions you guys could think of would be great.

shotgun06

If it's not possible to get one from the manufacturer, you could try to make one. I made one for a scratchbuilt He-162 that I'm building and it's not that hard. You don't really need special equipment if you just want to make one.

cessna 188

Please tell me how you built yours

vintageflyer

My Feedback: (1)

Shot gun,
Maybe you should do a build thread on this subject. I'm interested as well and I'll bet there's allot more others that could benefit from your experience in this matter.

DM

shotgun06

I can show you how I did it. I will take some picture tonight of what I used. But here a quick resume. I first took a piece of pink insulation styrofoam and I roughly carved it to shape. I then covered it with bondo, sanded to exact shape and painted with auto primer. You can see the final plug in the lower right corner of the picture. I then took a shoebox, punctured the top with numerous holes and sealed the sides with masking tape. It's actualy the blue box under the plane. I made a hole at one end so I can plug the household vacuum into it. I made a wood frame approx 10"x8", taped a piece clear plastic I bought at my LHS, put it in the oven toaster you can see in the background until it was starting to sag and with the plug slightly elevated on the shoebox with the vacuum plugged in, I lowered the frame with the warmed clear plastic onto the plug et voila. Actualy I had to do it a couple of time before having a really nice one. But total cost was less than $5...

cessna 188

Shotgun that is awesome. I have my old canopy that is cracked. I can use it to make a mold. But I am still confused about the shoe box procedure. Sorry I'm a little slow, not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Do you have any specs on the plastic sheet?

winglift

My Feedback: (10)

You might want to check out the Nov 07' issue of Model Aviation, P 39 titled Easy to Form Canopies. He simply uses what he is calling bubble-pack material, which is what you see when you buy almost anthing such as a pack of pens etc. After making a plug out of wood he makes a post to mount that on and places it into a vise. Place the bubble-pack over it and using a heat gun the canopy is formed over the block. Looks simple and it works.

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

My take on the process, as well as good input from other folks.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_81...r/tm.htm#81435

shotgun06

That link is very good and it shows exactly what I was trying to explain (in a much better way...) . Since I was not planning to do more than one canopy, I just made a vacuum box out of a shoebox instead of doing a very nice one. For the plastic, I bought at my LHS the clear plastic intended for that use, I just doesn't remember the real name of that stuff.

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

Most hobby shops in my area carry clear Butyrate sheet that is available through K&S. Comes in various thicknesses from .010 up to .040 or possibly .060 and the sheets are 9" x 12".

outdoorhunting

Try this guy. www.glhobbies.com or email [email protected] for your canopy. Greg is his name. He's a great guy to work with! I'm getting canopy & cowl for a Hollis Calvert 72" crop Duster Also, I got a cowl for my Kyosho AgWagon from www.fiberglassspecialtiesinc.com he makes a real good product.

cessna 188

Hey guys I got the new plug built for the agwagon. It looks very good. I am waiting for the plastic to arrive. I made the plug out of plaster of paris. Thanks to Chad in AZ. I will take a picture of the canopy and the mold in a couple of weeks.

Campy

My Feedback: (1)

Be advised that a plaster of paris plug is going to need A MINIMUM of 3 weeks to dry before you can use it as a plug. You need to get the moisture out of it.

If you have not done so, I suggest super gluing OR epoxying a piece of 1/2" hard pine or plywood to the base of the plug.
That way you can screw in some screw eyes to help remove the plug. SOME of the plugs give you a real battle when you
try to remove them from the part (I presume you would like to save the plug ).

Chad Veich

My Feedback: (60)

Hey cessna, I've been having great luck pulling nice clear parts using the method of pulling a second part over the first. In other words, pull a canopy over your plug and then pull a second canopy over the first. This will get rid of most, if not all, of the imperfections that may be in your plug. Works great, give it a try.

Chad

shotgun06

I totally agree with Chad.

cessna 188

Hey Chad, when you do this do you use the same mill or thickness for both of the canopies.

Gizmo-RCU

My Feedback: (27)

I did one for a 1/5 scale T-28, not an easy project. I built a Vacuum box for my project, very simple and effective. I could not use the standard thin Hobby shop plastic as it flexed way to much, went to a plastics shop that builds such and they fixed me up with a thicker grade. After about 4 attempts We got it right, I have hours in the plug............but the end product came out well.

cessna 188

Hey Gizmo, I'm planning on using .06" material. I can't remember the plastic company I ordered from but the guy sold me some type of newer improved butyrate especially designed for vaccum forming. I am not going to try until aroung Dec 10th. Thanks[8D]

cessna 188

Hello everyone. I finally made my new canopy. It is not the best but is great for a start. I am going to make a new plug to help with a new in the future. But for now a have a decent one that will get me back in the air. Thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread.