Well, the plane is flying very well. After I got back from the field yesterday I decided to smooth out a wrinkle in the coating near the firewall on the left side of the fuselage. I used an old hiar dryer that was in the basement. It worked well smoothing out the wrinkle. After putting the dryer away I walked back over to the work table and noticed that the heat from dryer had warped the canopy! I recall reading about a crash of a SD on the build thread here. Was wondrering if the person still had he remains. If so. please send me a PM and I'll make an offer. Looks like the only way to get a new canopy is to order the entire Fuselage assembly.

I've heard that Seagull and Phoenix are almost identical. You could try the Seagull canopy. If it doesn't work you are not out a lot of money.

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...ProdID=SEA2085

John

John,
Thanks. Yes it does look the same. I just placed the order!!

Next time, wet a paper towel and place it along the edge of the canopy. It should help prevent a melt down. LOL I did exactly the same thing on mine, but I have not replaced the canopy yet.

John

Good idea, I just didn't think the heat would distort it the way it did. I will figure something out. Live and learn. Anywhere near plastic from now on, I will use the cover iron!

John, nice link! I wish I would have seen that a few months ago when I was looking for a canopy for my Phoenix SD. Unfortunately, I now have a need for the canopy, fuse, wing, etc lol. I too learned the hard way about heat guns and canopy's on my GP Reactor. Just trying to shrink a few wrinkles in covering, and warped the canopy. Fortunately, that one wasn't too bad...

Sorry to hear that you are in such need of all that stuff! Tower had all you need but the canopy. But the fuse is not available until December.

Got the seagull canopy in the mail yesterday. It's at least 1/4 inch wider. At the moment I don't see anyway to make it work. Will think about it more. I think I have a plan to straighten out the orginal one as well.

Rats. I was hoping it would work for you. Sorry it did not.
John

Yeah me too no harm trying. Night fit the guys goldberg decathlon that posted here about needing one.

I wish I had seen this thread sooner. I ordered the Seagull canopy for mine as well and found the same issue. I cut mine down the middle, overlapped it, and glued it together with canopy glue. The results were less than satisfying so I am back to my other plan. I will build a front canopy out of wood and cover it.

Yeah I thought about trimming one side down to match, but I would still have to bow it in the middle down near the fuse. It was as they say "close, but no cigar". I think I can smooth the orginal out enough to make it work. My plan is to take the heat gun, make and mold or use the rounded edge of my build table and use a wood roller (kind that is used for wallpaper seams), and try to at least get the edge smooth and flat. Will try that tonight and see how it works

Yeah, I wish I was a better modeler. I read up some on vacuum forming, but don't have any of the equipment or even much scrap wood to build a vacuum box, so it's not really cost effective for me to build one. Might still try it someday; it's frustrating when you only need one part and have to buy a whole lot more (i.e. fuse for this plane) to get what you need. I tip-stalled my SD and it ripped out the front wing bulkhead, but I was able to repair the fuse and bulkhead quite easily. My canopy was torn down the middle with a jagged rip, and I ended up using clear packing tape to fix it. Looked okay, but not great.

yeah read the vaccum post too. But damn. I can't believe that everyone else offers a replacement canopy and phoenix dosen't. I really like thier models but to have to buy the entire fuse to get a canopy is rediculious! and extremely frustrating!!!I tried the wallpaper roller tech tonight, I did get to look better, well at least fit! I'm ticked right now at myself and phoenix!! more so at phoenix at the moment!!

Thes decathlons have very strong wings and week cocpit framing. So whenever you catch the wing it ripps out the front mounting location and subsequently destroys the front windshield. I can't imagine they are unaware of this. Even if I was willing to buy a new fuse to get the windshield I would only use the windshield as my fuse looks good enought that it would not be worth having to remove the tail feathers and install them in a new fuse. Yes this is a frustrating business practice and likely my last Pheonix model.