ZERO-322

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I would like to scratch build a 3 piece sliding cannopy for my Zero , problem is I have never seen this done , I have done a search in the forums and have found limited info , I guess what I need would be either to see it done step by step , or explained step by step , I know this may seem like a little much , but if you don't ask then nothing would be gained , any help or a source for the info I am requesting would be greatly appreciated

thanks

Mike

Lnewqban

Any pictures?

ZERO-322

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I am not exactly sure what you are asking...... pictures ? pictures of what my Zero ?

rotccapt

pictures of what you want to do like pics of the real plane

Lnewqban

Yes, any pictures of yours or any other finished model; or even of the full scale.

I have not seen one before, but we could design something close to what you want to achieve.

ZERO-322

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well this is what i have been able to find so far , I guess this would be what I am looking for , but just not all that sure how to get started

Darren40

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I can help you with this. I'm assuming that you already have a canopy or know how to vacuum form one. What I do is take small brass square tubing and cut a slot down the middle of one side. To do this you'll want to build a jig. The jig will include some sort of adjustable clamping device for your Dremel tool and a guide on both the infeed and outfeed side of the Dremel rotary saw blade. The next size up in brass square tubing works perfectly as the infeed and out feed guides. They only have to be an inch or so long but you'll want to ensure they're aligned by inserting the brass square tubing you'll be cutting through both and then epoxying the guides in place. The adjustable clamping device for the dremel should allow you to adjust such that you can position the cut down the center of the square tubing to be cut. If your rotary blade allows, stack a couple with a thin shim between to get the width of slot you desire. Once you have these guide rails cut you'll need to make the slides which attach to your canopy and slided back and forth in the guide rails. I use plastic H-beam sections like the HO scale railway modelers use. I trim the flange of the beam on one side to fit within the guide rail and leave the other full width to give a good surface to attach the canopy to. Rather than making one slider you'll want two shorter ones per side. I add some small plastic round stock glued to the slider within the square tubing to shim the sliders so they're not sloppy. To mount the guide rails you want to be thinking about where the sliding part of the canopt has to travel to miss the fixed section its passing over. Length of the guide rails is determined by the amount of travel you desire, of course. In some cases you may want a slight vertical bend in you guide rails to clear the fixed section. Take a look at the action of the full size canopy travel as a guide.
Alternately, there is someone selling pre-cut guide rails for the hobby. I think I saw them in the airplance classifieds here at this site.

WALKERS210-RCU

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I don't remember which edition of Model Aviation it was in but best I remember it was around 2005 or 2006, there was an article showing how to do it. My friend that recently passed away found it and did his Royal Zero. Worked out very nice, also somewhere in the Classified section someone had rails machined for this purpose.

ZERO-322

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hey guys thank allot for the help , i have seen the cannopy rails on here as well , probably pick up a set ...... walker any chance you could locate me that article i would greatly appreciate it

thanks again !

NCIS

Go to the Canopy Rails for Warbirds ad. I sold the set in the pic's you posted! They are done on a milling machine and each one is identical and the slot has 2 thousands clearence on each side for the Ball Stud to slide in.

Barry/NCIS
Canopy Rails for Warbirds
[email protected]