I'm scratchbuiding a 40 size pattern flyer called a Zenith 40. I need to put a canopy on it an have searched the web sites for various canopies. The two that look the best to me are the Great Planes Super Sportster 40 and the Sig Kougar. However I can't find their dimensions.

Can anyone who has those planes measure them and post the dimensions, length, width and height?

Thanks a ton.

Roodester

I cant help with the mesurements. But think about other sources. The side of a windex bottle makes a nice canopy and can be cut flat. The supersportster canopy is designed for a round top fuse. later daveo

The Sig Kougar canopy is a custom fit for that kit. You can order it from Sig... but it will requir a turtledeck similar to the Kougar's.

You can go to the Sig website and order a bubble canopy... they have several sizes available. One of these can be cut down to fit almost any Pattern plane. The 9 inch, cut to 7 inches long is a good fit on a 40 inch span Mustang for example.

Then there's all the different shape plastic bottles... I cut a lot of canopies from 28 oz, 2 liter and 3 liter bottles. (some require a bit of heat forming...) The PET plastic of soda bottles is VERY durrable. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

The plane I'm making has a turtle deck behind the cockpit. However its 3.75 in wide and the kougar (I just got an email from Sig) is 2.5 inches wide. I'm still waiting for a response from Great Planes.

I'll look into the pop bottle or windex bottle sources. How do you heat the plastic and form it? Any tricks?

Thanks

Roodester

I generally just use a heat gun for forming the soda bottle canopies.

For some simple expansion, you just heat the bottle while its capped and squeeze the opposite side of the bottle. Maintain pressure as the plastic cools. This is only good for revising the soda bottle shape a SMALL amount,

You can make a form for a canopy and stretch the plastic in a frame. Heat with a heat gun as you pull the plastic over the form.

For home vacuum forming... there's already some long discussions elsewhere.

Thanks for the advice. I like that about squeezing the bottle. I went out and bought a 2 liter bottle of Red Mountain Dew. Hate the stuff so its going down the drain and I'll play and experiment with the bottle. Now you know I'm an RC addict - bought a bottle of pop and am more interested in the bottle.

Roodester