I am at the part where I need to attach my canopy.
The canopy attaches to the cockpit floor,dash,and headrest.This is to become one piece so as to become a removable canopy.The cockpit floor leaves 3/32" to glue to.
The directions say to use medium CA.It has been my experience that that will smoke/fog the clear plastic and thus ruining the finished look.
It also seems that the minute amount to glue to will not be sufficient.
Any experience/help on this issue would be greatly appreciated
Brian

Hi, I've got my GP Extra all framed up and am in the process of covering it.

As far as the canopy, I have added 1/4x1/4 "Rails" on top of the deck flush with the sides where the canopy meets it. This provides a much better gluing/screwing surface and gives the hatch some rigidity. IMO, the way that part of the plane is designed is rather poor...very very fragile (without the rails that I added).

I too,was thinking of adding the rails.Did you use balsa or basswood? What glue did you use?
Thanks,
Brian

I actually used balsa. I havn't yet attached the canopy for the very same reasons....cant figure out what glue to use. I've used the specail "Canopy Glue" before and it seems to work very well, but that is a LOT of surface area to try to get setup all at the same time. One thing I'm thinking of is using a combination of screws & glue. That way I can use about 10 or so small button-head screws on each "rail" as well as use the "canopy glue". I've tried using medum CA to attach canopies before, but either I have the dirtiest hands ever (I cleaned the canopy well), or "Medum CA doesnt smoke the plastic" is a flat out lie.


Good luck

I did the same thing. I added 1/4" balsa rails to the sides and glued the canopy with RC-56 glue.

Thanks Mike,
Did the RC-56 leave a nice finish?I see with the photo you attached,that you painted your canopy.
LOOKS GRRREEAT!!

The ZAP canopy glue and small screws works very well to attach a canopy. If you want to be able to detach the canopy from the base(if for some reason the pilot becomes dislodged) you can use the screws along the sides and some clear silicon on the front and rear to attach the canopy. This is much easier to remove if you need to fix something.

Okay.I tested a piece with Thick Ca.I even purposely left fingerprints on the plastic.No smoking and it holds great.The wood broke before the bond did.
I think if I glue the front and back down first,I can get a nice even seal.I can pull the sides out a little and run a bead down the 1/4 x 1/4 balsa I added to the cockpit floor.Then push and hold the canopy on until the Ca sets up.If it oozes out,it will be okay.What I really need is an extra set of hands.
I am going to paint the canopy a littlearound the front,sides,and back to match the covering scheme.
I bought some trunk paint. Black/White/Grey.It's in a puff can and I did a test.It looks great too.I will paint the cockpit floor and instrument panel as well as the backrest.I made an instrument panel and will attatch the supplied dash sticker.I'm not sure if I am going to add the passenger.Might make it with just the pilot.I could make it to where it looks like an empty seat up front.It means I will have to make a dash with gauges.MyLHS has a nice set of gauges that would look good.
Man,this is looking like a fine aircraft.I need to get an engine,radio,servos,linkage,control horns,covering,and a back wheel.
I went to a swap meet and bought a set of 4-1/2" inflatable Du-Bro tires. $5.00! Bought some axels to go with it. $5.00!! Wish there was more swap meets! I am going to Top-Gun and hope there will be some good prices on good equipment.
My Dad finally got his DA-100 after two months.It was well worth the wait!WOW is it beautiful!
Okay.I'm going to bed.
Bye

BrianMorris,

Thanks for the info on using thick CA...I'll have to give it a shot. I think I'm a little farther along than you, but not by much. I've just started covering my plane and am attempting to go with a yellow knock-off of the famed BF Goodrich design of Patty Wagstaffs Extra 260. It was a little hard adapting the fuselage desing for the fuse, being a low-wing vs. the mid-wing 260, but it should look pretty good when I'm finished.

I used ULTRACOTE "Carbon Fiber Look" covering to cover the hatch & it gives it a nice look.. I'm installing a "Pull My Finger Fat Ba$tard" doll from the Austin powers movie as a pilot. if you pull its finger or push its belly, it lets out some funny "noises" and says phrases from the movie. I'm going to rig it up so it will still make the noises while its in the plane. I couldn't think of a more fitting pilot seeing as how FAT this airplane really is. My bro is assembling a 1/3 H9 Sukhoi and this extra seriously dwarfs it.

Have a look at my website for a few pics of the covering so far.

www.chadfrisby.com/milehighaerobatics/myshop

I got some led lights from my brother who works at a bar.They were a beer bottle pin.Something to make you stand out in a club I guess.I stripped it down and am thinking of installing it in the top of the rudder!It's got a little push button on/off switch.
Brian

Okay,Glued the canopy in with thick.
It smoked in some areas.It seems to smoke when the CA is applied too thick.
My LHS said I should have used "odorless CA."
Too late.
The paint scheme will hide it.
I'll tell you,it's not coming off! I seriously doubt I will have to use any screws.The wood will break before the bond does!
Brian Morris

How the heck did I miss this thread for so long? You guys must have done a lot of chatting while I was in Toledo. Oh well, too late now, but the RC-56 worked great.