I'm assembling my new Extra 300 and was wondering what is the prefered method for attaching the canopy. On most glow projects I tape them on and have great luck. I'm thinking the vibration and the large sized canopy might make taping unreliable ? I thought of servo screws but then thought of vibration and cracking around the holes ? I prefer not to glue since that makes it unservicable. What works best on these big birds ?

Also, the cockpit begs for some instrument panel details...nothing fancy or scale, just a little detail. Does anyone have something in .jpg (or other digital format) approximately the correct shape that I could print and use ?

Thanks, Eric

I did mine with #2 button head screws, as seen in this photo.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=4661902
If you go to page 4 and 5 in that thread you will see examples of those that used colored electrical tape. I didn't want to use glue either as I generally make a mess of things with glue. So far the screws have been fine. If you go with screws I have 2 tips. First back up the locations for the screws and after drilling the holes harden them with thin CA. Second, make the holes in the canopy slightly larger than the screw, this will help keep the canopy from distorting in warm weather. Just loosen the screws and the canopy will relax then snug them up again.

I still do it the old fashioned way. Mark where the canopy will go, rough the covering with 150g sandpaper where the canopy flange will sit, do the same with the canopy flange, use a thin bead of RC-56 at the flange locations, tape in place until dry. You could install the small screws before glueing if you desire, but best to have the holes for the screws in place before you set the canopy. After all is said and done I use some colored electrical tape to trim out the flange.

Keep in mind that there's foam under the front of the canopy so if you use CA to harden the screw holes you don't want CA running into the foam. It melts pretty quick[X(]

That answered his canopy question, but I'd be interested in any possibilities for the instrument panels that he asked about as well. They do look bare and while I don't need them for basic, I'd like to put panels in just in case and adding a pilot is easy if needed...

We will have panels soon from Diamond panels, I can'treally help on a digital representation.

I use glue for canopies.

TF