Scale Soaring UK

Hi im looking for advice on making canopy plugs any advice please

Keith

Keith , Sarik mold canopies, using their own plugs and modellers plugs , maybe they could offer you some advice ?
Regards Ian Turney-White

Keith, I am no expert but from experience, here goes:
First, making a plug is quite frutrating. It is the same amount of work for one canopy as hundreds so if you can avoid it... Chris Williams is of course famouse for managing to butcher one type of canopy and get it to fit many models. So, if you can go down that route, it does save work.
I mad a plug for my Pilatus B4. I just laminated 4 layers of thick (gash) timber that were cut roughly to shape. I then drilled a couple of holes in the Bottom and glued in big dowels just to give myself something to hold it with.
It is a great idea to actually make the plug after you have constructed the cockpit area (if you are building) so you can see the plug actally fits. The finished canopy will be bendy so you have some 'wiggle room' but if the plug deosn't fit, canopy will be too big.
Once you have rough plug, it is just a case of putting a sanding disc on the drill and slowly sanding it to shape with lots of measuring and checks as you go. In my experience the finish has to be reasonable but NOT perfect.
Cockpit shapes can be decoptive. My B4 has same width at front and back but that doesn't mean the sides are straight - they bulge out slightly.
Roo Hawkins is a bit of an expert at this so you could contact him - I'm sure he will help.

I make my plugs out of blue foam or white foam on bigger gliders. I then glass it with extra glass and epoxy. I then pull them by hand with the petg fixed between wood. There is a thead how to do it in the tips section somewhere. I think my glass and foam plugs might not be any good for vac forming.

sorry about typos. Here si a pic

Nigel Argall wrote: ↑19 Jul 2022, 14:24 sorry about typos. Here si a pic

Oooops......



BC

Oh dear... must cut down on the dwinking