How to make cockpit canopies.

**wonwinglo** · 25-02-2005

These pictures should explain the basics of making simple cockpit canopies,basically we have a balsa wood plug the shape of the item that is required,together with this a female mould from some ply offcut is created slightly oversize to allow for the thickness of the plastic material to be moulded,the sequence is to loosely staple an adequate sized piece of acrylic or plastic sheet to the wooden former,next hold the item over a gas flame or electric ring until the material becomes floppy,practise is the secret here in knowing just when to plunge the former into the hole thus drawing the hot shape around the carved shape,just pause for a few seconds until the canopy cools off and you will be rewarded with a fine home made moulding.
Save those clear plastic boxes that your wife/girlfriend or both get for cosmetics etc this material is just perfect for our purpose.
You dont need to stop at clear mouldings either,you can use ordinary plastikard sheet to make fairings or even small cowlings for your models by the same method.

**wonwinglo** · 25-02-2005

Another view of the simple moulding process,get the material too hot and the walls of the plastic will become too thin,too cool and the material will not give into the mould,you need to just practise a little but once grasped you will never be short of another canopy.

bjackson · 22-03-2008

could i make a f-15 1/32 canopy? and how would i make the windscreen

**Bluewavestudios** · 22-03-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjackson

could i make a f-15 1/32 canopy? and how would i make the windscreen

Yes, you could use this method to make the F15 Canopy as that is a nice easy shape to carve and then mould. This is probably the easiest method to do it.

Not sure what you mean by the windscreen part as generally the canopy and the windscreen are one and the same thing.

and if you need to tint the canopy, there are threads on here how to do that as well !! - this is just one of them :
http://www.scale-models.co.uk/tutori...-canopies.html

Ps.......Welcome to the site and hope you enjoy it here !!

Regards.......Mark.

**GEEDUBBYA** · 22-03-2008

Howdy Mark,

I think the distinction between the "canopy" and "windscreen" would be that the "canopy" is the movable portion and the "windscreen" would be the front, non movable portion under which the HUD is located. Atleast this is the way I have always precieved it since they are actually two seperate assemblies

have a good day,

Greg

**Bluewavestudios** · 22-03-2008

Hi Greg,

Put in that context, I will certainly agree with you there. I think I was just trying to keep things simple.

and for BJackson:

The F15 Canopy is a basic teardrop shape and can be moulded all as one and then the necessary cuttings made for the front screen etc. I appreciate Barry was giving us a simple example on his mould but what hasn't been mentioned on his post is that even canopy frames can be included on the mould plug and they will come out in the finished moulded article too, making life a bit easier.

Regards.....Mark

alan2525 · 22-03-2008

The problem with the cockpit canopies on modern fighter jets is that they have undercuts and actually balloon out a little beyond the side of the cockpit to increase all around visibility.

With press moulding, the canopy would have to be vertical or ideally have a slight taper to ease removing the plug afterwards.

mike matthews · 28-03-2008

Good Afternoon Guys,
This is my first post, and is a very small tip re making canopies. you can use the boxes that ice cream comes in from the super market to make air intakes, blisters etc.And of course like beer cans they need emptying first!!
As my main interest is R/C flying models,plastic and metal cans are a nice light sourse of raw material
Regards

**GEEDUBBYA** · 28-03-2008

Howdy Mike,

Welcome to the forum, glad you found us. Thanks for the tip, i am sure that it will be useful. Now that you are here, feel free to jump in on any topic you see that you have interest in. If ya have photos of your work, we all would love to see them. Be sure to look around at some of the memebers galleries too. Ask any questions ya might have or give advice where ever ya can.

Have a good day and again, welcome,

Greg aka GEEDUBBA (GW)

Robert Sweetman · 17-04-2008

Evening,
In the middle of building a Fairey Firefly and curious as to teh best way to go about making the front and rear canopy, will the aboves methods work well ? ?

Rob
From Dublin, Ireland