Vacu-Form Success!

I ended up buying a small commercial vacu-forming machine.
This self-contained unit plugs in and handles the heating and forming operations. The heating plate is directly above and close to the vacuum table.

The unit came on Friday night. I immediately got to work on making a canopy for Saturday's NEFAR launch.
On the right is the first canopy I made. It was glued onto one of the F-16 prototypes. The black trim lines were cut from a vinyl sheet and are temporary. Water-slide trim will be included in the Odd'l rockets F-16 kit.


On the left top is an original Centuri fighter Fleet model. Below that is my first attempt at the vacu-formed canopy.

The profile turned out to be very close! I'll be using a thicker plastic on the kit run canopies. 

 

If you are only needing a single canopy I wouldn't recommend buying a vacu-form machine. You'd have to produce many units to justify the investment.

EDIT: I didn't add - to finally get a working canopy made was very rewarding. This sounds corny, but I had a Deja-vu rocketry feeling. You know, that feeling you got when you opened an Estes order box after waiting two weeks for it to arrive by mail.