Monday, May 15, 2017

Goony X-15, Part 5, Canopy Fitting

Originally I thought this Goony X-15 might be a fun addition to the Odd'l Rockets line. It all hinged around the price of the X-15 decal from Quest. They wanted too much for the individual decal sheets and that in turn made the price of the kit too high.
I had carved a X-15 style canopy to make vacu-form canopies. This prototype build will get the only molded canopy I made.


Fitting the canopy to a nose cone took quite a while. It was more complicated than simply sanding around a body tube curve.
Why clear plastic? It's what I had on hand.






Medium CA glue was used to glue the canopy to the filled nose cone.
I kept a Q-tip handy to pick up any excess glue.

7 comments:

  1. Chris, why don't you do all of us a big favor an do a canopy
    pack with maybe two F-16 and two x-15 canopy in a pack or one each in a pack. I'm sure these would be welcome accessories.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Frank,
      That could be a possibility, I was already playing around with that idea. Stay tuned!

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    2. Hi Chris, I'm always staying tuned in on what you have in the pipe line.
      I was thinking about the decal problem you were talking about from Quest ( the Cost). Couldn't you make up your own decals by printing them out on white decal paper and do a black outline around the white letters and other drawn. Just a Thought.
      This and the G-16 would be great kits. Keep thinking about them.

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    3. Hi Frank,
      The white (already on a white decal sheet) isn't fully opaque. On a black model like the X-15 you'd see a light grey where the white areas are.
      When a white decals is printed and transferred onto the model you also see a thin white outline around the sides of the decal.
      I've experimented with white decals and they aren't perfect. Any pluses are outweighed by the minuses.

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    4. Okidata apparently makes a laser printer that can use white toner. OK, the price isn't what one would call cheap (only $3,400, but I've no idea on the price for the toner)
      http://mountaincow.com/shop.printers.C711WT.html

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    5. I've heard from some folks that HP also makes a similar printer. But like the Okidata printer I previously mentioned, they're not something you'll find at the typical office supply store (similar to how it was like trying to find a vendor for ALPS printers and accessories).

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    6. Hi Naoto,
      Good to know but way too expensive for me! You'd have to sell a LOT of white decals to re-coup the investment.

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