This article shows how to do a step by step carving of the old Estes Star Blazer canopy. The techniques shown in the article can be applied to a one of a kind carved canopy on your rocket design.
On the current Goony X-15 a canopy had to be carved from basswood to make a master for the vacu-form process. That canopy took much more work carving out the concave bottom to fit over the nose cone curvature.
To read the P.O.F. article: CLICK HERE
The Estes Star Blazer was covered on this blog earlier in the month: CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE
Great article Chris!..I have most of the parts together for building a Starblazer clone. Let you know how it turns out.
ReplyDeleteYes Edward,
DeleteBe sure to email a finished picture to me at: oddlrockets@bellsouth.net
Will do....
DeleteGreat article! Reading the article would've saved me from a bit of grief way back when... (if only I could send things back in time...) And yep, the process of fitting carved canopy was as you described: sand in contour, test fit - noting areas that need more sanding to get better fit, sand some more, repeat process.
ReplyDelete... And the other thing I do remember learning -- balsa is easily carved and shaped, but perhaps a tad too soft for use as a "buck" in plunge-forming (aka "heat-n-mash") anything more than a handful of parts.
Hi Naoto,
DeleteBalsa is too soft for for a vacuform master. But hardened basswood works pretty well.