Estes Skytracer Clone #1361 Build, Part 12, Gluing The Canopy

I glued up four canopies to get a good one. I from each try and got better at making them.

   

The back end of the canopy is 1" from the back of the shoulder lip.

I tacked down the front and rear of the canopy using medium weight (not thin) CA glue applied with a toothpick.

After the front and rear are adhered,

Hold the sides down against the nose cone and apply more medium CA using the toothpick to draw a line of glue down the joint.

The canopy is in place!

Be sure the back edge is 1" from the shoulder lip. For whatever reason I set the canopy 7/8" from the back of the nose cone. Later on, this affected the placement of the red stripe decals.

Estes Skytracer Clone #1361 Build, Part 11, More Canopy Forming

A little break from the canopy forming - 

.25 oz. of clay weight is rolled into little balls and dropped into the hole at the base of the shoulder. The small balls of clay settle easier into the nose cone tip. Easier to level these small bits of clay than chasing around a "clay snake" with the flat end of a dowel.

I did have to widen the shoulder hole diameter with a knife and half round file.

It takes very little glue to close the canopy tab. Use a thin "skin" of glue.

A flat faced needle tweezers held the canopy tab closed as the glue dried.

On the left is how the canopy looks after gluing 

But, to fit the nose cone, the canopy folds are pinched closed making it sit higher on the nose cone.

Here's the back end of the canopy - 

The squared back was rolled over a Sharpie barrel to fit the round nose cone.

Estes Skytracer Clone #1361 Build, Part 10, The Canopy

I used the canopy pattern drawn up by Greg Poehlein.

You can use this cardstock pattern to make the proper canopy on a Crossfire style nose cone.

To see it: CLICK HERE

Excuse the distortion in the picture, that upper horizontal line is straight, not tipped down.

TIP: Before cutting out the canopy - 

Pre-emboss the tow long fold lines and the short glue tab. You won't be able to get a sharp fold if you cut out the piece first.

I go old school, a smooth tip (not serrated) butter knife and straight edge. This embossed line method goes back to the old Estes Saturn 1B cardstock fins. 

I cut out the long sides with a straightedge and knife. The rounded sides were rolled over using scissors.

The rounded sides were cleaned up by sanding on a piece of 400 grit.

I started coaxing the folds setting the lines directly on top of the edges of my triangular engineers scale.

A Sharpie barrel was pressed down onto the fold line.

Continued in the next post . . .

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet, Blue Angels Build, Part 6, Canopy & Decal

The model is painted a dark blue. The decals will need a white layer underneath to bring out the colors of the translucent inkjet print.

The cockpit decal from the F-18 kit was cut out, very close to the outside ink edges.

A sheet of clear decal paper was spray painted white and allowed to dry.

The cut out cockpit print was traced around the white sprayed decal sheet with a pencil.

The white layer was cut out, just inside the pencil lines.

Set the white piece on top of the cockpit decal to be sure the white layer edges are just inside the cockpit print.

Now the white under layer can be set down in the cockpit position. A piece of positioning tape was set down 3/16" from the end of the body tube.

After the white decal dries,

The cockpit decal can be set down over the first white layer.

After the decals dry,

Squeeze out a drop of medium CA glue on some scrap cardboard.

Center and set the vacuform canopy over the decal.

Hold the clear canopy firmly in place. Dip the tip of a toothpick into the CA glue. 

Apply the CA using the toothpick to transfer the glue to the front and rear of the canopy first.

When you are happy with the position,

Then run glue along the sides using the toothpick tip.

New Way N-21 Sky Fighter Build, Part 9, Canopy Forming

You are supplied with TWO canopies in the kit.

Great idea - you've got a backup in case the first try doesn't go well.

The fold lines are lightly laser cut, allowing sharp folds without having to emboss the lines.

First you fold the lines back with the lines facing you.

On the right side picture, I'm using my long tweezers to get a sharper fold near the tight tips.

The canopy is then flipped over and the folds reversed with the laser cut lines now on the inside.

On the right, I used my Sharpie pen burnisher to get sharper creases.

I was concerned the laser cut lines may have been too deep and the repeated folds might crack the cardstock. The laser lines are light and there was no cracking.

I used very little glue on the glue tab, just a wet, thin skin.

The glue tab was held closed with tweezers while the glue set up.

The formed canopy was set in position and the edges traced.

The glue area paint was scraped down inside the pencil line.

Again I used the Sharpie burnisher to press down the inside glue tabs onto the body tube.

Centuri Quasar Clone Build, Kit #KC-7, Part 12, The Canopy

The cockpit canopy is included with the decal sheet for Patreon subscribers.

The canopy doesn't stand very high on the nose cone. My drawing is a good guess based on pictures I could find. I went through three different drawings and prints until I got something I thought was close.

I'm holding the glue tab closed with long tweezers. Paper on paper joints take only a thin skin of glue for adhesion. 

The nose cone was painted white before gluing on the canopy.

This wasn't the easiest canopy to fit on the curve of the nose cone. I doubt it was true to the original kit.

For first positioning, I tacked down the front tip and middle back with white glue. This gives me a chance to position the canopy before gluing down permanently.

Once I'm happy with the position and centering I'll glue it down with CA glue.

Squeeze out a drop of medium CA onto some scrap cardboard. Dip a toothpick into the glue drop. Run the drop of glue around the outside edge.

Glue a short segment at a time, pressing and holding down the edge until dry. I rolled a Sharpie barrel over the edge, smoothing as I went.

 

The canopy required additional white spray coats, lightly sanding the canopy between coats until the paint had soaked in and sealed the cardstock.

Estes Odyssey #7235 Build, Part 21, Masking That Nose Cone Canopy

I'm jumping around again - The nose cone canopy can be painted before it is tied onto the shock cord.

Here's that nose cone - The mask line indent is a tough mask. 

I think I tried this before - with mixed results.

Narrow strips of Scotch Tape were set around the edge.

I used my fingernail to press a crease into the edge indent.

A sharp X-Acto style blade cut through the tape around the indent line. It doesn't take much pressure on the blade to cut through just the tape.

The peeled off inside tape exposed the canopy for the silver spray paint.

The rest of the nose cone was masked with brown masking tape.

Notice the tape edge lifting on the right side picture.

Left picture: After the tape was lifted, some silver got under the tape and onto the raised border. 

Right side picture: I used a knife to scrape off the excess paint. In a few spots, I scraped off the white paint and down to the plastic underneath.

So -

I sprayed some white in a small cup and brushed on some edge corrections. The Ace Premium Enamel takes touchups well, it blends in without much of a raised edge. 

You might have better luck using some Tamiya tape or simply hand brushing the silver.

Estes Blackhawk #2053 Build, Part 12, Front Plates & Canopy

The top and bottom front plates are creased to fit and cover the open area at the tp of the rear assembly.

The embossed lines were folded over the edge of my straightedge.

The forward bend was creased sharp using a burnisher.

Here the model is upside down with the bottom plate facing up.

Here's how the front looks. Notice the "sandwich" of the lower plate bend, the thick central plate in the middle and the upper plate front bend.

 

The canopy marking guide is set to the left and the inside line traced with pencil.

Flip it over and trace the other side.

Do some canopy dry fits. The inset picture shows the canopy front where the cut out angle fits over the fold of the front plate.

You'll find the right and left side of the canopy has to open up to match the traced pencil lines.

Before gluing the canopy on, I reformed the canopy base wider than how it ended up after gluing together.

Rather than set glue on the very thin inside edges, I held the canopy on the pencil lines then applied short shallow glue fillets. 

When gluing thin cardstock like this, you don't initially need much glue.

Estes Blackhawk #2053 Build, Part 9, Canopy Forming

The canopy is made up of three pieces.

The two sides and the many folded top.

Do a few dry fits (no glue) to be sure you are lining up the the right tab to the right cut on the side piece.

One of the tricks to gluing cardstock like this is not to use too much glue on the tabs.

Apply some glue to a single center tab and spread it around, especially towards the outside edges. You should have a light overall "skin" of wet glue.

Joint the top tab to the side piece. 

It helps to have a long, smooth jawed tweezers to pressure hold the tab in place. 

Continue doing single tab gluing until both sides are glued to the top.

Look on the inside. If one of the tabs is raised, you can sneak some glue under the tab using your knife blade.

Here's the finished canopy, 

Inside and outside.

I thought the canopy shape would be more like a rectangular box shape with the bottom side open. I found out later the sides flare out and have a wider span than the top - more of a trapezoidal shape.

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet Development & Build, Part 10, Decals & Canopy Gluing

The cockpit decal is placed first. 

The front end is placed 3/16" back from the front edge of the body tube.

Dry set the stripes to get an idea of the angle needed.

The top ends can set over the black in the cockpit decal a bit. The underside will cross over the decal line on the other side.

After the decals are almost dry - 

Use a single edge razor blade to cut through both decal strips.

Use only enough pressure to cut through the thin decals - don't cut into the paint.

Lift the top decal and remove the overhang. Remove the overhang from the lower decal. Wet the surface and reset the strip ends down.

Now the canopy can be glued in place.

Do a dry fit to see how much border spacing is around the cockpit decal.

Hold the canopy in place when applying the glue with a toothpick. Glue a small area of the canopy at a time.

Squeeze out a drop of Medium CA Super Glue onto a scrap piece of cardboard. Dip a toothpick into the CA glue. Drag the small drop of CA glue around the edge of the cockpit edge.

Continue until the contact edge around the entire canopy has had glue applied.

The rear of the jet engines gets a wrap around decal.

Start the decal placement at the center point where the tubes touch. Roll the decal around the tube.

Odd'l Rockets F-18 Hornet Development & Build, Part 8, Canopy Fitting

Take it slow when working with vacuform pieces. 

This applies to the vacuform parts in the Estes Saturn V, Saturn 1B and the Odd'l Fighter Jet canopies. An extra 10 minutes of careful cutting and sanding will lead to a great fit and strong body tube bond.

   

The border of the canopy has to be cut off before fitting to the tube.

To better see the recessed edge, draw around the base with a ultra fine point Sharpie or ball point pen.

With a new sharp blade - 

SCORE around the line. Don't try to cut through with a single pass.

With your score cut halfway through the plastic, flex the plastic down the cut line until the border plastic breaks off.

At the lower right, it says "Score and break lines." Note the lines at all four corners. 

It helps to cut these outside lines to as you are flexing to break the pen line edges.

This illustration is from the kit instructions.

Set some fine sandpaper around the BT-50H body tube. Note the pen lines are still visible. These will end up being sanding off.

Go back and forth in a straight line down the tube over the sandpaper.

 
Here you can see the pen marked edges getting very thin and starting to come off. About the time all the pen ink is gone you should be getting a good fit on the body tube.

Don't glue the canopy on yet. 

It will be glued on after spray painting and decals are applied.

Estes Delta Wedge Clone #1931 Build, Part 7, Canopy Gluing

Set the canopy over the center raised crease line 3/4" forward of the top wedge fin.

Trace around the edges with pencil.

Again, it doesn't take much glue to adhere cardstock to cardstock. After applying a line of glue around the inside edge, remove any excess and even out the glue with a Q-tip.

Using the pencil line, center and press the canopy onto the wing. Hold until dry making sure the sides stay down against the wing surface.

On the left is the glue applied.

On the right is the finger smoothed fillet.

Semroc Point, KV-58 Build, Part 6, NC Canopy Wrap

 

Here's the Cockpit canopy sticker supplied with the kit.

On my original Semroc Point build, the canopy didn't line up well.

Instead of laying down the side edge first -

Viewed from the rear, set the center line of the sticker down the length of the nose cone.

The sides of the sticker were then rolled over.

Notice how things lined up on the back.

It's not perfect, but better than my earlier build.

I did some light scraping of the black line to remove it.

With the line gone, the angle of the overlap isn't noticeable.

Estes Vesta Intruder #7312 Build, Part 14, Canopy Black

I wouldn't recommend outlining the canopies the way I did. In the end I didn't get great results. This post shows my first attempt at the canopy masking. You'd probably be better off masking with Tamiya tape or if you are steady with a brush, hand painting.

I couldn't see how to mask the four canopies on the tall nose cone. There are high areas with deep, defined edges. There are also tight, low areas without sharp edges.

I thought I would try a ultra fine point Sharpie outline like I had done before on the Saturn V and Saturn 1B vacu-form wraps. This gives you a definite black outline that is easier to mask when spraying the black fill on the inside of the Sharpie line.

No problems initially, the ultra fine point Sharpie easily followed in the canopy "rut".

It's much harder to outline the rounded top of the canopy.

I pretty much free-handed the curve joining up the outside lines with the round top.

The top of the narrower canopies were hard to outline.

I ended up using a small straightedge, here is the leftover centering ring card. Draw short lines adjusting the cardstock edge every 1/4" or so and continuing the line.

The ultra fine point line was widened in using a standard fine point Sharpie. You don't have to go very wide here. Just enough to help with the masking edge.

Again, you'd probably be better off using a flexible tape mask without the Sharpie outlines.