Carved canopy

I'm building a jet styled plane for classic (Formula S, VF 40/muffed) and am thinking of going with a carved balsa canopy instead of a plastic canopy (mostly due to time constraints). I normally leave the nose block around the motor solid(for a stronger nose) and the canopy is right over this area. Should I carve and hollow the canopy after the top block is finished and fiberglassed or do the top block all in one piece?

Thanks,

Personally, I would recommend at least some hollowing. Maybe not quite as much as you would otherwise for a canapy, but at least some. My planes have a 3/32" thickness molded noses with a bulkhead at the back of the engine tilted foreward to help airflow. These have held up well.

I would carve it in one piece. Likely make for a stronger nose. It's what I'm doing with my current plane.

Hi James,

You can do either. Carving it all in one piece is going to be difficult to get some of the weight out. It would, as Randy says, probably be stronger.

However, if you finish the nose up to glassing it, you can then carve and hollow a wood canopy, or just paint the inside of a plastic canopy and glue it on. That way would still be stronger than a clear canopy and a cut out cockpit that we usually do.

On my Formula S, I used a plastic canopy and painted the inside to avoid
doing the detail.