Sig Akromaster canopy attachment

I am finally ready to glue the canopy onto my latest Akromaster and am looking for advice. What is a good, neat way to attach clear plastic to painted balsa? Sig says use their glue and tape the edges afterwards but this is from 30 year old instructions. Is there a better way? I did a really poor job on my last one and it would be nice if this one was prettier.

I used to use RC 56 canopy glue, now I use Great Planes canopy glue. Tape the canopy in place just tight enough to close the gaps and run a thin bead around the edge. It will wick under and dry clear. After thats dry remove the tape and glue those spots. If you drip of smear, it cleans off with water until its dry.

2 hour epoxy also will work, but you have to be extremely careful.


Randy Ryan <><
AMA 8500
SAM 36
BO all my own M's

If I ever glue on a butyrate canopy again, that's the way I'd go.

Lately, I been finding ways to screw the canopy on, then seal the edges with 3M Decorative Vinyl Tape (clear or color) to keep the wind out. If carefully applied, the tape alone should hold for a long time.

On my ARF Flite Streak, I chickened out and made a balsa canopy, covered it with silver Monokote, pegged it with toothpicks, moved it forward to make the nose more rigid, then epoxied it on. It looks "OK" and will last as long as the rest of the plane, which begins it's 5th season this spring.

The maple square in the canopy extends the vertical range of the adjustable tank mount bracket.

If you make a balsa canopy for the Akromaster, you may not want to move it forward. It would change the model's semi-scale appearance. On the Flite Streak, it doesn't matter.

EWP

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>On my ARF Flite Streak, I chickened out and made a balsa
>canopy, covered it with silver Monokote, pegged it with
>toothpicks, moved it forward to make the nose more rigid, then
>epoxied it on. It looks "OK" and will last as long
>as the rest of the plane, which begins it's 5th season this
>spring.

I've done that on many profiles. Originally wanted to give it a "Cutlass" look. The unexpected benefit is that the balsa canopy protects the needle valve in the case of an inverted landing. It is a lot cheaper to refinish a canopy "rash" than replacing a needle. Ask me how I know!

Happy Holidays,
bill marvel

make a balsa dashboard for the forward inside of the canopy and a balsa headrest for the rear of the canopy. make a snug fit widthwise. stick a round toothpick "antenna" thru the canopy into the backrest. the gluing area of the headrest and dashboard is substantial.

hi russell
the best way is that of Al Rabe taught me


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the three pictures show how i was taught to do
i alway paint my canopy inside

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then mask up the outside

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when its stuck on put some glass cloth around the join ,not only does this give it strength but aids blending it in

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I suppose it depends upon whether you're going for drop-dead good looks, or just a reliable way to attach the canopy. An easy way is to put the canopy in place and then tape around the edges with vinyl tape of the appropriate color. One advantage of this is that if you need to remove the canopy for some reason, you only have to pull off the tape. If you glue the canopy on, then you have to cut it off and risk doing damage to the plane. Why would you want to remove the canopy? Well, in a hard landing or (Lord forbid) a crash, you may need to get inside to reattach your pilot or fix other internal workings.

I cut/sand tha canopy to fit the fuse. I hold the camopy down with 1 hand & with a pen trace around the canopy on the fuse. I use a no. 11 blade & cut a grove just inside the pen line about 1/16" deep. Make sure the canopy fits. Put RC 56 glue or similar in grove. Put canopy in grove & tape down. When dry I do a 30 minute epoxy & micro balloons fillet around the canopy.

Russell,
You said latest akromaster. Are you a big fan of the plane? I remember....that ws the first built wing plane I flew...I even think I did my first solo with it too...but it was possessed by SAtan soon after...the plane would come in at me...after a few tries I gave the plane to mike...my brother...no one has flown it since...The End

Grace, I had one Akromaster before this. It was my trainer for re-learning control line. I did a not very good building job and powered it with a Fox 19. It flew OK, but I had to add a lot of lead to the tail, and I managed to warp the wing, too. So mine also had a tendency to come in on the lines and it really didn't fly that great. I have always wanted to try another one that hopefully was built better, so I did this one with a 15. This one sure looks better, at least to me, and I didn't cut down the wing. You just have to make 2 extra ribs and you end up with 4 inches more wingspan. My latest has 4 inches more wingspan, it is lighter and as near as I can tell, it is built straight. Should be a great improvement but the snow has to melt before I find out.

I have a standard AM with a PAW .09 diesel on it that flys the pattern quite nicely. My granson is leraning on it.

Randy Ryan <><
AMA 8500
SAM 36
BO all my own M's