Spitfire Canopy for the FT Spitfire

by Flynn | November 3, 2013 | (8) Posted in Projects

FT Spitfire Canopy

 

First, download the plans and cut them out. On the turtle deck, I would cut it larger to custom fit and trim after done gluing as shown by the dotted lines. 

You can also leave the rounded edges longer to custom trim them, but they should be close to the cut pieces of the built plane. You can fold that temp it in place to check.

The base is glued with a B fold. Sides next to the bottom. The middle form should glue in roughly the middle.

You can use the side ribs for checking the placement of the middle form. Then glue in the front and rear side ribs.

At this point I would dry fit the turtle deck so you can see how it will lay over the form.

 

What I first glued was the top/middle part of the turtle deck ONLY, folding over the sides to get good alignment on the ribs. It should cover the ribs completely but ONLY GLUE the top of the middle former!

 

. . . Because, I found in better to then fold up the rear and front and glue them to the top of the middle former. Then glue the front and rear sides in place. If you left them a bit long, as shown in the plans with dotted lines, don't worry, you can cut off all the edges when finished.

Then glue the middle side over. You can have the front and the middle meet up flush, the middle and the rear, the middle should over lap the rear.

The final product. I can't wait to minwax and paint mine!

This is my first time trying to post custom plans, forgive me if I've missed something.

I had to save it to my computer and then open it with Windows Photo Viewer. I clicked Print. Then made papersize "Letter" and checked the box "Fit picture to frame"
Also, make sure its printing in Portrait

 

 

 

 

COMMENTS

Exhodus on November 8, 2013
Thank You!
This canopy looks excellent, and much easier to do than to mess around with a part of a plastic bottle to make it the correct shape!
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adergotardo on November 8, 2013
Very nice!
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Flynn on November 8, 2013
Thanks Guys! One thing to note, Jaxx pointed this out to me, is I should've made the "rib placement lines dotted". It's just for placement, not cutting.
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Enos on November 9, 2013
This is awesome. Been looking for a good canopy for my spitfire and made one of these today using clear plastic and looks great :)
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nilloc on November 14, 2013
Very nice, I think I will be using this. Thanks!
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6mmflyboy on November 18, 2013
Great mod to an already great plane. I layered aluminum trim tape to simulate a glass canopy. Attatch after cut out of cardstock is cut out which makes trimming the aluminum easier, then install on turtle deck.
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Yogenh on December 12, 2013
I got it and it makes my spitfire look grate. Thanks a lot for this!
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Spitfire Canopy for the FT Spitfire