How to make clear canopies for your RC Planes

Hi all,

In this article I'm going to be showing you quick tip on how to give your models a much more scale look by simply replacing an opaque canopy with a clear one.

 Today I'll be showing two different ways to achieve a see-through canopy, they'll both start and end the same, but when it comes time to use the clear plastic...things will get a little different.

First you are going to print out the canopy template. Today I'll be using a canopy from a D.520 I'm working on. Even though it isn't a bubble canopy or a windshield the process for building one will be the same.

To start we're going to trace out the canopy frame, and if you don't know what that looks like, you can do what I do. I like to try and find a manufactured version of whatever model I'm working on and look for an image of a replacement canopy for the given plane.

After that you're gonna start cutting out where the windows will be, I find that a couple of light passes with a X-acto knife works great.

Now here is where the two variants will be different you can either do it my prefered way which is quicker and easier but a bit more expensive the other will be talked about later in the article.

So for the quicker version you're going to need a thermal laminator and thermal laminating pouches. What you're going to do is cut out enough of the plastic to fully cover the canopy.

Then, run it through the laminator and start cutting it out.

If you wanted to do the other style what you would do is get some spray adhesive (3M 77) and glue the frame to some clear plastic from something like a soda bottle, and then cut it out and assemble as shown below.

Time for assembly, and no matter what variant you are doing the construction process will be the same. To start you're going to want to tape together the flaps where you would regularly glue it. And make sure there isn't a gap between the two flaps.

Repeat the process for both sides.

Now flip it over and lay down a thin bead of glue right along the joint. Try your best to not get any glue on the clear plastic, (outside the frame). if you get some on the clear part it's no big deal it just won't look as good.

Your canopy is now complete and is ready to be mounted on your plane.

Thanks for reading my article, if you have any ideas on how improve the design or if you have another way of making a canopy I'd love to hear it.