Homemade cockpit canopy of a model airplane. Blowing lantern glass

How to make a cockpit canopy at home and at minimal cost?
I thought that this topic had not been relevant for a long time, but if you take into account the number of questions received, I understand that I got excited. Therefore, I decided to devote a separate article to how I make lanterns on a model from a plastic bottle. What is pleasing about this process is that business is combined with pleasure. And the costs are really minimal and come down to the cost of the drink plastic bottle from which it will be used as a material. I don’t know about anyone, but for some reason I like lanterns made from beer bottles the most. However, let's get down to business...

Actually, there’s not so much to do, you need to make a blank. To do this, we take a block, I used linden, it is more uniform and easier to process. First we process side surfaces to obtain the desired shape of the bottom surface. Dimensions can be taken from the drawing, from the top view, or by directly measuring the fuselage. It should look like a trapezoid. Then, on a piece of whatman paper or cardboard, I copy the profile of the future booth from the drawing and make a pattern. I use it to mark the blank with an allowance along the length and bottom:

After this, naturally, the top of the blank is processed along the contour. There are many ways, first you can do this:

and then like this:

After 20-30 minutes you get something like this:

We apply markings to the ends of the workpiece:

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I copied the contours directly from the fuselage onto the same Whatman paper and made patterns.
After this, I pre-processed the back of the blank:

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Then he tore off the front:

Now all that remains is to refine our clumsy (in the literal sense of the word) work and give it a finished look. 20 minutes of sanding and we get a cool blank:

Now you will have to put your work aside for a while and rest a little, especially since this is simply necessary to continue working.
Having assessed visually (and maybe even instrumentally) the dimensions of our blank, we head to the store, where the largest possible range of drinks in large plastic packaging is presented. I don’t know why, but I prefer brown-tinted booths, so I was “forced” to look for a lantern blank in the beer section. The 2.5 liter bottle of Bolshaya Kruzhka beer was almost perfect in both form and content. Having used the contents of the workpiece for its intended purpose, carefully cut off the bottom and stuff the blank into it. To avoid having to shrink the plastic a lot, we somehow fix the blank inside the workpiece.

November 1, 2019 The next 17th virtual bench model competition DiSHow-2019 has started.

Preliminary schedule of competitive and non-competitive publications:
Monday - non-competitive works;
Tuesday-Friday - competitive works;
Saturday-Sunday - free days.

Depending on the number of works submitted to the competition, the schedule may change. We kindly ask authors to carefully monitor the publication of their works and check the nomination of published works. If you have any questions, please contact the administration immediately.

Good luck to all!

Two simple ways making bindings on aircraft model canopies.

Sergey Mashnov aka Sam Blake

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One of the types of work when assembling aircraft models is the manufacture of glazing on the cockpit canopy.

There are several technological methods for this. I would like to introduce you to two of them, which in my opinion are the simplest. To do this, in the first case we will make masks on glass of a simple shape, in the second - on curved surfaces.

For the first (1) we need painter's, car or, best of all, special modeling tape and a very sharp knife. For the second (2) - BF-2 glue. It is advisable to take it in pharmacies and, most importantly, that it contains ethyl alcohol. It is advisable to check it before using it on an unnecessary transparent sprue. Now the Chinese can even forge the mausoleum on Red Square overnight, not to mention the glue recipe.
The glue itself is quite fluid, but I dilute it even more with alcohol for better spreading. However, in this case, you have to turn the lantern over so that the glue spreads evenly over the surface without accumulating at the bottom.

1. Cut off the adhesive tape and stick it onto the glazing, if possible, so that its smooth edges coincide with the binding of the lantern. It is also advisable to avoid applying another layer of adhesive tape. Using a toothpick, we draw lines along the binding, achieving maximum adherence of the tape. Then, with a pencil, we draw lines along the edges of the binding so that it is better visible where to cut through the masks.
2. Using a thin stick (I use pieces of stiff wire or a piece of an umbrella knitting needle for this), apply glue evenly over the entire surface of the glazing. We repeat the procedure after two hours, applying a second layer of glue.
Final drying requires at least three hours

1-2. Using a sharp knife, carefully draw along the drawn lines, trying not to catch the covered areas.

1-2.Remove the cut strips of tape and glue, exposing those places that should be painted over.

— your guide to the world of scale modeling!

To be honest, I am very glad to pick up the pen again (in a figurative sense, of course!), and to begin publishing new materials for our information - educational portal about scale modeling.

The previous few months were spent in intense work, exploring new promising business opportunities. I also had to travel around towns and villages. But final result I am quite satisfied with my activities. Important management decisions have been made that will help existing areas find new strength for development.

I also finally decided to create my own online store for scale modelers. I had plenty of reasons for this. Perhaps the main one is deep dissatisfaction with current market offers in this area. And in order not to freak out, not to fall into severe depression, I will implement my vision of these processes through my personal portal.

Website design is already in full swing. The domain has been purchased. It's called scaletao.com. Follow the link and you will see a working version of the site. It was laid out specifically for testing architectural elements that are not available for debugging on a local server. I will soon write a separate article about all the details of this work, the name of the site, its mission, the range of products.

All this did not leave me any free time for actual modeling and writing articles for the site. But time does not stand still. Now I can start creating one model. God willing, this year I will still be able to do at least something. I think it will be the PAK FA model. In a fairly simple version. Almost out of the box. Painting and decals only.

Well, at the same time I’ll start writing materials for the site.

Today we will talk about how to cover the already painted parts inside the airplane model.

And really...

After all, work on an aircraft model begins with the creation of the cockpit. Complete joining, painting and gluing of all parts that make up the cabin volume. A kind of capsule is created, which is then carefully glued into the fuselage.

In general, the aircraft cockpit may be the most important and spectacular element on the model. Very often, it takes almost half of the assembly time to create it. This applies to extended model assembly options using an after-layout.

So it would be a shame to lose all this beauty because of one awkward movement with an airbrush or brush. When you apply paint to the cockpit area. Which, moreover, cannot be pulled out of the model.

WHAT TO DO??

Actually, every modeler knows what to do in such cases. Need to think about such problems before they occur . And take appropriate measures to prevent these accidents from occurring.

The result of such thinking is often the application foam rubber. A material with excellent properties to fill the entire volume of space in which it is located. At the same time, it absorbs a significant amount of paint.

You need to take this very piece of foam rubber and push it tightly inside. The main problem in this matter is simple. You need to stuff in 2 times more foam than the actual volume. Moreover, you need to do this carefully enough so as not to damage small and fragile parts of the cabin.

Be careful. The edges of such an improvised “cork” should not extend onto the surface to be painted.

This is an extremely simple, but very effective way. The main thing in this matter is to constantly use available materials.

But what else more important- constantly needed think. It's a lot more difficult than it seems. But it is critically important in life :)

Unfortunately, the drawings are not of very high quality, and do not make it possible to clearly see the picture, but the approach itself, described in detail in the article, is very interesting

How to blow out the fairing (canopy) of an airplane.

In the life of every homemade airplane builder, the question arises: “How to make a beautiful aerodynamically streamlined canopy for your brainchild?” Usually there is a lot of thought about the lantern frame, reinforcing components and other attributes to give the finished look to such a structure. Very often, home-built aircraft “take off” with an open cockpit, either due to the design, or due to simple ignorance of how to do it differently. We all often sin with this very ignorance.
Such problems can be solved by manufacturing a lantern of the highest quality using the blowing method. The materials used for the process are usually plexiglass, plexiglass or Lexan. The latter is distinguished by the greatest labor intensity and difficulty in manufacturing a drop-shaped lantern, but by the highest quality of the latter.
The direct relationship between labor intensity and resulting quality lies in the melting point of the material used. The lower the melting temperature, the easier the manufacturing, the lower the strength of the finished product and the resistance to mechanical stress and damage (scratches, for example). In addition, low-melting materials are usually thicker (to maintain strength) and heavier. As a rule, plex is used with a thickness of up to 3 mm, while Lexan can be used as little as 0.75 mm and even thinner, although this significantly complicates the production and responsibility when working with it. Through trial and error (damaged fairings) it was determined that the optimal sheet thickness should be at least 1.5 mm. If you want to try thinner - no problem, you just need to install a supporting frame like the stringers of a ship's hull set under a plastic bubble, otherwise curvatures and unevenness are inevitable.

1. Oven
The oven is perhaps the most labor-intensive part of the entire fairing manufacturing process. The whole principle of the process is quite clear from the figure below. The stove is made of aluminum corner and the walls are lined with the same material. The size is not critical and is rather determined by the required size of the canopy being manufactured for your aircraft. If we are talking about the manufacture of a significant number of fairings, then the most suitable oven dimensions will be about 240x120x120 cm and the oven itself can be made of steel corners and steel sheets for lining the walls. The presence of thermal insulation from asbestos boards on all walls is mandatory.
Heating is carried out by propane burners evenly distributed along the bottom of the furnace and their number is determined by the overall size (usually determined without installing the workpiece with Lexan in the furnace by the ability to maintain the set temperature - for plexi -200, plexiglass -250, for Lexan -350 degrees).
The front wall of the furnace should be made in the form of a door with a peephole to monitor the process.

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2. Package
A flange set of Lexan blank (or other material) is made from 12 mm plywood and consists of a base - a solid sheet with an installed inlet for supplying compressed air; a sheet of Lexan is laid on it (gasket is required). The base is shown in the figure.
Next, a matrix is ​​laid on top of the Lexan, along which the fairing itself will be blown. This entire “sandwich” is held together with bolts. Do not forget to place gaskets made of material corresponding to the temperature with a margin between both sides of the Lexan (from 200 to 350 degrees, depending on what you will blow).

3. Blowing process
The blowing process is described below, although the pictures themselves do not require explanation - everything is very clear. The oven should be heated very slowly, bringing the temperature to the required level (you may need to experiment without using a sheet of plastic) and carefully monitor the condition of the future fairing. When it starts to sag slightly, you need to be ready to start. This moment is very close to a more significant sag of the entire workpiece and is shown schematically in the first figure. At the moment of sagging down by about 10 centimeters (again depending on the thickness of the sheet), you can start blowing. A hose from a 40-liter receiver (cylinder) must be connected to the compressed air supply inlet. It would be enough. The air supply is adjusted manually using a tap. You should pump the bubble slowly and watch carefully for a potential breakthrough. If the bubble is inflated, the finished fairing will have bulges on the sides. As a result, this will make it difficult to free it from the matrix (it simply will not pass freely out) and it will have to be destroyed. It is better to also have a side viewing window, and work with an assistant who will promptly report the appropriate size of the bubble to the sides.
If local bulges are discovered during the blowing process, you must immediately stop further pumping and turn off the air supply valve and disconnect it from the inlet. The bubble will deflate a little and after a couple of minutes it can be pumped up again. This operation is repeated many times until the fairing takes the desired shape.

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Be careful about the bubble sagging over the heat source - too close can turn into "too far" from the finished lantern and leak onto the steel plate.
When the blown fairing reaches the desired shape, turn off the gas supply to the propane burners and immediately open the oven door, continuing to maintain the shape of the fairing with short bursts of compressed air as needed.
Subsequently, the workpiece is processed with the greatest care (Lexan is very fragile under mechanical stress) and the fairing is given the required shape at the installation site.

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4. Conclusion.
While making a stove is actually a very labor intensive job, especially at home, making fairings is surprisingly simple and easy compared to traditional method, using time-absorbing making of the block and the matrix, dividing it into two parts, making two halves of the lantern, and connecting it. With sufficient skill (and good helper) the fairings “pop” out of the oven like candy from a pastry machine. It's great that they have an ideal aerodynamic shape. If the matrix of your future flashlight has a narrowing (viewed from the tail), then the fairing will take on an absolute drop-shaped shape, cut in half lengthwise. Plexiglas wrappers are incredibly easy to form, perfect in shape and transparent. It can be said about Lexan that they are much more effective, with the exception of the greater responsibility required during production.
Plexiglas fairings are painted very well from the inside, acquiring a sparkling ideal look, although of course a Lexan canopy can be a good “oven” in sunny weather and you need to think about protecting your head from sunstroke and ventilation.

Hello, dear and beginning modelers.

While reading the articles, I noticed that many modellers have problems making cockpits for their models. Often the cabins in the photo are either missing, or cut out from a bottle, and do not have a very aesthetic appearance. Modellers do not want to make a mold for the manufacture of this very cabin, considering this work to be labor-intensive and not necessary for the manufacture of one model. I want to convince you of the opposite - everything is very simple. And it's not expensive at all.

We will need: a hair dryer, a pine block, a hacksaw, a plane and an empty plastic bottle.
We start by making templates for the future form. First we make the template for the top part.

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Next is a side view template.
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Well, and of course, a template for the front and back of our future form. We place these templates at angles according to the side view.
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We're done with the templates, let's start making the mold.
We take a block, or maybe a package of boards connected with screws or glue, and transfer our side view onto it. Cut off the excess.
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We transfer the front and rear views to the corresponding planes.
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For ease of work, we attach a block to the bottom of the mold. We clamp it in a vice and use a plane to remove all excess.
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Our form is almost ready, all that remains is to process it with sandpaper. We spent two hours on everything.
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It's all about the bottle. I advise you to use blue or colored ones - transparent ones look worse. We stuff our form into a bottle and heat it with a hairdryer. If necessary, secure the bottle to the mold with screws.
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Cut it out and try it on.

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Everything fits. We secure the cabin with aluminum tape. Using a thin tube we imitate rivets.
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As I said, it's simple.
Good luck to everyone in the buildings and flights.