and tape in place. With the
fuselage upside down you can
now mark the position of the
slots you need to cut in the bot-
tom surface of the hatch, and
file them so that the milled 3mm
plywood hooks fit in. Remove
the tape from the fuselage rail
and wax it, and the bottom of
the hatch. Sand the front face
of the hooks to match the angle
of the front of the hatch.
Apply a
little
thick 30 minute
epoxy and micro-balloons mix-
ture inside the hatch, above the
slots. Fit the hooks into the
slots, and then quickly refit the
hatch, and tape into the correct
position.
Quickly turn the fuselage upside-down and push the
hooks firmly against the underside of the fibreglass
rail, and add some tape to prevent them dropping
under their own weight while the glue cures. Imme-
diately turn the fuselage over again so that the epoxy
flows down around the top of the hooks before cur-
ing. Remove the hatch by sliding it forward when
cured, and add add more epoxy if necessary after-
wards. The hatch catch that secures the cockpit
canopy to the hatch is fitted after the canopy frame
fixing is completed (see below).
The cockpit canopy is held onto the fuselage with a
single dowel at the front, and a hatch-catch at the
back, to fix it to the hatch. Wax the front of the
canopy frame and the front of the fuselage, where
the front securing dowel will be. With the hatch in
place on the fuselage, tape and clamp the canopy
frame firmly into final position. Drill a Ø 7mm hole
centrally thru’ the balsa reinforcing plate in the front
of the canopy frame, and into the fuselage. It is use-
ful if you have a very long drill bit for this. Take the
30mm long dowel, and sand the end 10mm of it to
prepare for gluing. Push it into the hole, so that 3 or
4mm projects into the cockpit, and tack it in place
with 1 drop of thick CA. Be careful that the CA does
not seep thru’ the hole in the frame and glue it to the
fuselage!
Carefully remove the canopy frame and secure the dowel properly with epoxy and micro-balloons
mixture, and then trim the inner end off flush with the balsa reinforcing plate. Refit the canopy
Fox Composites Co., Ltd.
26
(above) File the 3mm wide slots to match the hooks, approx.
12mm long in both the top rail and the bulkhead.
(above) Transfer the slot position to the
hatch baseplate by marking from inside.
(below) Tape the hooks firmly to the fi-
breglass top rail while the glue cures.
12mm
15mm
12mm
