frame and tape/clamp firmly in position again, and
drill thru’ the rear face of the canopy and the front
face of the hatch to suit the pin diameter of your
favourite style of hatch-catch. File the slot in the top
of the hatch for the handle, and glue the catch in po-
sition in the usual way by trapping it in place with
epoxy and micro-balloons.
If you want to do any internal cockpit detailing, or
paint the inside of the canopy frame, you should do
this now, before gluing on the clear canopy. Note
that on most full-size Hawks the rear cockpit ‘hoop’
is white - and it is actually part of the fuselage and
not part of the canopy frame!
The fibreglass canopy frame is about 1mm inside
the surface of the fuselage all around, so that the
clear canopy fits flush with the fuselage surface.
Fit the frame onto the fuselage, and clamp firmly in
position to the side flanges, as shown. When the
clear canopy is finally fixed into position, you can
reach thru’ the nosegear opening to remove these
clamps, but
only
if you have fitted a rearward-re-
tracting nosegear. If you are fitting a ‘scale’ forward-
retracting gear, then you can use tape to fix it in
position to the side flanges - and then cut thru’ the
tape by sliding a thin knife or razor blade thru’ the
joint between the fuselage and cockpit frame.
Place the canopy over the frame and carefully mark
a centreline on the back and front of the canopy and
frame, on masking tape, viewing from the front and
back to be sure that the canopy is not twisted.
Cut the clear canopy to shape using small curved
scissors in a warm room to minimise the chance of
cracking it. Trim the back and front of the canopy
first, leaving the sides of the clear canopy over-
hanging the fuselage. Note that you need to cut
about 7 or 8 mm
outside
(behind) the line moulded
into the canopy at the back - and this line should be
positioned approx. at the front of the rear fibreglass
flange. When it almost fits, make the final small ad-
justments using sharp (new) 240 grit wet-and-dry
sandpaper (used dry) on a hard flat sanding-block
until the back and front fit is perfect. Then tape firmly
in position and mark the cut lines on the sides, and trim and sand in the same manner until you
are happy with the fit.
Because the canopy fits over the outside of the frame, and flush with the fuselage on all sides, it
is quite difficult to glue it into position. A solution is to screw it to the frame at all 4 corners, using
Fox Composites Co., Ltd.
27
(above) Clamp canopy frame firmly in po-
sition when drilling the holes for front
dowel and hatch catch pin at the back.
(below) 3mm ply reinforcing plate glued
into canopy frame over hatch catch pin.
Hatch catch trapped in position inside
the hatch with epoxy and micro mixture.
Don’t forget to oil or wax the catch pin
first just in case you get some glue on it !
