Todd's canopies

[judoka5051]

Ok Guys and Gals,

I've figured it out! I can make RV8 canopies (as it turns out I started with the hardest one first, go figure...) Here's a couple of pics of them. I'll be contacting Doug to get an ad up this week. Thanks for the support!

Lance

http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/ju...tml?sort=3&o=1

http://s1042.photobucket.com/user/ju...tml?sort=3&o=0

[David Paule]

Congratulations on your progress!

Dave

[Djgeib]

They look awesome!! Waiting for my wing kit but I'm sure I'll be taking to you in the future.

[judoka5051]

Hey Charlie,

How dark a tint are you talking about? I can tell you that even the tint shown does a fantastic job of keeping the heat and glare down. I've flown with both and I can definitely recommend the tinted canopy, but then again I live on the surface of the sun (S. Florida).

[Hwood]

Hey lance....Congrats on the progress! The canopies look great....can't wait to get started.... You will be hearing from me soon!

[Flyin'Bryan]

Even more incentive to get the wings and fuse done. Future purchaser when I'm ready for it......

[RV-4]

Hi Lance

What thinkness of plexiglass sheet do you use for your canopy??

I know Todd used to employ 220 mm sheet for an RV-4 canopy which is way better than what Aeroplastic is using ( 170 mm )..

The difference was noticeable and it was way easier to work with..

Thanks

Bruno

[OkieDave]

Originally Posted by RV-4

Hi Lance

What thinkness of plexiglass sheet do you use for your canopy??

I know Todd used to employ 220 mm sheet for an RV-4 canopy which is way better than what Aeroplastic is using ( 170 mm )..

The difference was noticeable and it was way easier to work with..

Thanks

Bruno

You might check your figures...220mm is 8 2/3 inches. F-16 canopies aren't that thick!

[judoka5051]

Hey Bruno,

The sizes are inches in decimal form. For instance 0.22 is 'pretty close' to 1/4, so that's what most folks call it. The same goes for 0.177 which is 'about' 3/16 (3/16 is .187 in the rest of the world).

As far as the difference between workability between the two, I can't tell any difference between pieces from the manufacturer I use, and I've personally ruined a lot of both lately! Maybe different manufacturers glass has different properties.

I just finished an email to another gentleman concerning thickness and it follows:

-----------

I've given the thickness a lot of thought, and personally, I'm going with 3/16 for my RV8 project for two reasons. First the final thickness isn't the same as original once the plastic is formed. At it's thinnest, it's about 1/8 inch (for 3/16 original size), so by the time both sizes are blown, they're about 1/32 different... That's not going to change the results of a bird strike. Bird strikes are a result of bad luck, and whether or not it goes through the canopy depends on how bad your luck is!

Second, and most important to me is weight. Plexiglass is surprisingly heavy, and the difference between 3/16 and 1/4 is nearly 5 lbs for an RV8, probably 3 or 4 for the RV3. To me that's a lot of weight that's doing nothing! If you read my posts you'll see that I'm a little OCD about weight. I built an RV8A that weighed 975 lbs ready to fly, and had amazing performance.

The same plane had a Todd's tinted canopy, and I was very happy with it. The RV6 I fly now has a clear one, and it's like flying a terrarium, hot, hot, hot. Plus I need to wear a long sleeve shirt and hat. That's exactly what I wanted to do in S. Florida on 95 degree days.

Hope this helps,

Lance

[RV-4]

OkieDaveoopppssss...forgot the dot..it is more like .220 mm...

Lance: thanks for the reply..

The reason I asked is that I'm on my fourth canopy on my RV-4 (Bought it with a crack in the first ) and I had enough of the wobbly ones from Vans so I asked Todd to make me one that wouldn't flex as much and that is when he told me about the thinkness he was using..and the results was as I expected..it is nice and feel solid versus the last one I had on the aircraft which was so thin that I'm surprise it lasted this long..

I wish you the best in your new business and I'm sure that you will have plenty of business with the folks here..

Cheers

Bruno