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A plug for Todd's Canopies

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D

DEWATSON

Well Known Member
I made the mistake of cracking the canopy provided by Vans Aircraft on my RV8. It was a fine canopy, but I felt like I would spend a little time searching for an alternative replacement. The cost of the canopy, plus the price of shipment from Vans made me want to tolerate the crack. Someone mentioned Todd's Canopies, Inc. in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I live in north Florida, so I emailed Todd for an estimate. The price was fantastic so we made an agreement and I mailed Todd the check. I was to pay shipping when the canopy arrived. It showed up in about two weeks and it was a beauty. Tinted just the right amount and in excellent condition. I waited for my check to clear the bank...I thought I had written it for $350.00, which was the price of the canopy plus the cost for crating it. The check cleared last night, BUT it was only $300.00. I had written $350.00 in my check ledger. I emailed Todd and asked what was going on. In reality I had shorted Todd $50.00 but he filled my order and shipped the canopy anyway. I mailed him the balance this morning. All of that to say that I truly appreciate Todd's service and the quality of his product. He answers his emails and is definitely on top of his business. I'm glad that I had the pleasure of dealing with one small American company that still puts his reputation on the line.

David Watson
49FD
 
If we could jsut get him to make a side-by-side canopy. He cannot do a -6, or -7.
 
Alton,

I think he'll do it if you ask him to.

I've got to come see your project sometime. I've talked about it but haven't made it yet. I'll get there eventually. I'm about 40 miles southeast of you in Quincy, Florida.
 
I've asked David. It seems to do a side-by-side canopy requires a differnent process and he does not have the equipment.

It is going to be May before I get back to the hangar in earnest. Work commitments have kept me busier than usual.
 
AltonD said:
If we could jsut get him to make a side-by-side canopy. He cannot do a -6, or -7.
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What? I got two Cozy MKIV canopies from Todd's and that is a side by side 4 place. If he's not doing -6, -7, and -9 canopies,,,,hes missing out on a really good $$ market in comparison to the quantity he does for the canards!
 
bubble?

9GT said:
What? I got two Cozy MKIV canopies from Todd's and that is a side by side 4 place. If he's not doing -6, -7, and -9 canopies,,,,hes missing out on a really good $$ market in comparison to the quantity he does for the canards!
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Are the canards made as a single big bubble?
 
Todd Makes Personal Delivery

:)Being only about an hour north, Todd made a personal delivery of my new canopy and check out the Todd's Canopy hats. Hope to start trimming next week and he's offered to help, wow, what service. Canopy looks great with the tint.
img0113ky.jpg
 
I ordered my canopy by Phone call, send him a check and Voila...it showed up at the freight forwarded beautifully packed. He delivered as promissed....What a guy!! one of the few that are left in this world
 
RV 8 Canopy fit

I finally got around to trimming and fitting my canopy yesterday. I am sooooo pleased with it. It looks great and actually seemed to be easier to work with than the oringinal canopy. I think it is thicker. Anyway, I highly recommend these canopies. Todd has a very nice product.

David Watson
49FD
 
Try Facebook. He's one of my FB friends and has made recent posts. He's probably just on vacation or similar brief hiatus.
 
This guy is terrible! He may make the best canopies in the world but it doesn't do any good if after 6 months you're still waiting.

I am the equiptment director for a glider club and sent him one of our canopies off a Blanik L-33. It's a pretty simple single seat bubble canopy. 6 months later and we're still waiting! The club president and I are both calling him and have to remind him of who we are. I just don't understand this! I wanted him to make several canopies for various gliders.

I for sure would not recommend Todd!
 
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Veetail88 said:
So you joined this forum just to blast Todd's?
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Not at all! If you look at my user profile you'll see that I've been a member since 2010 and in fact I decided to use Todd's canopies in part due to this glowing review.

The fact of the matter is the glider has missed our major soaring encampment in Ephrata and will miss the next encampment later this month. If I knew he couldn't get it done in a timely manner I would have used someone else. There are other options....
 
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Kougarok said:
...a Blanik L-33...
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Having designed, spec'd, and helped install glider canopies, I can make a guess that Todd might be having trouble getting a good match with the original.

This is just a guess, of course. But in the last few decades of working with gliders, I have never seen a really good fit of a free-blown canopy like Todd makes on a fuselage designed for a stretch-molded transparency like on a Blanik. The free-blown process just doesn't give you the control over the 3D shape that you get from stretch molding on a mandrel. The usual thing is to get a canopy that looks about right from the side, but pooches out in the forward view. That's the sort of thing that is fairly easy to accommodate when you can adapt the canopy frame and fuselage to fit the bubble, but the Blanik is not a very good candidate for that approach.

That said, I have seen some of Todd's work, and it is pretty darn good. If it can be done with free blowing, Todd can do it.

One thing you might consider is to call the team at Aircraft Windshields in LA and ask if they have a plug for a Blanik transparency. It will be a bit pricy (around 1.8 AMU), but it will still be about a third of the Mecaplex transparency that Blanik America would sell you.

Thanks, Bob K.

Edit add: If you were at Ephrata this year, you saw the canopy I designed on Brad Hill's Tetra-15.
 
Airplane Plastics Ohio

Another possible suggestion for a source that I had a very good experience with was Airplane Plastics in Tipp City Ohio 937-232-1410.

Last April '15 I was trying to get a custom canopy fabricated (picture a fastback RV8 side tipover) for a one off design. I sent a cardboard template to Todd's and they were basically unresponsive as far as getting an idea as to when it might get done. (I think he is pretty busy or something?) When it was through July I decided to try Airplane Plastics on a recommendation. Great People to work with, helped me tweak the design for fabrication sent them the plan views and cardboard cutouts in late August and had a canopy to me by the end of September. Met the profiles I required perfectly. Just my experience, may want to give them a call. YMMV.

Gregg
 
Thanks for the responses guys! I am going to give the guys in Tipp City a try on the next project. Brad and I are in the same club. I'll take a look at his canopy next time we're out.
 
Todds Canopies are fantastic!!!! Mine has a beautiful tint, easy to fit and he told me about 3M 5200 to adhere canopy to frame with no rivets. I couldn't be any happier with the service, product and expertise in the field.
 
Dont know how many if you have actually met Todd. Found myself standing next to him at Osh a few years ago and came to realize he's funny as ****! One of those dry humors that will crack you up.
Always been very responsive to me. I've found many people have ugly email or voicemail skills. Both can set an inaccurate tone that busy people will just ignore. Some people whine about Catto, LyCon, Todd, etc. Have found all to be the tops at what they do and terrific service. Just my 2 cents....
 
flyingriki said:
Dont know how many if you have actually met Todd. Found myself standing next to him at Osh a few years ago and came to realize he's funny as ****! One of those dry humors that will crack you up.
Always been very responsive to me. I've found many people have ugly email or voicemail skills. Both can set an inaccurate tone that busy people will just ignore. Some people whine about Catto, LyCon, Todd, etc. Have found all to be the tops at what they do and terrific service. Just my 2 cents....
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I think that's pointed at me. I have excellent email and phone skills. I am a very patient person.

So I've sent him the canopy and canopy frame off our L-33 to make it easier for Todd to fabricate a new one. This obviously grounded our glider. I figured 2-3 months and get it back in time for glider season.

So it's OK for Todd to sit on our canopy and frame promising it'll be done next week? Not deliver and say Oh next week. This goes on for six months.

I am sorry that's not right!
 
According to the news....

Todd was flying with his mother, son, and daughter. His mother and son perished in the crash. Todd and his daughter are in critical condition.

Prayers for his family.


[ed. I closed this thread for now. Todd was in a crash that took the life of his mother and son. Prayers to his family. v/r,dr]
 
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