C

Camillo

Well Known Member
Hi.
I would like to order my finishing kit along with engine and was wondering which kind of canopy to buy.

Anne told me the stock canopy is 76% sun permeable, which is the maximum darkening allowed for night flight.

Another kind of canopy is darker and is rated 59%.

Then, special canopies with extra UV protecion are also available.

Since in Italy experimental planes can't fly in the night-time, I would like to know which kind of tinting is best for me.

I understand that a tinted canopy has several benefits, as:
- protection against sun light;
- that also is protection against heat;
- exterior appearance;
- less prone for scratches to be visibile?
- other?

Can you help me, please, in the choice? On the other side I don't want to have black windows... but have no photo to look at.

Thanks.
Camillo
 
As you can see in this picture, my canopy is pretty dark. It's great in the daytime and if I was limited to only day/VFR I'd keep it. Night ops creates a lot of glare from the lighting inside the cockpit however, so I'll have to do something lighter in the future.
 
Airplane Plastics makes a dark canopy that you can special order from Van's. As I recall it's not something they specify so its a special order item. I have one for my RV-6 rebuild and picked it up directly from Jeff at Airplane Plastics in Tipp City OH.

I have a dark canopy for my Rocket and I got it from Todd Silver. He has a lot of choices on tints and can send you a sample pack. He did a really really nice job making that canopy for me.
 
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Stock Tint

Camillo,
Canopy tint is a compromise. Side benefits are always weighed against visual acuity, clear being best for visual advantages. The stock RV4 tinted canopy from Vans works well, I had one on my Harmon Rocket and my RV4. If you go with the darker tint available from Todd's canopies or others you lose some visual acuity according to the experts and in my personal experience. Even though you won't be flying at night, on cloudy days your acuity will be reduced as a percentage of available visible light. I flew 1500 hours with my stock RV4 tint with no issues and good day/night acuity.

When I was flying the F16, canopy tints were constantly discussed and in actuality, The USAF did an extensive test on many tint colors for obvious and some for secret reasons. A gold tint is best overall, too bad it's not commercially available. Darker grey tints were the worst.

Your call...:)
Ciao..
Smokey
 
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Thank-you. I think I will go with the Van's stock one lightly tinted.

Michael, I guess you have a Todd's canopy. Someone told me that even the -4 canopy (not the HR one, which obviously is) is heavier than the stock Van's. Is this true? How heavier is the -4 Todd's canopy over the Van's one?

Ciao.
Camillo
 
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