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Composite-ARF SuperXtra 330L (3.1m span)
make sure that you don't accidentally glue any of the bolts
to the cowling or into the blind nuts! Space the bolts about
125mm (5") apart, so that the lowest 2 bolts will be about
35mm from the edges off the square cutout in the bottom of
the cowling, which retains it properly.
Finally remove all the bolts and cowling, and glue the 9
blind nuts in place properly using a thick mixture of 30
minute epoxy and micro-balloons, as shown here.
Cockpit Canopy
The canopy frame mounting has already been completed at the factory for you. It is held in place
with 4 bolts (M4 x 12mm) and and the holes are counter-bored so that the bolt-heads sit flush
with the fuselage surface. Fitting the clear canopy into the frame is a little bit tricky, but this is a
step by step guide of how to do it successfully:
Sand the inside edges of the canopy frame carefully with rough sandpaper, to ensure a perfect
fit of the canopy inside. Lay the canopy on top of the frame, and mark the rough shape with a
felt pen or wax crayon. Cut the outer border of the clear canopy with sharp scissors, about 12mm
(1/2") too big all around. Unless you are in a very warm
room, we recommend that the canopy is slightly warmed up
with a hair dryer to prevent cracking - but be careful not to
melt or deform it! When the canopy fits inside the frame
roughly, mark the final cut line on it. Then cut it to exact
shape with a 6 - 8 mm overlap all around.
Make several hand-holds with wide paper masking tape
(see photo) to make holding and positioning the canopy
easy. Push the canopy up tightly inside the back of the
frame and fix the bottom 2 back corners with one drop of
slow CA each (ZAP-O or Plasti-ZAP recommended).
Note: Do NOT use any CA accelerator/kicker - you will
immediately 'fog' the clear canopy!
Tape the front of the canopy to the frame temporarily.
Mount the canopy frame to the fuselage (use all 4 bolts),
and tape the back of the canopy frame tightly to the fuse-
lage. Using the masking tape handles to pull the canopy
outwards firmly against the frame, working from the back
towards the front, glue the edges of the canopy in place in
2 more places each side, with just a single small drop of CA
at each position, all the time checking that the edge of the
canopy is tight up against the frame at the front.
Then make visual check from the front and back to make
sure sure that the canopy is straight. Now that the canopy
techsupport@composite-arf.com
(above) M3 blind nuts, fitted
reversed, and fixed with thick
epoxy and micro-balloons mixture
inside the motor dome.
Finished in 1 hour
(above) Counterbore the 4 holes
for the canopy frame bolts so that
the heads sit against the plywood
plates in the fuselage.
(above) The canopy frame is held
onto the fuselage with 4 plywood
tongues and M3 bolts/blind nuts.
Notice canopy finally glued in with
epoxy and microballoons mixture.
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