How Do You Finish Your Cockpit Interior By James Goss       I have seen many beautiful model airplanes over the years that I could truly say “I wish that was my plane”. It was evident that the builder had spent many hours getting everything just right. There are two main components of a finished model that really stands out, and has the greatest impact on the overall looks of the model. These are the cockpit and engine cowling. I consider these to be a separate component from the rest of the plane and should be treated as an individual project when it comes to finishing them. If you end up with defects in either one, no matter how perfect the rest of the plane is, the job will now be less than it could have been. Of the two, I would say the cockpit is the greatest challenge to get right and this article will deal with how you can improve this task.      The method you choose for the cockpit will depend on what type of finish the fuselage will have. If it is glassed and painted you will use one method, if it is covered with a film you will use another method. Since film is the most popular way to finish a model at this day and time, I will discuss it first. No doubt the most common approach with film is to glue the canopy to the film after the interior of the cockpit has been also covered. Then run some pin stripe tape around the edge of the cockpit to hide the edge line. This method does look nice when finished and I have used it many times over the years. A big disadvantage of using this method is that wrinkles may develop where you covered the inside floor area and you have no access to remove them.  They become part of the interior and just get worse as time goes on. I remember on one plane, I think it was a twin dualist 40; I had these wrinkles to develop on the first hot day of the season. They really made the job look second rate. I decided to use a magnifying glass to cast a hot spot on the covering through the plastic canopy. To my surprise the magnifying glass did work. I thought, “ hey this is a great idea”, about that time I burnt a hole in the covering. If you use this trick be careful, once you burn a hole in the covering, the hole looks worse than the wrinkle.      You can secure the canopy by using screws, but the plastic is so thin it will usually split around the screw holes after a few flights if you don't enforce them. Even though I have used this method in the past, and it does work ok, here is a better way. I consider this method to be the ultimate way to finish a canopy interior on a plane that is going to be covered with film. Before you start covering, make a second cockpit floor, as well as the front and rear ends. Get these to fit perfect by sanding them to fit the contour of the fuselage. These dummy floor pieces will be used later.  Cover the fuselage as always and bring the covering around the canopy area and pull it to the inside area. Terminate the covering by anchoring it to the cockpit floor, front and rear ends also. After it is secured, cut the film so there is about 1-inch left on the over lap all around the canopy area.      A problem you have if you paint the interior of the cockpit is how to terminate the covering without its edges showing. This technique solves the problem because the second set of cockpit floors will cover up the edges of the film. You can prepare the second set of floor material for painting before you install it in the cockpit. Remember that you have already shaped the floor and ends to fit before you started covering the fuse. This is done to avoid scratching the covering with your sandpaper. You will need to seal the floor before painting it so no grain will show, even though a small amount of grain showing will not hurt anything. Two or three coats of thinned epoxy will do a good job. If you want a better finish, us thinned epoxy and fiber cloth. Glassing will give you the ultimate finish with absolutely no grain showing after painting. I always wait about painting until it is installed in the cockpit. I do this because you need to fill the area where the floor butts into the front and back area, sand and paint. Once it is painted and everything looks good, you are ready to install the canopy.      Like I said earlier, you can use striping tape to seal around the edges of the canopy, but there is a better way. If I choose not to use screws to hold the canopy on I will use this technique. Hold the canopy in place, make sure it is balanced on both sides, and mark a pencil line around its perimeter. To get the glue to bond to the cowling, you must sand the outer surface of the canopy, on the inside, with some 400 grit or maybe 320 grit.  Stay within 3/8 inch of the outer edge while sanding, this area will be painted over later and the sand marks will not show up. This takes care of the bonding problem for the canopy, but now you have got to improve the bond to the covering. The best way to achieve this is to use a t-pin and punch hundreds of holes into the area underneath the canopy that will be glued to the covering. This is better than removing a strip from the covering. Some instructions will tell you to cut this strip about 1/4 inch wide and remove it so the canopy will be glued to the wood. If you do this, the covering may pull loose from underneath the canopy in the future. By creating hundreds of little holes through the covering and the balsa, the glue will bond the canopy to the wood and also lock the covering in place.  By having the pencil mark in place you will be assured of getting the holes under the canopy so the holes will not be seen.      Never use ca glue to install the canopy. You need to be able to move the canopy around for adjustment if needed. Once you have it in position you can use masking tape to temporarily hold it in place. Place some waxed paper over the canopy and start placing rubber bands around the canopy and fuse to really hold it in place. You may need to shim some small pieces of wood under the rubber bands at the edges of the canopy to really push the edges down. I normally use R/C- 56 glue for this job because if I want to remove the canopy, just heat the glue and it will become soft again.                   After the canopy sets for at least 24 hours, you are ready for the finishing task. If you really want a nice looking project, do not use striping tape. Paint the outer edge of the canopy to hide the glue underneath. Be sure to use plastic masking tape for this job because it will not bleed at the edges. Sometimes I paint the edges of the canopy before I install it on the fuselage. It is a little easier that way because you don't have to worry about getting paint on the fuse. If you follow these steps I can guarantee that you will have a job that is second to none.      If the fuselage is not covered you may want to use this technique. When you fiberglass the fuse and plan on having a first place finish, this is the way to go. The idea here is to blend the canopy into the fuselage. Place the canopy in position as before and make a pencil mark around the outer edges. Remove the canopy and cut a trench into the fuse even with the pencil mark. Cut the trench deep enough so the edge of the canopy will fit down into it and be flush with fuse. All this should be done before you paint or prime the fuse. The cockpit interior must be finished, of course painted as before, and the canopy can now be glued in place. You can use ca glue here because it is on the outside of the canopy and will not fog up the interior. When the glue has dried, fill around the canopy edges with your favorite filler. I always use epoxy with micro balloons added. You can smooth out the filler so it looks like the canopy is part of the fuselage and sand smooth. You can paint the edges or framework on the canopy when you paint the fuse. You can't beat this technique when it comes to a beautiful finish.      I have used both these techniques many times with good results. You can find faster methods to finish your cockpit, but none that will produce the sane quality of work. Remember when you look at a model plane, what do you see first? The canopy and cowling is what gets my attention, so why not make them stand out with pride in your work and really do a first class job on them. I will have the cowling finishing methods in a later article. If you ever have the inside of the canopy to fog at various times of the year, you can prevent this. Simply drill a small hole in one or both sides of the canopy next to the floor so they will not be noticed. These weep holes will allow the canopy to breathe.