With the announcement that the factory is closing (March 2026) one item that will be hard to source in the near term is canopies.
Back when I owned 1153 - a Legacy Sonex - I was waiting for a replacement canopy. While waiting I got hold of a flat sheet of 1/8” Lexan and simply (and carefully) bent it over the canopy frame - bolted it in place and went flying. Now don’t get me wrong. Without the “blown” bulge of the correct canopy it was a bit tight in the cockpit and probably only worked because I had the lowered seat pan mod. But it DID work and the plane didn’t seem to fly any differently that with the correct canopy. I’m 5’ 11”.
So if you need a canopy - there are alternatives…….
Can’t find any handy pics but it appears in this video at about 1:20:
Does anyone know who was making the canopies? I seriously doubt they were made in house. Hopefully the suppliers will be able to continue to supply parts like this.
Nice trip down the Hudson corridor - right in my neighborhood. That canopy did have a “flat” look to it and I would have thought it would have affected the laminar flow of air, but I guess not enough to make much of a difference.
It seems that a recurring theme here seems to be that should no one or no group step up to save Sonex, the community would like to get the contacts to vendors that supplied certain parts or assemblies to sonex. i.e.: Canopies, cowls, fuel tanks & oops fittings, etc.
I used to work at Schweizer. They did canopies all the time. Both drape tooling and blown canopies. It’s not that hard, but would take a little time, tooling, trial and error to get it right.
I recall Todd of Todd’s canopies telling me how easy it was to make canopies once you figured it out. He said he filled up a dumpster before he learned the process. Pity he’s not still around.
An early Sonex builder, from New Zealand I believe, did the same thing. He later switched to a blown canopy. He also reported no difference in flight characteristics.
I do have a new uncut canopy at my house. Not for sale because I need to replace a damaged canopy on my project, but if dimensions are helpful I could grab them.
I also have a new uncut canopy - but it is for a legacy sonex. Just haven’t gotten to it yet, so not for sale. But perhaps some kind of mould could be made from it. Not sure what would be involved with that.
I’m glad someone tried this. I have a small crack in my canopy that I need to stop drill. I was just wondering this morning if a flat piece of lexan would work. Question answered. Now I just need to fine new engine mounts somewhere so I can install my rebuilt engine.
You’re not going to be able to get a very deep “draw” this way, so not much past a “developable” surface. And it will take a bigger oven, but fewer friends thaning stretching a sheet per previous posts.
