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good luck with the vacuum forming, it was a pity that the only company I found with a large enough machine wanted such an excessive payment !!
They recommended pulling the plastic into a concave mould rather than draping over a male form, I cannot remember their reasoning for this...
Acrylic forms easier than polycarbonate (and has better scratch resistance ), I used 4.5mm thick but have been told that most aircraft canopies are made from 3mm thick...
As for aerodynamics, the best info I have found is in Tony Foale's motorcycle handling and chassis design. After studying this, I think that if I had not reacted to the bike being leaned over with no resultant torque in the handlebars, the bike may have sorted itself out without any problems... I still cannot figure out what would bring the bike back up to vertical if the wind stopped though...
I hope to get back to the bike sometime, but it just doesn't seem to be happening at the moment... lack of a safe place for testing is a bit of a problem too...
Roger
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