Puffin - Trial and error engineering

[Occupant]

Think I figured most of it out(maybe)? some holes were already there but hidden under the plug on the vacuum tool. I also realized it wasn't creating a vacuum so set it deeper to allow bridging toe the exterior first to create a seal and let the vacuum do its work. on top of all that I was so close to the vacuum hose couldn't draw down much. addressed all those issues and still having more issues - namely material size so far limited to what fits in the toaster over I'm using as a heat source. going to make a insulated foam hot box powered by a heat gun (internal baffled to prevent blowing up material like a balloon) and use a full sized sheet 11x17 vs something cut to fit within a toaster oven. am I missing anything else?

FYI hole on the top is thru serves double duty 1) pull vacuum when forming 2) drill location indicator for finished canopy 3) drain hole for air/water when diving/surfacing - the cockpit is perforated to do this as well

[Subculture]

Make sure any vent to vacuum is well below any area of plastic you wish drawn tightly over the mould.

[Occupant]

Back for third attempt at vacuum forming, still not getting it hot enough - went low tech with a heat gun vs buy/build a heat source. it started to drape but not quite soft enough. Once it started draping i hit the perimeter with the heat gun until it softened and the vacuum did its magic. got most of it, not all of it and one tiny little wrinkle in it. not bad for a third try.