I've been fitting my canopy skirt for the past week or so, and thought that I'd share a few things I've learned while they are fresh in my mind. Please remember that I am not trying to build a Grand Champion my first time out, and these are things that worked for me...YMMV! Hopefully, those of you who still have this task to do will find heart that if I coudl do it...anyone can!
1) I trimmed the upper edges (the part next to the bubble) on both left and right sides before fitting. This worked out well. The instructions say to leave some margin, but of course I didn't read that until after I had trimmed to the scribe line. It worked out...but I sure wouldn't trim a millimeter inside the line!
2) I laid each side on separately, starting by hooking the rear in place, then seeing where they laid naturally. I then used this approximation to fix where the front would lay, and drilled from front to back.
3) After drilling all the way to the back on both sides, the fit to the canopy was very nice and natural. I joined the two halves temporarily with an aluminum splice clecoed in place. It was at this point that I discovered that both sides were standing out from the fuselage (at the bottom, in the curve) by a quarter inch or so. Here is where I thought I was going to have to do some cutting and glassing, but....
4) I unclecoed one side from the bubble, and by pulling the rear of the skirt up on the bubble, I got a nice tight fit on the fuselage, and maintained a good fit on the bubble. So I glassed in my previous holes and started drilling again. This time, I got a near-perfect fit (as close as I felt was needed) all along. So lesson learned - don't settle for the first fit on the bbble - pull the skirt up and towards the center until it fits both the bubble and the fuselage!
5) Once I had a nice tight fit all around, I glass the two halves together in the back. I filled up underneath to build it up a little, like I've seen on several sites, in preparation for cutting it shorter, tp clear the empennage fairing. But I really liked the way the dovetail fit tightly to the fuselage, and hated to cut it off, so.....
6) I mounted the vertical fin, and taped the empennage fairing in place. I then slid the canopy back, and found that the interference that prevents you from sliding the canopy back far enough to remove it could be fixed easily with just a slight outward flaring of the opening for the center rail. I'm sure this will vary from ship to ship, but mine worked out nicely.
Overall, I am pleased how well things turned out. I feel that it is all fitting well enough now that I am going to do final fitting and assembly, then move on to the outer fiberglass finishing.
So anothe major hurdle that I have been dreading is passing under me, and I can take back up on those damn baffles!
Paul Dye
1) I trimmed the upper edges (the part next to the bubble) on both left and right sides before fitting. This worked out well. The instructions say to leave some margin, but of course I didn't read that until after I had trimmed to the scribe line. It worked out...but I sure wouldn't trim a millimeter inside the line!
2) I laid each side on separately, starting by hooking the rear in place, then seeing where they laid naturally. I then used this approximation to fix where the front would lay, and drilled from front to back.
3) After drilling all the way to the back on both sides, the fit to the canopy was very nice and natural. I joined the two halves temporarily with an aluminum splice clecoed in place. It was at this point that I discovered that both sides were standing out from the fuselage (at the bottom, in the curve) by a quarter inch or so. Here is where I thought I was going to have to do some cutting and glassing, but....
4) I unclecoed one side from the bubble, and by pulling the rear of the skirt up on the bubble, I got a nice tight fit on the fuselage, and maintained a good fit on the bubble. So I glassed in my previous holes and started drilling again. This time, I got a near-perfect fit (as close as I felt was needed) all along. So lesson learned - don't settle for the first fit on the bbble - pull the skirt up and towards the center until it fits both the bubble and the fuselage!
5) Once I had a nice tight fit all around, I glass the two halves together in the back. I filled up underneath to build it up a little, like I've seen on several sites, in preparation for cutting it shorter, tp clear the empennage fairing. But I really liked the way the dovetail fit tightly to the fuselage, and hated to cut it off, so.....
6) I mounted the vertical fin, and taped the empennage fairing in place. I then slid the canopy back, and found that the interference that prevents you from sliding the canopy back far enough to remove it could be fixed easily with just a slight outward flaring of the opening for the center rail. I'm sure this will vary from ship to ship, but mine worked out nicely.
Overall, I am pleased how well things turned out. I feel that it is all fitting well enough now that I am going to do final fitting and assembly, then move on to the outer fiberglass finishing.
So anothe major hurdle that I have been dreading is passing under me, and I can take back up on those damn baffles!
Paul Dye
