Canopy or Fire Wall forward ?

[Tom Gan]

Got a judgement call for those who have been there before. I have a RV9-A QB wings and fuselage. I am at the point of either:

1) starting the tip-up canopy work and keeping the fuselage on my rolling cart

or

2) Deferring the canopy work a bit and starting some of the FWF stuff such as mounting some items on the Firewall, putting the gear legs on, hanging the engine, then start the canopy work. (Engine in hand).

For those of you who have worked through this is there any significant disadvantage to doing some of the FWF first and going back and doing the canopy work with the fuselage on its legs and the engine mounted?

Assume cockpit interior is painted, control sticks are done, Wing incidence, flap rod clearance holes, wing root fairings all done. I need to run conduit in the fuselage, pop rivet baggage floor pan, mount the pitch servo (Dynon) and run brake and fuel lines. Vent lines done. No avionics work or wiring done yet.

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

Doesn't make a whole lot of difference. I did the canopy because I wanted to get it out of the way and also have the subpanel done, which allowed me to get the instrument panel done, which allowed me to run a few wires out to firewall forward.

At some point, I think it's a good idea to be working on BOTH the canopy AND firewall forward so when you get sick of working on one, you can go spend some time working on the other.

For about 80% of the project, I think, it's a matter of completely finishing a part and then moving on to the next one. Over that last 20%, that's a recipe for going absolutely mad.

[N941WR]

Knowing what I know now, I would finish up everything FwF, do all the canopy work, and then do the cowling last.

You can damage a tip-up, if you open it before the foreskin is riveted in place.

[bkthomps]

Originally Posted by N941WR

You can damage a tip-up, if you open it before the foreskin is riveted in place.

let's stick to calling it a forward skin

[kbehrent]

If working on the FWF will keep you busy through winter, go for it. I would just avoid doing any canopy work during the cold months, otherwise you will have to heat your shop/garage which can cost you $$$.

[Bavafa]

Originally Posted by kbehrent

If working on the FWF will keep you busy through winter, go for it. I would just avoid doing any canopy work during the cold months, otherwise you will have to heat your shop/garage which can cost you $$$.

This would be my strongly recommended approach. Leave the canopy for the warmer days unless you are ready to begin now. Another advantage of doing FWF is that any wiring/cabling is done without the forward skin attached but you will need your panel sort of fitted in place.

[Tom Gan]

I think I will get both going in tandem and do the canopy frame and FWF and wait for the plexi work until the spring. This will give me more flexibility and there is plenty of work to do to hold me over the winter. I don't think I can get the canopy done before winter sets in and don't want to risk cracking the plexi. Most builders seem to take about 120 to 160 hours to get it all done so I can hold short after the frame and wait for spring 2011. Thanks much.