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This canopy could be the death of me!!!

dwranda

Well Known Member
Ok maybe that's a little dramatic but I'm so frustrated over this canopy. I had the euphoria inducing milestone of riveting on the last metal, the forward skin. My buddy then says let's put the canopy on. I didn't want to do it. I wanted to just revel in the moment of the last rivet going in. Well we attempted to put it on. The front catches on the forward skin in 3 places and is now deformed. The right side is now about 1/8 " further back so the canopy and rear window plexi now hit each other. That also means there's a larger gap on the right side at the front of the canopy. I only hope I can fix each problem spot so it looks half decent. I'm not building a show plane but I sure don't want people saying wow what a piece of **** canopy. Please let me know there's a light at the end of the canopy tunnel. I have a hangar waiting for me and this is what's holding me up from getting it there.
 
I hear you

I had same trouble on final fitting after riveting front skin and final assembly. Had to trim back the front canopy lip- it was thin, catching in places, bent and deformed and wavy. Basically unrepairable, for better clearance. Then epoxied with gflex epoxy reinforcing aluminum strip. This gave a 1/16 gap above the forward skin. Then smoothed out again with fairing epoxy. In the end it worked.

I didn’t post on my build as I was too embarrassed. Will post fix later today. (It fit 6 months ago but that was before final front skin riveting- it seems to be like my waist size- always changing)
Cal
 
I had same trouble on final fitting after riveting front skin and final assembly. Had to trim back the front canopy lip- it was thin, catching in places, bent and deformed and wavy. Basically unrepairable, for better clearance. Then epoxied with gflex epoxy reinforcing aluminum strip. This gave a 1/16 gap above the forward skin. Then smoothed out again with fairing epoxy. In the end it worked.

I didn’t post on my build as I was too embarrassed. Will post fix later today. (It fit 6 months ago but that was before final front skin riveting- it seems to be like my waist size- always changing)
Cal

At one point in construction my canopy fit perfectly. Certainly didn't end up that way. You're right about it changing constantly.
 
I feel your pain

I'm delighted with how my -9A turned out... except the canopy fit. I've taken to not latching it closed so that the canopy is raised and there is a slight gap at the rear edge when the aircraft is parked. That way visitors can't easily see the misfair... Good enough, but I shake my head thinking that I'll be looking at that every time I approach the plane. Nuts.

No way to really check this until the entire assembly is installed for the first time.
 
At one point in construction my canopy fit perfectly. Certainly didn't end up that way. You're right about it changing constantly.

If you weren't in such pain I would laugh. Mine changed after every permanent build step along the way.

In the end, I had to make a custom forward skin so it could be shimmed to meet the canopy curvature. Also, I used pivot bushings with offset holes to adjust the yaw, and fit at the front. For yours, it could come down to welding up the pivot holes and drilling new ones. Just swallow that pill and if it is needed, get on with it. The final days of getting to the hangar and final readiness is just like that. No hand wringing about the work, just do what is necessary regardless of the effort and $.

You could make some aluminum plugs for the pivots, then a punch the same diameter of the pins. Get the canopy to sit in the correct position, then center punch the plug to get the locations right.

I used some methods (posted) for bend forming the side rails of a completed canopy to match the fuse. It is really easy, just use a pneumatic squeezer and a wood beam and c-clamp to either bend or unbend the side rails. Get the X,Y,Z or the front and rear fixed first.

Be careful of under gapping the plexiglass to the back window least on a hot day it either locks you in the cabin or can not be closed. Funny - a hot sunny Alabama day, I sat at the hold short line at Gadsden with one hand on the canopy and one on the throttle to cool the canopy with prop blast. It got closed, and I flew home (north). It got adjusted (again) back home.

Good luck, and post continuing issues.
 
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I used some methods (posted) for bend forming the side rails of a completed canopy to match the fuse. It is really easy, just use a pneumatic squeezer and a wood beam and c-clamp to either bend or unbend the side rails. Get the X,Y,Z or the front and rear fixed first.

Hi Bill, I went back and found your original post on this, but I still don’t quite understand. Could you elaborate on these techniques?
 
If you weren't in such pain I would laugh. Mine changed after every permanent build step along the way.

In the end, I had to make a custom forward skin so it could be shimmed to meet the canopy curvature. Also, I used pivot bushings with offset holes to adjust the yaw, and fit at the front. For yours, it could come down to welding up the pivot holes and drilling new ones. Just swallow that pill and if it is needed, get on with it. The final days of getting to the hangar and final readiness is just like that. No hand wringing about the work, just do what is necessary regardless of the effort and $.

You could make some aluminum plugs for the pivots, then a punch the same diameter of the pins. Get the canopy to sit in the correct position, then center punch the plug to get the locations right.

I used some methods (posted) for bend forming the side rails of a completed canopy to match the fuse. It is really easy, just use a pneumatic squeezer and a wood beam and c-clamp to either bend or unbend the side rails. Get the X,Y,Z or the front and rear fixed first.

Be careful of under gapping the plexiglass to the back window least on a hot day it either locks you in the cabin or can not be closed. Funny - a hot sunny Alabama day, I sat at the hold short line at Gadsden with one hand on the canopy and one on the throttle to cool the canopy with prop blast. It got closed, and I flew home (north). It got adjusted (again) back home.

Good luck, and post continuing issues.

Thanks Bill,
I already did the welding of the holes and redrilling once. Now that the front skin is on I don't know how it would be possible to do that. I guess maybe with an angle drill from underneath? I was able to get the canopy so it closes and is functional. Now I just need to make it more cosmetically appealing. That's a good tip about having a decent gap where the 2 plexis meet. I had to sand off a bunch to get the canopy to close. I actually have a better looking gap than I did before. The gap at the front is another story.
 
Did post today on my “after” fix pics. Hope it helps.
Cal

Thanks Cal,
The rubber strip doesn't look too bad and the rain protection is probably great. Did you only have the rubber on the outer parts of the seam? I would actually like it all across the entire front seam. No water intrusion worries in that case.
Dave
 
Hi Bill, I went back and found your original post on this, but I still don’t quite understand. Could you elaborate on these techniques?

You might want to give me a call. Bill Lane 309 573 53 six ate.

We can review what you have and issues, or what to look for along the way.
 
Hey Dave

I might add more rubber strip (stolen from my wing root fairing supply), but in the middle the gap is now perfect and small. I think the rubber will bind and catch. I do have a water seal internal strip (the small light grey one van supplies for this area). I also added a thin strip of clear UMHW tape for water protection over the subpanel gap area. We will see how it does over time. Easy to fine tune.
Cal
 
At one point in construction my canopy fit perfectly. Certainly didn't end up that way. You're right about it changing constantly.

I agree with this! The (tipper) canopy was the most frustrating part of the build by far. Something I never want to do again. I remember precisely measuring the frame so carefully, before bonding the plexiglass material, getting it to fit just right... Fast forward now that I am almost airworthy, here I am grinding away the latch fingers and trimming here and clamping there just to see if I can even get the thing to lay flat.
 
Having built 4 RV’s, and highly modified two non-built RV 4’s, which I modified the canopies on, I would say that in my opinion, the canopy is the Achilles Heel of these airplanes. At this stage of my life (thankfully) I can say that I will not ever build another one, primarily because of the canopy. I’m just getting too old to deal with a certain level of frustration. There are other areas of the build that are challenging, and I welcomed those challenges and actually enjoyed them, because the solution was logical and achievable. The canopy - it takes a lot more patience and concessions on what you maybe thought was your goal. Fiberglass may be the answer to conceal/strengthen areas on the installation that you are not happy with in terms of fit. I’ve built sliders and a tipper for a friend, and I can say that none of them fit perfectly. All of them could be made to fit. Unlike the rest of the airplane, this is an area that requires your imagination to possibly modify, and builder enterprise.
Having said that, I must include that on my first RV8 I installed a Showplanes Fastback canopy. This kit came in pieces, and included new bulkheads and top skins for the raised turtleneck. A little extra work on first glance, but once you get in to fiberglass laying, filling, and sanding - it doesn’t take much time, and is easy to do. It was a very well engineered kit, and it fit like a glove. I did a lot of work on making it look perfect, but everything fit so well, that it wasn’t hard to do. Once you get in to fiberglass work you become a quick expert.

Don’t give up on your kit because of the poor fitting canopy. We’ve all dealt with that and it has worked out after a little extra work.
 
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