9A Tip-up side rails pulled in

...when the 613 splice plates were riveted. Before riveting, the canopy frame and side rails were perfectly aligned with a .032" gap to the side fuselage skins. I clamped the rails in place and drilled the splice plates, then moved the frame to the bench to debur and rivet. When the assembly was reinstalled, both side rails were offset inboard a good 1/8" in the vicinity of the splice plates. I've considered drilling out the 28 rivets, working a curve into the splice plates and re-riveting but am hopeful that someone has a better idea.

I had a similar problem ...

... On the R side only. I solved it by shimming the side canopy skin outward to match the fuse contour. it required tapering fwd and aft to match the curve, but turned out very well. You can't tell that side is any different from the L. To get the contour, the shim at the center of the skin was a piece of .032 plus a piece of .025; the tapering was achieved by varying the use of one or both of those shim thicknesses.

After I bonded my canopy plexiglass bubble to the frame I got a bit of bowing outward on the sides. Not much, but a little, and a bit further aft where there is less structure holding it in place. For now, you should be able to just tug or apply some pressure on the frame and bend it slightly outward. The whole tip up canopy frame is a total fiasco in trying to get it to fit consistently.

I second the description of "fiasco". Somewhere between that and nightmare at times.

Canopy

The canopy on my 7 was probably the one item that I spent the most time on. Not terribly difficult, just time consuming. Because I sikka'd the canopy, the outside dimentions of the frame had to be tweeked. The photo you show Ranger, looks to be about right if you consider the thickness of the plexy with a sikkaflex 3/16" application. If you are drilling and screwing, you will be surprised how much judicious pulliing and tugging that the frame will take. Beat it in to submission.:

Bend to fit....

Don't worry, it will move around at least a dozen more times before you are done....

like someone said before - it's alive

like someone said before - it's alive

Thanks!

Thanks for all the great advice! ...and confidence that 1/8" off at this stage is not a big deal. If the canopy frame usually falls between "fiasco" and "nightmare", I'd have to count myself pretty lucky so far. Of course, I haven't started cutting on the canopy, yet. Thanks, again.

Brantel said:

Bend to fit....

Don't worry, it will move around at least a dozen more times before you are done....

Click to expand...

+1 Bend it.