Defective Tip up canopy frame?

I matched drilled the canopy frame skin to the center of the aft canopy frame tube. The instructions say to draw a center line along the tube and match drill the skin to that center line. I did that.

Later after I had secured the frame in place with the hinge inserted into the hinge receptacle, I noticed that there is a large gap between the forward canopy frame rib and the hinge angle. On one side it is about 1/8 inch and on the other it is closer to 3/16. I can slip a #28 drill bit between the angle and the rib.

Frankly I don't see how this gap can be taken up. The distance between pre-drilled holes in the skin for the forward rib and the pre-drilled holes in the skin for the aft tube dictate this distance. It seems like the canopy frame should match this.

I'm wondering if others have had this problem. This is my second canopy frame, so it is a bit frustrating.

See the following picture that shows the gap.

Slide some shims in there and drill & rivet it up. You'll be good to go.

FWIW...

... I agree with Bill. Find some good shim material and build on.

I did a bit of filing and was able to get this to fit better, but along the top of the frame under the skin I had to put a couple of shims in there before riveting.

The canopy has been my least enjoyable part of the build so far.

I had to shim that area too. .032 on one side, .025 on the other, IIRC.

Canopy Blues

"The canopy has been my least enjoyable part of the build so far."

You are certainly not alone in that sentiment.

I had a similar problem. The solution is to rivet the ears without the skin attached. This pulls them tight. The skin will still fit. The skin above the ears should not be drilled until the ears are riveted.

I too have been very frustrated with the whole canopy frame for a tip up 7. I would rate Van's instructions on a 2 or 3 on a scale of 10. Not sure how a first time builder could do it right the first time. Multiple reworks on parts.

The canopy bow is another classically difficult part to manipulate and align correctly.