RV-9A, SoCal

[rightrudder]

That's crazy...looks like a shell from an anti-aircraft gun, or something!

[rightrudder]

Time to drill a bunch of holes. But first, I needed some way to prevent the canopy frame from distorting/moving around while applying pressure from the drill. In front, I bored a couple of 7/8" holes in a 2x4 to accept the front hoop ends. Farther back, in front of the pins, another lateral 2x4 and some 2x4 chunks for support. And at the rear, under the spine at the "T" of the hoops, a jack stand with the pad covered in blue tape. Shim as necessary on the aft 2x4 to make sure there's no twist.

Next, the sides of the canopy tend to bulge out, which pulls the outer corners out of alignment for drilling. So clamp some plywood in a couple of places so the canopy matches the contours of the side rails in plan view.

I used the blue tape method on the frame for marking the rivet spacing, but most of the time, I couldn't see a distinct line where the canopy pressed down on the tape. No worries, as it's pretty easy to see the curvature of the tube and I got excellent drilling results just eyeballing it. If you stick the tape down around the circumference of the tube, it makes the eyeballing a lot easier.

The windscreen is close to final shape. I'll need to shim the front of the canopy frame up about 1/8" for proper alignment, as I made the mistake of cutting the tubes too early. At least I saved the scrap to make some custom shims. There's also a gap between the aft third of the spine and canopy, so I think I'll thread these holes and use #6 screws and spacers (or maybe just use longer rivets to provide the necessary reach).

[rightrudder]

Got the windscreen final-drilled and holes in the roll bar tapped, and everything lines up nearly flush with the aid of a few 960-6 spacer washers. I marked the number of washers needed on the roll bar with a Sharpie next to each hole so final assembly will be easy.

Also, drilled the holes for the canopy frame rollers. I'd hate to have these off, so I braced them first with a piece of alum. angle for alignment, then drilled the front hole with a #40 drill through the frame and halfway through the roller. Then remove the roller and drill a nice perpendicular #40 hole on the bottom side through the existing hole in a drill press. Deburr, and reinsert in the canopy frame, and finish drilling all the way through the frame with your nice pilot hole in the roller bracket. Then enlarge to appropriate size and final ream.

Maybe it's overkill because if you drill the whole thing in situ, it can turn out reasonably well, but I've I've had a few, shall we say, less than perfect holes when I do it in one fell swoop.

Also made a pattern for the glare shield carpet (so much easier to do this with windscreen off) and fitted the canopy latch. I took maybe 1/4" off the tube to get the proper alignment.

[alpinelakespilot2000]

Good job, Doug! The most stressful part of the build for sure!

[rightrudder]

Truer words have never been spoken, Steve!

[rightrudder]

Closing in on one month of canopy craziness, and I'm getting inspired since I can see the finish line. I mounted the pin anchor blocks (right side shown) and ultimately, I had to shim the canopy frame up about 3/8" on the left side, so that block has a 1/8" shim under the U-channel piece and the hole is drilled near the top of the block.

I don't like the asymmetry, but it was necessary for the front hoops to match the contour of the roll bar. But everything slides smoothly and latches down as it should. The other problem this created was that the left side skirt just barely bridged the gap down to the fuselage, where it should overlap by 1/2" or thereabouts...so I bought some .032 sheet and made one that's 3/8" deeper. Fixed!

I also painted the glare shield. Rolled on some primer that gave it a nice pebble-grain texture, then applied some flat black. The area will be carpeted, so the paint is really there so you don't see shiny aluminum through gaps in the carpet. I was encouraged by some early pre-bending and test-fittting of the aft skirts, as it looks like they will lay down nicely. It really is a lot of trial and error. Bending forms included my leg and the edge of the workbench. Sometimes, you just have to grab the whole piece and give it a big burly twist to make it behave!

[rightrudder]

On the QB fuselage with the canopy deck rails already in place, it's really tough to get at the top rivets of the F-705 crossmember. so I thought a little creative scalloping was in order. Later, I might make a cosmetic fill piece and pop-rivet it in place. Or not. It's far enough back that it's not that noticeable.

Now I just have to wait for a new #30 bit for my angle drill to arrive from ACS to finish the rest of the rivets.

Also, cut some of Pep Boy's finest carpet and glued it on the glare shield.

[rightrudder]

The latest in a rash of recent skirt fittings (for canopies, just to be clear. ). I'm pretty happy with the fit on the aft skirt, with the biggest gap being about 1/8" where the skirt meets the rear skin. Looks like I'm gonna have a little interference when I rivet the side skirt braces in, as the fit between these and the pin anchor blocks is tight, but I can easily trim the blocks.

Also, fabbed up a mount for the ELT antenna. I decided that having it inside the canopy was the best approach. The mount has a bend to angle the antenna inward for clearance.

[rightrudder]

Well, the fuselage is almost hangar-ready! I did the final pull rivets on the canopy, and everything slides and cinches down as it should. Fears of the solid rivets hitting the anchor block were unfounded.

Fitting the windscreen took about three iterations of marking and trimming, but now there's a fairly even gap between it and the canopy, about 1/16" to 3/32". A little square of folded-up sand paper, or an emery board, is a great way to loosen up those tight spots when the canopy is latched.

On the canopy roller rails, my fish-mouth cutouts were a little deep, so I made some stops from 3A bolts so the roller wheels don't catch on the edges when the canopy is fully open. Only reduces the travel by 1" or so. The rails will likely get scuffed up during use, so I'm gonna leave them bare aluminum and put some tape (either black or clear) on the top surface for protection.

On to the last big fiberglass project, the windscreen fairing.

[rightrudder]

Got out the 80 grit and started roughing up the plexi and aluminum. On the corners of the windscreen I had left a little too much "kick up" on the corners of the plexi for a smooth transition, so I sanded them down in place with my mini angle grinder.

I used 8 clips total to secure the windscreen, and then an application of epoxy with about 75% cotton fibers, 25% microballoons and some black pigment. It was on the runny side, so I had to keep chasing runs as it dried, but it flowed enough beneath the screen for a good bond. There's still a ledge that needs to be filled with some dry micro before fiberglass. I used the tip in Van's video to use bucking bars as weights to get the windscreen to sit down flush...the picture is the problem corner, but ultimately I used two bucking bars here for a tight fit.

The stock Van's canopy handle cleans up nicely. I used a disc sander and some sandpaper, and ground the underside to a taper to the aft tip. I shortened it too, by about 1/2". The reason? If it swings around 180 degrees and the canopy is closed, the handle can gouge that nice fiberglass lip you made aft of the roll bar. Another option would be to fabricate some sort of stop for the handle mechanism.

I can see the need for some sort of handle on the back of the canopy, to make it easier to remove now that the skirts are on. Will check out the cabinet knob dept. at Lowe's tomorrow!