[lucaperazzolli]

My canopy skirt is a two pieces.

I have no reference line for cutting on the sides so I have no idea of the right position (vertically).

DWG 44 gives me a rough idea of the position (section A-A ; Section Y-Y) but an advice or pictures could help me a lot.

Thanks in advance

 

[Ironflight]

I don't have any pictures handy Luke, but I can remember a few things I realized at the end of fitting the skirt that might help...

1) The top of the skirt has a flange of sorts - about 3/4 inch below the top, it has a "corner" that transitions from the contour of the canopy to the contour of the fuselage. this needs to line up with the lower canopy frame tube so that rivets go through it and into the frame. that should give you a height reference, at least up front.

2) With the two-piece skirt, I found that starting from the front worked best (starting from the back didn't work at all, actually...). The above-mentioned "corner" gets you started, and you simply find where the skirt wants to naturally lay against both the canopy and the fuselage, drill, and cleco. Work your way aft.

3) When you get to the back, make sure to follow the "let it lay where it makes the most natural transition" rule again. Cut off the excess that cross's the centerline - this is in your way. You're going to have to do glass work to join the two halves anyway, so get it out of your way.

4) I found that I got a better fit against the fuselage if I erred on the side of being higher with the skirt, rather than lower. This might make that "corner" I mentioned earlier not fit that well against the canopy, but it will only be for six inches or so, and is easily filled and reshaped. I found it a lot easier to remake the interface where the skirt meets the canopy than to figure out how to make the skirt fit the fuselage.

5) When you get it all laying flat against both canopy and fuse in the back, cut a scrap of aluminum as a temporary splice between the two halves, drill and cleco it to both sides, and you will be ready to join the halves with new glass.

Using this method, I had almost no gapping at the fuselage, and didn't have to do any of the "slit and re-glass" tat I had read about on so many web sites.

Paul

 

[mannanj]

Skirt

I agree with paul's method, although on my plane I couldn't get the skirt to lay perfectly on the skin on the aft 2/3rd of the skirt.

On mine, I applied mold release to the fuselage skin and applied fiberglass to the underside of the skirt where it didn't lay down flush with the skin.

After curing, I ground down the outside of the skirt to match the original thickness.

Hope this helps.