Scott Hersha
Well Known Member
I don’t like to complain, so I’m going to try to make it sound like I’m not complaining. There are several things that can set you back and discourage you when you are building, but there is one thing that is probably worse than most others……. a CRACK in your canopy, especially after you’ve spent 3 months making it fit, installing it, and then having it sit on your nearly completed airframe - looking down the tunnel at the light at the end. My RV6 slider frame was done, ready to fly.
I had finally gotten some help riveting on the remaining boot cowl rivets to enable the windshield to be installed, and I was ready to start finish work on that. I just installed the landing gear, so I’m ready for final wing attachment. Empennage is installed and I’m doing finishing glass work on those tips.
View attachment 19684
Then today with some friends over, while bragging about my airplane and it’s progress, I notice this:
View attachment 19685
This is a picture taken after I removed the canopy from the frame, with the help of those same friends who felt sorry for me because I was in shock. I would honestly sell this kit right now if I could recover my costs, and buy a Cessna. That’s how discouraged this is to me. I just talked to Jimmy Brod today, who is building my engine, and will deliver it next month. I optimistically thought I would be flying it to Sun-N-Fun. Not so sure now…..
How about a convertible RV6? Works for me.
I talked to Jeff at Airplane Plastics after my canopy surgery, and he said he has an RV6 canopy in stock. Airplane Plastics is a 45 minute drive from me. He said I need to coordinate with Vans and purchase the new canopy from them. So I called Vans to do that. The part number for an RV6 canopy is C-601-1. Well, guess what - they don’t stock that part anymore and don’t sell it. They said I would need to special order it from Airplane Plastics and deal directly with them. Fine with me. The price for a new tipper canopy for an RV6, 7, or 9 is $1725. Yikes!! However, the RV6 slider part they show from Airplane Plastics is $450. I’m not sure I can work this out with them because Jeff told me I would need to deal directly with Vans. I’ll find out tomorrow. The removed broken canopy is in my SUV, headed for Tipp City, OH tomorrow. Jeff asked me to bring my broken part with me because he has the back half of an RV6 canopy that he cut off a windshield for and if it’s big enough, maybe I can use that - and he will trim it for me.
This isn’t the first time I’ve gone down this road. On my second RV8 I had a cracked canopy. I was just starting to work on it, and had set it on the canopy frame to try to figure out where to start trimming it. I walked over to my workbench to get a marker to mark where to start trimming. I heard a loud snap, and saw a crack that went almost completely across the back part of the plexiglass. Nothing had been drilled or cut yet, and this happened just sitting on the frame under it’s own weight. That was in July with my hangar door open on a 85* day. These things are delicate. This is my fourth RV build, and I’ve had two canopy cracks that I didn’t do anything to cause, and just happened pretty much on their own. This last one has been sitting finished on my under construction airframe for over two months, other than opening and closing the canopy occasionally when needed. I’m pretty paranoid about drilling holes in plexiglass, and will likely try to find my Larry Larsen posts about Sika Flex. Don’t know what else to do. I really like a sliding canopy best from an operational/user standpoint, but as far as building it - it is a very poor design.
I had finally gotten some help riveting on the remaining boot cowl rivets to enable the windshield to be installed, and I was ready to start finish work on that. I just installed the landing gear, so I’m ready for final wing attachment. Empennage is installed and I’m doing finishing glass work on those tips.
View attachment 19684
Then today with some friends over, while bragging about my airplane and it’s progress, I notice this:
View attachment 19685
This is a picture taken after I removed the canopy from the frame, with the help of those same friends who felt sorry for me because I was in shock. I would honestly sell this kit right now if I could recover my costs, and buy a Cessna. That’s how discouraged this is to me. I just talked to Jimmy Brod today, who is building my engine, and will deliver it next month. I optimistically thought I would be flying it to Sun-N-Fun. Not so sure now…..
How about a convertible RV6? Works for me.
I talked to Jeff at Airplane Plastics after my canopy surgery, and he said he has an RV6 canopy in stock. Airplane Plastics is a 45 minute drive from me. He said I need to coordinate with Vans and purchase the new canopy from them. So I called Vans to do that. The part number for an RV6 canopy is C-601-1. Well, guess what - they don’t stock that part anymore and don’t sell it. They said I would need to special order it from Airplane Plastics and deal directly with them. Fine with me. The price for a new tipper canopy for an RV6, 7, or 9 is $1725. Yikes!! However, the RV6 slider part they show from Airplane Plastics is $450. I’m not sure I can work this out with them because Jeff told me I would need to deal directly with Vans. I’ll find out tomorrow. The removed broken canopy is in my SUV, headed for Tipp City, OH tomorrow. Jeff asked me to bring my broken part with me because he has the back half of an RV6 canopy that he cut off a windshield for and if it’s big enough, maybe I can use that - and he will trim it for me.
This isn’t the first time I’ve gone down this road. On my second RV8 I had a cracked canopy. I was just starting to work on it, and had set it on the canopy frame to try to figure out where to start trimming it. I walked over to my workbench to get a marker to mark where to start trimming. I heard a loud snap, and saw a crack that went almost completely across the back part of the plexiglass. Nothing had been drilled or cut yet, and this happened just sitting on the frame under it’s own weight. That was in July with my hangar door open on a 85* day. These things are delicate. This is my fourth RV build, and I’ve had two canopy cracks that I didn’t do anything to cause, and just happened pretty much on their own. This last one has been sitting finished on my under construction airframe for over two months, other than opening and closing the canopy occasionally when needed. I’m pretty paranoid about drilling holes in plexiglass, and will likely try to find my Larry Larsen posts about Sika Flex. Don’t know what else to do. I really like a sliding canopy best from an operational/user standpoint, but as far as building it - it is a very poor design.
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