129TG

Active Member
Have the canopy skin riveted on the canopy frame and it was on the fuse with hinge pins installed. A friend came by and before I could catch him, he lifted the canopy frame and the canopy skin hung on the forward fuse skin and it pulled the sheetmetal edge of the canopy down. It appears that the skin edge as been stretched. It's oil canning now and looks like the dolly/hammer techniques won't restore the straight edge. I was wondering if the shrinking tools I have seen would shrink the metal to remove these puckers...? Any other methods anyone could suggest? Thanks

http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab175/thomgrant0129/Special/IMG_4418.jpg

http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab175/thomgrant0129/Special/IMG_4419.jpg
 
Dressing the edge

Hi Thom,

You should be able to dress most of the damage out, if it is already stretched the dressing process may make it a bit worse, use a small hammer, (light hits) and a good dolly to back up the working area, another method is burnishing but with it being thin material and on the edge this may not work.

Hand shrinkers will work if you can find some, I've seen them for sale on spruce, take it slow as the material will move quickly.

Hopefully you can find an experienced sheety close to you.