M

MarkC

Active Member
Hi all,

Well, it seems like I have a canopy frame disability. I now have managed to produce an unacceptable gap at the front of the canopy (front sides) after riveting the WD-725 side rails on there). Although I took lots of time to line everything up; it seems when I riveted it together it managed to pull out of shape (and I riveted it clamped in place on the fuselage believe it or not). :eek:

I really took it steady after the last fiasco but it doesn't seem to have helped much. You can see in the photo below the gap I have managed to create at the front. So, I'm wondering now which of the following is going to work best: 1. order a new frame, sides etc. (see if I can make a mess of that one as well). 2. Drill out the rivets at the front of the side rails and try to reposition (the front ribs will then sit below the side rails so I'll need to make wedges that are considerably larger) 3. Not sure if I can fill this later when finishing the canopy with fiberglass and just move on??

Any other suggestions will be appreciated.


​


Thanks,

Mark (234C res)
http://websites.expercraft.com/markc/
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Not THAT bad ...

Hi Mark ... I don't think the damage is all that bad there. This part was tough for me too, and what it amounted to was getting it to an 'acceptable' point, then crossing my fingers that the pre-painting finishing work could hide the mistakes. In my BEFORE picture here you can clearly see the same kind of issue - that large gap with the front side deck. You'll notice I also rolled the edge of the canopy skin a bit to keep it from sticking out. I added some weather stripping on the underside of the frame so that when closed, the wind was not blowing in. Believe it or not, I considered this acceptable.

Fast forward ahead about 10 months to painting. With some fiberglass and body filler work, I managed to get it looking like the AFTER picture here. The first thing I did is use some fuel tank "black death" to attach an AL strip on the inside of the frame skin to close the gap with the forward deck. I then applied fiberglass filler to make the surface flush. Once the paint is applied, the gap and less than perfect fit does not even show. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not going to win any awards there - but hopefully you can see that this is something that can be addressed later without the hassle of rebuilding the canopy frame.
 
Last edited:
What causes the gap?

Hi Mark,

From your pictures I can not determine what is preventing the skin from touching the sides. If the canopy frame sides are pushing the whole thing up then go for option 2. Did you use the temporary spacer blocks to get a little gap between frame sides and fuselage? I had something similar: http://websites.expercraft.com/PHVII/index.php?q=log_entry&log_id=1915
and decided to use smaller spacers up front.

Do not worry too much: EVERYBODY has had canopy blues or is not there yet!
 
Mark try bending the frame in the middle to get both sides down. I had the same problem after I riveted the skin on. With the assembly off the plane just support the frame in the center and push down on both sides.

see bottom 2 pics- http://www.jeffsrv-7a.com/FUSELAGE/05-03-01.htm

The frame is very soft and can be bent easily so try a little at a time.

-Jeff
 
Hi Folks,

Thanks for all the great suggestions; it really is nice to have this kind of support, if nothing else just knowing I'm not the only one to mess this up is reassuring. I think I'm going to look at it for a few hours until I decide what to do. I may just end up doing the filling thing as I am not trying to win any awards, at the same time I don't want a 70k "mess" either though. People keep telling me: "it's not a Swiss watch you know", I say "that's right, a Swiss watch doesn't have to keep me suspended 10,000 feet from the ground" :D .

Thanks again,

Mark (234C res)
http://websites.expercraft.com/markc/
 
My canopy frame did not sit too well on my fuselage sides either on my 9A, one side was a little higher than the other. I left it alone. When the canopy was cut and fitted and secured to the frame and the canopy skirts were on, I brought the skirts down the side of the fuselage about a 1/2 inch, not to the top of the longeron like the plans say.Then made fiberglass skirts at the front of frame to match the rear skirts. When you are glassing around the front of the canopy it is easy to add a little more glass down the sides, just be sure to use a release agent on the fuse so your new skirts don't stick to the fuselage sides. I used clear packaging tape with Turtle Wax on it. When all finished and sanded and filled no one will notice the gap. I used one thickness of foam weather stripping on one side and another thickness on the other side it sealed out the wind and noise just fine. The weather stripping came from Ace Hardware's "Aeromotive" section.
Mitchell Alexander
Flyng RV9A N159MA
 
You must log in or register to reply here.