[Larry Ocker]

I'm having difficulty getting the rear of the rear canopy skirt to lay flat against the fuselage. I'm using one of the Avery hole finders to drill the holes in the rear skirt. It seems to raise the rear skirt too much causing a miss alignment after it is removed and moving on to drill the next hole. I'm thinking of making a hole finder out off two hack saw blades (much thinner). I'm also trying to learn how to use an English Wheel and it's not going well. Any suggestions before I give up and go to fiberglass?

 

[pierre smith]

Just wait...

.....'til you get to the baffling!! It's named very appropriately

If you'll slide the canopy back about 1/4-3/16" and clamp it to the roll bar with a spacer in there, the rear will lift a little. You have to pull the sides of the skirts down with a vise grip or similar until the rear lays against the fuselage skin.....takes two guys. Then when you remove the spacer, the canopy will lie snugly down on the fuselage as it lowers a little. Patience is the game here FWIW, we made three sets of skirts before they finally fit.

Regards,

 

[Steve]

skirts

Use slightly longer spacers than Van suggests, like Pierre did. I made see-through plastic templates out of material I got in the craft dept (quilting supplies) at WalMart. I had to tape 4 of them together lenghtwise to equal the length of a skirt. Cut the template to the same shape as a skirt. Drill the attach holes in the template then transfer the hole pattern to the aluminum skirt. All things being un-equal, you'll have to make another template for the other side of the plane.

Steve