[RV8R999]

How close to finished dimensions are the Todd's canopies for those who've used them on an RV-8?

Did most use a die grinder or dremel for making cuts?

Also, the stock VANS skirts have a scribed line that the directions indicate are pretty close to the final dimension. How true is this?

Thanks,

Ken

 

[Danny King]

I few months ago, I helped a neighbor install a Todd's canopy, and then fit the skirt, Oh boy! The canopy looked great, but the skirt did not fit in the rear at all! Todd's canopies are free blown, and has a different shape than the standard canopy, therefore, the skirt will not follow the canopy around the back. I decided to just make the skirt fit the fuselage, and to let it go where it wanted against the canopy.

Later, the canopy was use as the inside mold, and brown packaging tape was placed over it so nothing would stick. Then chopped up glass and West System epoxy was mixed up and stuffed in between the canopy and the skirt. After all cured, the skirt was carefully ground down to the proper thickness over the canopy. In addition, the skirt was nearly cut through along the side near the back so that it could pull up against the canopy when clecoed in place. Then the cut was filled with glass and West System epoxy.

The scribe lines can be used, but cut at least 1/4 of an inch outside the scribed line until the proper fit is assured.

I used both a diegrinder with cutoff wheel and a dremel to cut the canopy glass and the skirt.

 

[captn kirk]

skirt fit

Hi Ken,
I used Todds canopy when I park next to the other 8s I fly with you can see the slope angel from front to back is dramatically different. I used sitka to attach everything and that went great The only spot that I would do different is the skirt to frame / canopy at the very back of the canopy my turned out ok I ended with a transition angel ie flatter spot to get it to fit If I was to do another one I would cut the rear of the skirt and re-glass to have a more seamless transition I used a dermal to do all the cuts on mine

 

[Bartman]

Skirts

I used the Todds canopy and Sika. The Vans skirts did not fit well at all, I used about 1/4 of the Vans skirts and made the rest. I think the poor fit was a combination of the Todds canopy and the 1/8 gap from the Sika. With that said I like the Sika better than drilling into the canopy and the skits I made fit alot better than the other RV8 ive seen with the vans skirts.

 

[RV8R999]

do you guys have any in process photos of your skirt layups? Those are pretty wide parts with long runs at odd angles. How did you lay these up and keep the wet layups from sag'n? Did you create forms or a mold? I'm assuming you laid these up on the frame that was on the aircraft at the time?

I can envision the aft end not being too hard by creating a foam mold blended from the fuselage to the canopy and laying up over this. Did you guys fab new sides skirts too?

Thanks,

Ken

 

[SHIPCHIEF]

Although I didn't use a Todd's canopy, this process is the same.
The back 1/3 of my left skirt didn't fit well at all. It was not a candidate for cutting slices etc. and rebonding. I just cut it off. I feathered the splice area for the new fiberglass to attach. I got the fiberglass cloth at the local boat store, later I went directly to the local Fiberlay outlet for supplies.
I drapped plastic sheeting over the fuse and tapped it down with packing tape. Then I got some poster board from a secraterial supply store, Staples I think. I cut and fit it to the skirt shape, and taped it on, covered with packing tape. It was fit a bit below profile so the thickness of the fiberglass plies I laid up would end up at the correct profile. I did the layup, and when it was done I popped the whole skirt off and cut the edge profile on my bandsaw. Then I hand and block sanded it, paying particular attention to the splice area.
I used a piece of aluminum plate cleco'd across the trailing edge where the skirt halves join to hold alignment while SIKA bonding. After I bonded the skirt halves to the canopy, I bonded about 4 plies over the gap at the aft centerline between the right and left skirt pieces. Lots of plastic sheeting, packing tape, masking tape and electricians tape were used during bonding.
(edit) if you go to my link at the bottom, and go back thru my pictures you can see the skirt layup, plastic sheet, tape drools and all.