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Canopy Fairing Fit

L

lpeeds

Member
I have completed the fiberglass on the canopy fairing but am having problems with the fit. When the canopy is in the closed position the fit around the arms for the pivot points looks good. It has a good tight fit across the top and about a 1/16" gap between the inside of the FG and sheet metal around the front portion of the pivot arm. Closed, everything looks good but when the canopy is raised the bottom corner of the FG pops inside the ledge where the lift cylinder is. The bottom corner is about 3/16" over on the ledge and each side has to be pulled out by hand to lower the canopy. I could add washers on the inside of the pivot bolt to get clearance but then I would have a 1/4" gap between the inside of the FG and the sides of the fuselage.

Has anyone else had the problem and what was the solution? Or does anyone have any suggestions?

Paul Eeds
Kit# 120506
All done except canopy.
 
Last edited:
Paul ? I?ll start by saying I have not fit the canopy yet and not having a photo to refer to, not sure of your exact circumstances. However, if the area that is ?pops inside the ledge? is pure fiberglass, my suggestion would be to CAREFULLY use a heat gun to soften that area a little bit, then make your adjustment, then keep pressure on the fiberglass as the area cools and becomes stiff again. May take you a couple of cycles to get it right.

We used this procedure to improve the fit on a few of the glass parts on a RV-9A I helped build and it worked out quite well.
 
Factory built RV12 canopy

As said before, without pics we really can't know exactly what you are seeing.
So I would say just add the washer and you will be fine. As you can see in this pic of a factory built RV 12 they easily have 1/4inch clearance on the front of their canopy and that gap gets smaller as you go aft.;)
c10fb5db0b3a6216975fdf2d4deae876_zpsd844eab1.jpg
Click to expand...
 
I had a similar problem and extended the fiberglass beyond the template so it never catches the aluminum skin. Looks great and works great, but now I have to remove the canopy to get the avionics bay cover off.
 
My canopy fit - -

I have ONE fairly thick washer behind the hinge each side. Rounded corners fairly well. No problems.


 
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