Jeff R
Well Known Member
I have been putting off work on the canopy frame for a while, reading what I could find to get an idea of what the heck to expect, and finally decided to just go out and start doing it. I was amazed that everything seemed to line up. The side of the frame matched the fuselage sides exactly in shape, and I only had to spread the frame out a bit to make it even on both sides and about 1/4" inside the skins. Even the top part of the aft bow was right at 1/16" below the aft skins. Wow. Then I looked at the gap between the roll bar and the foward bow of the canopy. It is 1/8" at the bottom, but then widens to 5/16" at the top. I can lift up the aft frame about an inch and make the forward bow line up with an even 1/8" gap, but if I do that the top aft part is about an inch above the aft skin and, of course, is higher and forward to the slide rail.
I should add that I cut the lower front tube that the rollers mount into of the canopy so the vertical distance between the top of the roll bar and the top of the forward bow is not quite 1/2". I know this distance is supposed to be 3/8", and I will trim it down later, but that will not be enough to close the gap.
Any ideas on how to tackle this?
I checked the angles, and the roll bar is 90 degrees to the longeron, and the forward bow is 90 degrees to the side rail of the canopy.
I should add that I cut the lower front tube that the rollers mount into of the canopy so the vertical distance between the top of the roll bar and the top of the forward bow is not quite 1/2". I know this distance is supposed to be 3/8", and I will trim it down later, but that will not be enough to close the gap.
Any ideas on how to tackle this?
I checked the angles, and the roll bar is 90 degrees to the longeron, and the forward bow is 90 degrees to the side rail of the canopy.