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Canopy Tip Up Aft Trim Stripe

sglynn

sglynn

Well Known Member
I see some tip up canopies with a stripe or trim piece over the roll bar on top of the canopy. What's it called and where do directions exist for how to make it? It looks like built up fiber glass. Or it might be a piece of aluminum but in most cases I don't see any fasteners. It is just a niece piece of trim that covers over the seam between the canopy and window, right over the roll bar. The ones I've seen are about 3 inches wide.

How do you make it?

thanks
 
Most people call it a "Targa" strip. It is optional. Not needed if your cut and trim of the canopy is neat, but it can cover mistakes and damage. Yes, both fiberglass and/or AL are used.

Roberta
 
I put one on just because it looks better to me.. My cut and gap were great but I just like the look of the Targa...
 
Are you guys installing the targa strip for looks, air seal or both? I have been working on getting the whistling to go away and am losing the battle.
 
Tony,

My whistle came from not having a seal in the front. I put in the white P seal that Van's provided and it stopped. The seal eventually pushed out and it started again. I am gonna install a better edge gripping seakl from Mcmaster Carr soon.

The faster I go, the louder it gets when the front seal is not in place....

The Targa for me was for looks and to prevent water from getting in the crack...once it is painted, it will look sweet!
 
Details for making a Targa

Thanks for the info so far. Jeff your instructions and photos are great. I agree the Targa improves the look a lot. Please, here are some additional questions about how to do this and maybe others have more instructions and photos on how they made a "Targa".

1) are the screws necessary to hold it on? Or woul it just stick there.

2) what weight material did you use to build it up and what kind of resin?

3) is the layup just lengthwise or did you do some 90 degree short pieces also

3) how did you trim the aft end so nice and straight? Just sanding?

Thanks,
 
I use 3 layers of fiberglass and 2 of carbon fibre. this adds a lot of strength to the canopy and helps to remove the twist in the canopy when you open it. I also continue the targa strip about 1/2 inch below where the canopy meets the fuselage and run a strip the full length of the canopy to the forward end of it. This I find helps seal the canopy and keeps the drafts out plus it ties everything together and looks finished.
 
1) Dunno, never flew without them. It is bonded to the canopy glass, and would probably stay, but I prefer the belt and suspenders approach.

2) I used standard bid cloth (not sure what weight) cut on the bias (weave is 45 deg to the layup direction) and West Systems epoxy.

3) It is purely lengthwise, 5 layers thick and tapered towards the front.

4) Sanding and trimming, lots of sanding and trimming.
 
What Jeff said.

On the screws I would not go without em. What I did originally was epoxy only and the thing popped right off even though I had scuffed the glass with 40 grit really good and had a good bond with no bubbles.

I re-epoxied it back on after scuffing again but the second time I took out every other screw from the canopy frame and left it out. Once the epoxy cured, I went back and put those screws back in after countersinking the glass.
 
I found that I didn't get a good whistle until I bonded the targa, which cut down on some air that was coming either in or out from that join line. After that, I had to track down the canopy leading edge air leak and when that was done, I had a very draft-free cockpit. When the targa was bonded, that really sealed the canopy very well from both air and water. A consideration is that if the airplane is out in the rain, water will flow back over the targa and not into the forward/aft canopy gap.

My first targa strip is sitting in some farmers pasture somewhere in Oregon as I'd used some inferior epoxy for the bond. I re-made the strip and used Systems Three T-88 on the second, and it's rock solid. Unfortunately, I have had one of the infamous corner chips on the tipper, and the targa provides a cover for that.
 
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