Month: February 2023

Tonight I messed around with the side skins on the canopy trying to see if I could minimize the gap between the canopy side skin and the fuselage side skin. Eventually I decided to just go with the existing skins and worry about the gap later, if it’s an issue.

I moved on and measured the thickness of the canopy on the sides to determine whether I needed the use the supplied shims. If the thickness is less than .17 of an inch the shims are required. On the right side I measured between .158 and .17, and on the left I measured between .147 and .158. The thickness varies along the edge, hence the ranges. So it looks like I’ll be using the shims.

Work has been keeping me busy in the evenings the last few weeks, but last night I was able to spend some time in the garage. I trimmed the canopy sides to get it to sit flush with the canopy rails, and to sit down correctly on the forward canopy frame skin. I used a combination of a diamond blade on the jug saw, a sanding block, and a burred edge on a small steel ruler to cut, sand and scrape the edges. It wasn’t my favorite thing to do, as the canopy is bulky, flimsy and awkward, but it came out ok. Most of these edges will be hidden by skins and fairing, so the straightness of these edges wasn’t critical.