Canopy side skins

Posted on by Neal

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.

Shims for the canopy edge.

Canopy trimming

Posted on by Neal

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.

Painting cockpit panels

Posted on by Neal

Yesterday I primed the various cockpit covers and panels, and today I painted a finish coat. The finish coat came out looking good; I didn’t have any runs in the paint, and the finish is even and “wet” looking. It’s still drying, but I’m pleased with how it came out. Much easier to paint on the bench vs. inside the cockpit.

Various panels for the cockpit painted with Stewart Systems Ekopoxy primer and EkoCrylic finish coat. I used the Stewart Systems flattener to reduce the reflectivness of the finish coat of these parts.

Deburring

Posted on by Neal

Tonight I spent time deburring parts for the cockpit. These are all the covers and plates that fit into the cockpit and make up the seats, center console cover, flap motor cover, and various panels in the baggage compartment. My plan is to get these primed tomorrow, and then finish chapter 42, and final paint them in the coming weeks. Then I’ll be back to the canopy, or maybe work on both chapters in parallel. I’ve found it’s good to have a couple of mini projects running concurrently, so I can switch between them if I need to pause one, or just need a change of scenery.