Tonight I countersunk and riveted the wear strips, then made and test-fit the canopy hinge covers.
The hinge covers needed some minor adjustment to fit. I needed to file the edges of the F-01455C seal angles to allow the hinge covers to slide past with no interference. Mostly it was removing pro seal that had bulged into the gap, then maybe half a mm off one side.
Tonight I painted the rear canopy seal, seal retainers. Then I installed the screws and hardware along the back edge of the canopy.
I then fabricated the canopy wear strips and match drilled to the canopy side rails.
I had forgotten to dimple the last two holes on the canopy side skins, but luckily the underlying canopy rail had been countersunk (thanks Dad!), so I could easily dimple the skin in place using my hand squeezer.
Today I finished riveting the canopy side skins, including the handles. Then I found the aft canopy seal, marked out and cut the notches.
I primed the canopy seal straps, then laid them on top of the seal, marking out the location of each hole, where a canopy attach screw will pass through the seal. With the holes marked, I used a leather punch and a craft knife to cut out the areas where screws will pass through the seal. Sounds more complicated than it is, and everything went smoothly.
Tonight I completed most of the riveting for the canopy side skins. The angles got a little awkward a few times, and I made a couple of mistakes where the bucking bar moved off the rivet head. I’ll go back and fix those tomorrow, and then rivet on the handles.
Tonight I loosely installed the hardware along the canopy side skins, then started riveting the side skins.
No great surprises here. It took some fiddling around to get my rivet squeezer oriented in a way that I could squeeze the rivets. I only had time to set 8 rivets in the end, but it should be quicker now that I’ve dialed things in.
Tonight I marked out the forward and aft canopy fairing lines and applied tape to form the edge and protect the areas adjacent to the fairing. This involves a combination of measuring and using some templates. The next step is to remove material from the forward edge of the canopy, reducing the profile of the fairing. Then scuffing the area where the fairing needs to adhere to both the forward skin and the canopy.
Today I fit the side skins on the canopy. I needed to make some adjustments to break the edge evenly, as the dumpling process had flattened out the edge near the dimples.
One thing I read was that it’s best to run the wiring for the canopy latch micro switch before riveting the side skins on. So I dug up the canopy wiring fit and ran the two wires that are needed to operate the switch. then I clecoed on the side skins.
Tonight I finished countersinking all the holes in the canopy, and dimpled the canopy side skins.
I had actually jumped ahead in the plans because I wanted to avoid taking the canopy on and off repeatedly to avoid scratches. Next I’ll be reinstalling the canopy on the frame, then marking out the location of the canopy fairing.
Last night I finally finished painting the cockpit area and the canopy frame. It took a lot of touch-up coats to ensure all the surfaces were covered, and it was more time consuming than I anticipated.
The last thing I did was strip off the primer I had painted on the outside of the forward canopy skin. I had painted this in a somewhat absent-minded moment earlier in the canopy frame construction. The aft part of the skin is painted mat black to minimize reflections on the canopy.
With the painting done, I peeled off the paper and tape, and was happy with the way everything turned out. It’s far from perfect, but it’s adequate for me given my limited experience and sub-optimal painting environment.
To keep it out of the way, I moved the frame back onto the airplane, then set the canopy onto the workbench. I then countersunk all of the holes along the trailing edge for #6 screws. I used some vinyl tape on the countersunk cage which helped stop any rotation and scratching.
Over the last couple of days I’ve been painting the cockpit, and the canopy frame. I’m using stewart systems’ finish coat, battleship grey, and adding some flattener to get a flat finish.
I’m still learning as I go, and feel like I’m gradually getting a more consistent application. It’s still far from perfect, but it’s good enough for what I need. I’ve needed to tweak the amount of water I’m using to thin the paint because of the flattener. Less water seems to be the way to go to avoid runs and splotches. Waiting for 15 minutes between thin fog coats helps to build up the color and result in a consistent looking finish. Good lighting helps a lot.
At this point I have one more coat to apply to the roll bar, but otherwise it’s done for now. Hoping to finish this paint job tonight.
