Canopy

	1 Apr 2006	Finally starting the canopy work and there's a lot to do. I don't have the picture, but I did drill the blocks and the aluminum spacer (note: if you're reading this, make sure you cut the spacer back as I needed to trim more for the skins to butt up).
		The forward skin goes on so I can locate the stub ribs. I was originally having problems with this skin because it was really tight. It's now starting to loosen up a bit so getting this on and off is not problem any more.
		Here's the 3/16 bolt holes getting drilled. Using and extended drill bit, this operation worked out well.
	3 Apr 2006	I had already dry fitted the forward row of rivets, but it was time to put the line on the aft tube and drill the that to the skin. I needed to pull the aft frame tube in a bit to get everything lined up.
		When the canopy skins are pulled in tight on the sides, I noticed a slight bulge at the forward corner. It appears that the portion of the c-channel below the frame lower rib is the culprit. I took a sander to this and smoothed it out a bit and it seems that the bulge is no longer there.
		While I was at it I smoothed out the sides of the frame so there are no bumps with the skin.
		Everything was off so I sanded down a couple of the sub-panel flange corners a bit to smooth out a couple bumps.
		Darn! I thought I might have a better fit. It's close but not good enough. The issue is the canopy skin bulging at the 2:00 and 10:00 o'clock positions along the bend. I need to do some research on how to possibly fix this.
	5 Apr 2006	After some questions on the web, someone suggested adding some shims under the forward skin. This did the trick. I was really concerned that due to the tight fit of the skin, shims would make it worse. Not the case! This worked great.
		Here's the side view. I think this is a pretty decent fit and I'm going to stop for now. I need to drill the splice angles and the frame rib tabs first, then figure out how to drill the hinges.
		What you can't see here is that there's really no bulging anymore. Shims really helped. I did add a couple .032 spacers to set the gap between the forward skin and the canopy frame skin. After only about six hours in the canopy so far, I think this is going well. I had anticipated a lot more fussing and cussing to get to this point.
	9 Apr 2006	After getting the skin lined up pretty well, or at least I was happy with it, it was time to drill the splice plate and the frame rib tabs to the forward c-channel. Not a difficult thing to do as long as you can lean over the canopy sills.
		It's on to the canopy latch assembly. The biggest part of this one is the cutting of the slots. I don't have a pic, but I did use the Van's method and cut out the template from the plans, taped to the side then used a center punch to mark the rivet locations. Since the center punch makes little indentations, I circled each with a sharpie after pilot drilling both slot end holes. So far, so good.
		OK. Now the nervous part. Cutting the slots. This isn't something to hose up as I assume the fix is a little difficult and is never going to look good. I carefully outlined the holes and then took a Dremel tool with a cut-off wheel to the slots. I got just close enough where I could use a a jewler's file to finish it off. I think it worked out well and only took about two hours total from lay-out to finished cut.
		Another thing that needed to be done is de-burr the latches. These things are pretty rough on the edges as well so it takes some work. Also, the outboard face of the aft latch really doesn't have much of a step to allow it to be flush with the .032 skin so I spent some time getting a nice flush appearance. From this shot it seems to be pretty close.
		Then fabricate the rest of the latch and temp install. I had to drill the 3.16 hole for the forward latch a little close to the angle vertex for the .063 stock for this to fit right. Not sure if everyone else has this issue but it was needed so I could get this to work right. Next on the list, the aft latch assembly and linkage.
	15 Apr 2006	I started working the aft canopy latch assembly but soon ran into a common problem. The three upper dome-head rivets of the flap drive support interfere with the latch torque tube. It's an easy solution to drill those out, dimple, and replace with c/s rivets. Takes about 15 minutes, but do yourself a favor and just put counter-sunk rivets in to begin with.
		And here's the fit after installing countersunk rivets. It's still really close but no interference.
		The entire assembly does work rather well. I made the mistake of tapping the pushrod to 1/4-20 instead of 1/4-28 so I ended up calling Vans and ordering another tube. Oh well. Other than that it's been a slow couple weeks on the RV. Work is non-stop but the weather this last weekend (4/23) was really great so I had to take the Boredom Fighter for a spin up to Arlington to meet with John Adams and Dave Parsons, RV-7 guys. Dave did happen to get a decent shot of the BF though: http://www.dualrudder.com/albums/rv7/images/IMG_9623.jpg
	21 May 2006	I've been making some progress over the last month but not nearly as much as I'd like. Work is keeping me pretty busy so I've had minimal time on the RV. Aside from that, I did finish off the annual on the Boredom Fighter so it's not a big loss of time. I've been working the aft canopy frame and unfortunately, I cut the left frame half too short. Back to Vans for another one. After looking up the part on-line, they only sell these as a set. If you'r curious, it's $41 for the replacement.
	22 May 2006	I did manage to drill the right sill frame to the aft frame, but it's going to have to be replaced with the new matched set. Parts always look better the second time around anyway!
	27 May 2006	I had managed to fabricate and rivet the panel mount clips to the forward sill, and rivet the forward canopy sills to the longeron. The forward canopy frame skin came off for some deburring and tweaking, then went back on. I haven't drilled the hinges yet, but I have this nasty 3/32 gap along the right side. The rest of the canopy frame seems to fit well to the fuselage. Most of the bulge is a result of the frame, but I can't figure out how to pull this in.
		Here's another view without the scale. Man, I have to figure this out!
	2 Jun 2006	I didn't take all the detailed pics, but I did manage to get the hinge points drilled to 3/8" and installed the bushings. This went relatively well but I needed to use several drills to step up to a size where I could use teh 3/8" reamer.
	3 Jun 2006	&%#^#! ^%^#! #@+_)*%$! and a few other choice words. I re-installed the canopy skin and quickly found that the holes weren't where they should be, and that's being nice. The left side is too close and the right has a really nasty gap. The only thing I can remember is that I may not have had a full hole diameter when drilling the hinges, thus the holes ended up slightly off and there's no fix that I can think of. I suppose I can potentially have the holes welded then drill again. Not sure.
		After scraping myself off the wall, I decided to work on this for a while. These are the new aft canopy ribs and seem to have fitted easily.
		Now here's the quandary. I have no reason why Van's did what they did. They specify 12 screws for each side, that hold the plexi in place. Who came up that? Based on the rivet call-outs for the roll-over frame, if you have 11 screws, they fit nicely between every other rivet. None of this goofy spacing. Making the command decision to go with 11 screws a side, it works out to a screw about every 2.6" inches, rather than 2.5" (give or take).
	11 Jun 2006	I finally received the new frame from Van's as well as the frame splice plate and new skin. Since I've already been through this, I figured I wouldn't show it again. Basically, the second one went together much better, but I still ended up with too much gap on the right side, and not enough on the left. The drill seemed to have walked a bit during the hinge drilling. This time, I'll fix the gap with a little filler when this is done! I'm moving on.
		Got the side rails riveted to the frame with the small little wedge stuffed in the gap.
		And finally, something that is starting to resemble the canopy. The hat flange for the rain seal only needed a little fileing, but the forward skin is binding somewhat and already have a decent gap. Going to have to work on that one.
	13 Jun 2006	Next step was to pull out the canopy that's been standing in the corner for a while. I did the obligatory trimming of the fore and aft edges but left the sides alone. I did try the Roto-Zip but the finish it left wasn't too good. It does go through the plexy somewhat nice. I found the pneumatic die grinder with the cut-off wheel works well but tend to run out of air quickly. I have an electric die-grinder a the hangar I need to try on this.
	14 Jun 2006	Started prepping the fuselage for the bubble. I took the sander to the pop rivets then dressed them with scotchbrite so now the aft half of the rollover frame is very smooth. I also covered them in tape and drew the center line.
		This is nice progress! The bubble sits about 1" above the roll-over, so I if my math works out, I need to lower the front edge about 3 inches.
	19 Jun 2006	Over the last couple days I've been trimming the front edge to get the bubble to sit down on the rollover structure. I think I trimmed about 1/2" then about 3/4" and it sits to within about 3/16 from the rollbar, judging on how much I can push in on the canopy to contact the rollbar. This is good enough. I prepped the canopy and got suited up for the big cut! Man, I feel like a huge Oompa-Loompa! I started using my electric high-speed die grinder I got from Sears many, many moons ago. This is much, much better than the air powered tool.
		And after creating the blizzard of white plexi flakes, the deed is done. I now have two main parts of the canopy. No big deal, just keep the canopy from springing loose as the cut is made per the plans and everything will be OK. Once I sat it back on the fuselage, I find that I need to trim about 3/16" from the aft center, and taper that to the outboard, lower edges. Looks like a good fit.
	24 Jun 2006	Over the last several days, the bubble went on and off about a zillon times. I finally got it trimmed down enough to put behind the "ears", but as you can see, the front edge is riding up a little. A little more to go and I'll be ready to start the drilling phase. I was trying to figure out how to best take off a little plexi at a time. Sanding, even with 50 grit takes a long time, It was suggested that a dremal with a barrel sander works. The problem with that is it leaves small divots is you're not careful. I found the best method is to use the front face of the cut-off wheel. This provides a flat surface and will take off as much as you like or as little as you like, and still leave a fairly smooth surface.
	25 Jun 2006	After another hour of trim, sand, fit, mark, remove (repeat as necessary), I think it's pretty much there. Next step is to ensure the aft frame is up against the bubble and then drill those. Then it's on to drilling the side frame. I've kind of set a goal to have this mostly done by Oshkosh this year, so I can do interior painting in late August while it's still warm.
	3Jul 2006	More fitting of the bubble. At this stage, I've started drilling the bubble to the side frame. Really not a big deal as long as you just go slow.
	8 Jul 2006	Whatever I'm puttin' in the milk sure seems to be working! I took a day off work and made the visit to Arlington over the weekend. At least that was my day. On Saturday, I took Alex up there and he seemed to enjoy the show. He would be the third generation affected by the aviation gene, which is pretty darn cool! Thursday the weather was just the pits, or basically typical early summer Northwest. But Friday was totally different. Highs in the 80's and not a cloud to be seen. Saturday was just as nice but even a little warmer. We only get three of these days a year up here and we've just blown two of them! Since I'm involved with the Replica Fighter Association, I hung out at their trailer in the shade for a good bit. In the background are two Thunder Mustangs with Falconer V-12s. These two were absolutely stunning to say the least. You've never seen a crowd gather around an RV when they crank up compared to the gawkers around these two. Way too cool.
	8 Jul 2006	Got back from NWEAA and had to get to work. The plan was to at least get the aft canopy drilled by the end of the weekend. At this stage, the aft bubble seems to fit fairly well.
	9 Jul 2006	Continuing the exercise, the bubble is clamped down well and the drilling has commenced. This part of the canopy work is a non-event and stress-free.
		Goal achieved for the weekend (this project is just hundreds of small goals). The aft canopy is drilled, and the rollbar holes have been countersunk. I still need to c/s the holes around the aft skin but I'm getting close. After this, I need to trim the plexi a bit more, drill and fit the side rail skins, then do the stiffeners. Then it's ready for paint and final assembly! Hopefully, I'm ready for paint by the time OSH comes around.
	15 Jul 2006	Started out the day going over to Boeing Field to comply with the BFR requirement. Through the local flying community, I found a good CFI who runs a Part 135 operation and rents out Cubs and instructs in a Maule (http://www.island-air.com). I figured the Maule, even though a little pricy, would work well. As the Boredom Fighter is my normal steed, it's on the basic side, so my complex systems are a little rusty. Since it doesn't have anything in the way of radios, other than a handheld Icom, I say out the tower-controlled airports generally. This individual Maule M-7-260C, is decked out wth dual 430's and a 330 transponder. Way cool. On top of that, it's powered by an IO-540 so it has a little get-up-and-go. Needless to say, between the complex airspace, tower'd airport, and a brand new airplane, I was a little behind. I wouldn't say the Maule is difficult to land, as other's have said, there was just a lot going on. With all the power, that Maule just cruises along at about 150, 80 in the pattern, and 70 on approach. Overall, it seems like a good one to start building time in prior to getting the -7 done! Over the last couple days, I've trimmed the aft window a bit, as well as counter-sunk the screw holes. I also started fitting the side skirts and opted to go flush with the longerons. What I did find was the the canopy bubble tends to exert a little force on the side frames, at lease enough to push them outward about 1/16". I'll have to try and figure that one out!
		Here's the rear window which fits pretty close with the front canopy. From looking at other tippers at NWEAA, I do think I'm going with the targa strip. It just tends to hide the busy structure over the rollbar.
		Moving on a bit, here's the side skirts being drilled for the screws. Again, not difficult, just takes some time. I'll have to add the pics, but the last two major tasks to complete are the gas strut mounts and the frame stiffeners, both of which are in work.
	21 Jul 2006	It was finally time to start the canopy frame re-enforcement and the first step is putting the flange in the holes. As everyone probably knows who's even looked into this, using a block of wood to bend the flange just doesn't work. I drilled the appropriate sized hole in a nice chunk of oak and beveled the edge.
		Next, clamp the part you need to work directly over the hole. I've heard of guys making a male plug to fit this then press it, but this method seemed to work. Take a small plastic/ rubber hammer, and whang it pretty good in fast strokes, moving around the hole.
		This is how it turned out. Without a die set and a good press, I think it turned out OK.
		Take the canopy frame and flip it over, then bend the stiffener flanges to fit. Drill the forward edge to the canopy frame. No big deal here.
		I didn't want to drill the aft flange until the frame was back on the fuselage so I could minimize any twist. Probably not a huge probability, but this was easy. Drill from the bottom up and that's about it. I need to finish the clips that bridge the holes and this is about done.
	24 Jul 2006	No physical progress on the RV this week. I spent most of it at Oshkosh 2006 and as usual, had a good time. The weather was stinkin' hot and humid but a good time was had by all. My avionics selection was, for the most part, validated. I'm going with dual GRTs and I didn't see anything that would make me change my mind. The new Garmin G600 is very cool, but not for $29K. WAY overpriced for the homebuilt market. I did talk to the engine folks a bit and I hope to make that decision and get an engine on order around January.
	29 Jul 2006	Got back from OSH and was motivated to make some progress. The first step was to finish off the mount fittings for the struts. Got those done, then had to figure out how to attach the struts! I couldn't find any instructions in the manual on this step aside from the drawings, but seemed to get this figured out. To get the struts on and off, I suppose the canopy needs to be in the up position which should work. In the down position, the struts will be compressed so some sort of strap is necessary to hold the struts compresses while they are disconnected.
		Here's the bubble on the tipped canopy. I was able to get the aft latches drilled to the frame, drill a couple missed holes in the frame stiffener, and drill the clips to the stiffeners as well. Other than drilling the center lift handle mount, this is ready to come apart for de-burring, dimpling, and paint. The plan is to create a big punch-list for all those cockpit items I need to finish prior to interior paint, then hopefully paint the interior while it's still warm here in Seattle during the next two months. For the most part, I wanted to make it this far before Oshkosh was over. Looks like I made it.
	8 Aug 2006	At this point, it's back to the fuselage for disassembly and paint prep.
	17 Jul 2007	It was finally time to get back to the canopy. I wanted to get this done during the summer while epoxy would cure pretty quick. So, I bought some edge piping from Classic Aero Designs as well as some black leather for the glare shield. I though about going with a lighter color but thought the glare would be pretty bad. Here I'm fitting the edge roll to make sure it's the right length.
	19 Jul 2007	Next step it to glue the leather along the lower edge of the glare shield. The plan is to glue that down, then slip the edge roll on over the leather, then wrap the leather over the roll.
		Here I'm gluing the leather down just forward of the edge roll. This came out well using 3M spray adhesive. Following this step, I slowly worked the leather out smooth and glued it down. The canopy went on over the leather, and I trimmed the leather to the canopy outline.
	21 Jul 2007	Kind of a crummy shot but this is what it looks like from the inside.
		Now for the fun part. Here's the first coat of filler (West Systems + flox). I suppose there's about 2 or 3 layups of filler before attempting the glass layups. Note that I'm using a black pigment on the filler to make the filler and eventually the glass black from the inside.
	28 Jul 2007	This is what this looks like after curing and doing a bit of sanding. The fairing doesn't look like much now, but I think this is going to work out nice.
	29 Jul 2007	And finally, I hope this is about the last coat of filler for the fairing before the glass goes on. I'll pull the dacron and see what this looks like but i think it's almost there. A little more sanding and it's time to do the glass lay-up.
	4 Aug 2007	So here's what this looks like, the last filler before doing the glass lay-up. Looks pretty good from what I can tell.
		And another shot.
		And on goes the glass. I ended up using three layers of 8oz tape and it seemed to have gone on OK. The dacron/ peel-ply really helps minimize the sanding, but I can tell there's a lot left to do. All-in-all, I think there was about 4 or five layers of filler prior to the glass, each one getting it closer to the final fillet. From what I can tell, the closer you can get it to the final shape, the better. It's all in the surface prep.
	7 Aug 2007	This is really going a lot better than it looks. This is the second fill coat after the glassing and I think I may only have one more after this. There's a couple minor divots to fill then we'll sand and prime. I'll be really happy when this task is complete!
	18 Aug 2007	The canopy work here is starting to get old. I'm not sure how the glass builders do it, but they just can't be normal. After a bit of filler and more sanding, it was time for more smooth prime. I let that dry for a while and then sanded some more.
		It really looked like it was there, so I shot a light coat of some plastic primer on the glass work. Humm, not quite. I still have about half-dozen spots that require more fill and sanding.
		Generally, it doesn't look too bad, but again, there's several spots that need some attention. Most of these just don't show up until you spray a coat of glossy paint on it.
	27 Aug 2007	What's not shown in a lot of sanding, some smooth prime, more sanding, and a coat of primer, before I hit this step. I really am close to wrapping this up but there always seems to be a couple more spots to sand, fill, and sand again. I'm only down to about 4 or 5 small spots right now. I could go as is, but if I did, I'd never finish these small spots.
	8 Sep 2007	I've been slaving away at this for a long time, actually, way too long. And I'm really tired of this. There has got to be a better way to deal with this canopy!
		After taking this photo, I came back and took a look. It needed more sanding. This is getting to be really depressing and no longer fun.
	15 Sep 2007	I was able to make some pretty good progress today with the goal to finally finish up the canopy. I started with the center latch and wanted to add a spring so it would lock in teh open position if it's unattended. So far, aside from the new-ness of the delrin block, it seems to work well. I need to pull down about .25 inches, then turn the latch.
		Next up was the aft latches. No big deal.
		Then go get Carolina for assistance in putting this on the fuselage. The struts went on easy but the first time I opened it, there was a loud pop and nice little dent in the leading edge where it caught. @&^%!!! Van's has got to find a better way for this canopy. People complain about the sliders, but these tippers are a real pain to fit well. I have a gap I'm not happy with on the right side so that's going to get fixed in the final paint prep.
		IAnd here's the shot with the canopy down. Pretty cool.