Category Archives: Canopy

Time: 6 hours

I started the process of installing the canopy skirts. These come in to halfs that will eventually get mated at the aft end. They come in a rough size and need to be trimmed down to a scribe line they put in them. I started with my cut 1/4″ from the line to give me some working room. 

I grabbed my Dremel and cut to the line and created a lot of dust! Before I can mount them to the canopy frame I need to make reference lines for the holes in the canopy. These lines, 2 per hole, will intersect at the hole center. 

Then you put the skirt in place sliding it forward and aft until you find the sweet spot as Glenn called. Once that’s found you tape it in place so that you can transfer the lines you just drew. 

I started at the front and worked aft clecko’ing as I went. This is backwards from the plans but I have read others have done the same since the aft end is the hardest to get done and usually requires modification. I used the triangle shaped templates to drill the frame ribs. One side on and one to go. 

I had to do a initial trim of the aft end to get them to layup somewhat close. 

I’ll work on the aft end a little later for now I need to work the sides a little. First this is to mark the final edge cut now that I know where the rivet holes are.

 I’m glad I left 1/4″ extra since there was an area on both sides in the back end that was right at the needed distance and didn’t require any extra cutting. Once I had the edge marked I cut it off with the Dremel and sanded the edges to get a nice straight edge. The desire is to have the lower edge nice and tight to the fuselage skin. Both sides have a little gap at the bend where it turns up. 

To fix this problem I will make slot cuts in the fiberglass vertically to relieve the stress and allow me to bend down flush against the fuselage. I placed packing tape all over the fuselage under the area that needed fixed to prevent the epoxy from sticking. Then I marked where I thought the cuts needed to be. 

I cut the slots then prepped the area for some fiberglass. I cut some squares of medium fiberglass cloth to cover the gaps I just cut. With the skirt off and upside down I wetted the cloth peices and put them over the slots. Then I put the skirts back on the frame with it slid back a little. Then I slid the canopy forward so that it set in its closed position. The sides are able to easily be pushed down flush with the fuselage and held there with some gorilla tape. 

When this dries I will remove the black tape and fill the slots on the exterior with epoxy and micro. Then I will put another layer of cloth inside and a lightweight layer on the exterior to strengthen this area. So I couldn’t move the canopy as this dries so I called it a day. I will repeat this process for the right side tomorrow. After these are done I will attempt to build the aft end and join the to halfs. 

Time: 3 Hours

The stock canopy handle for the inside of the canopy frame is not the best looking design in my opinion. I’m taking another page out of Glenn’s playbook with a little twist. Glenn cut off the handle part and added a black ball as a hand hold. I like the basic idea but wanted my handle to match the pilot and passenger throttles. They both have nice anodized handles, the passengers being a little smaller, and I thought that the smaller one would look good. So I cut off the stock handle at the lower end and left a short peice of the top part of the handle. 

You can see the black line that marks the lower cut. Once I made that cut I left the short peice on the other end. This left a welded tube for me to work with. It was too big for an AN-3 bolt so I made an insert out of aluminum tube that had an ID for an AN-3 bolt. I had to sand it down to get the OD to fit the handle tube. I used this homemade bushing to drill the back of the handle. From there I was able to bolt the handle to the bracket. 

I took it apart and cleaned and primed it followed by a couple of layers of paint. It didn’t take too long for me to realize that this setup wouldn’t work! There is another peice that acts a hook that slides over the circular stem you see in the above photo. As the handle is turned the hook pivots at the screw hole and rotates to pull the hook. As it does it slides by the flat part of the handle. In the setup I came up with the nut would hit the hook as there is only about a 1/16″ space. So back to the drawing board. What I came up with is to weld a threaded stand off, fro McMaster Carr,  to the handle so that I could just screw the handle into it and not need a nut. So I cut off the remaining portion of the handle and cleaned up the flat part with my angle grinder. Since I drilled a hole for the original bolt I figured I would put it to use to hold the stand off from the back side as I weld. 

After I welde the parts I cleaned them up with my grinder and Dremel. I then primed the parts to prepare of another atempt of painting. 

I decided that despite me owing a small angle grinder and have taken a few classes with my brothers, my welding skills are a little rusty. I mixed up a little epoxy and micro to clean up the look of the welded joint. After that dried I primed and painted the handle. Now you can see the issue I would have had with the nut in the last setup.

The hook will get trimmed to match the canopy when I’m all done with it so that it securely hooks and holds the canopy frame closed.

Time: 1 Hour

I spent just an hour finishing up the edges and prepping to temporarily rivet the canopy to the frame using the 15 keeper holes that I had drilled. These rivets are flush and hold the canopy in place while you work on the canopy skirts. When that work is done you drill these rivets out and remove the canopy so that you can clean the holes and prime/paint the frame if you desire.  Making sure I had the correct AACQ soft blind rivets that the plans called for I took a very deep breath and went to it. Each one I said “please no cracks” and pulled away. I’m happy to say all went well and no cracks!

Ok so now on to the skirts! 

Time: 6 Hours

One mode I wanted to do was create some frame side panels like Glenn had done. In the stock configuration as you sit inside the aircraft you have visibility to the frame sides as well as the firnerglass skirts. These panels will cover up this area and will have lightening holes to give it a really clean look. To start I needed to grind down a little bit of the frame as the rib meets the horizontal bar to allow the panel to lay flat. I used my angle grinder to remove this area and smooth it out. I then laid out a rivet pattern and drilled all the holes. I then cut some .025 sheet to the shape of the side. Once a had a rough shape that fit the area I match drilled the holes using the duplicator. I then repeated this process on the opposite side. 

I then marked the final edge lines and removed the panels and trimmed them. I spent a little time cleaning up all the edges and corners after the final edges were done. Then I opened the holes to a #30 size for the final riveting. 

Now I could have just left the panels solid as they sit now but Glenn bought a cool 2 1/4″ hole punch that also puts a raised flange around the hole. This serves to strengthen the hole as well as make it look a lot nicer. So I laid out 10 holes on each of the panels so they looked nice. Then I drilled a 1/2″ hole in the center of all the marks I made for the 10 holes. This hole allows for the punches bolt to go through so it can squeeze the two halfs together. Before I did the panels I tested the process out on a peice of a tape sheet. 

This test also confirmed the way I needed to lay the panel on the punch so that the flange would be bent outboard as you look at it from inside the plane. After 20 minutes of work I had all 20 holes done in both panels. 

I rolled the top and bottom edges to give them just a little cleaner look when I get riveted to the frame. Now I need to do is clean up the edges, prime and paint these and they’ll be ready for riveting. I’m hoping these will just add a cool touch to the canopy frame.

Time: 2 Hours

The canopy skirt comes undrilled, you match the holes in the frame to fiberglass skirt using a hole duplicator. So I used the plans and marked out and drilled all the holes in the frame for the skirts. There are two vertical ribs on the frame that need a special template in order to drill. You use some scrap sheet aluminum and drill the holes using through the template into the frame. That way those holes in the template are an exact match and can then be used on top of the skirt to drill its holes. 

There is a jig in the aft end of the frame where a smaller diameter tube is welded to the larger tube. You have measurements to avoid this area when riveting as it can create cracks. To hep avoid this I created a transition using epoxy and flow. Maybe overkill but it can’t hurt.