Started fitting canopy frame

January 26, 2016 – The first thing to do with the actual canopy is to assemble the rollers that go in the side tracks.

These were straight-forward; I just had to find the parts and the screws. Here’s one disassembled, and one assembled.

I then cut the tracks to their specified length.

I laid out the attach holes per the plans, and drilled them with a #40. I drilled the two tracks together to get identical spacing.

I drilled the slider block for the rear track of the canopy. Here it’s shown in place on the frame.

I checked the bend of the rear track against the plans, then laid out the rivet and screw pattern. This track consists of a rectangular extrusion paired with a strap, to make a T-shaped track.

The track gets taped into place during frame adjustment.

I tried to lay out the fasteners per the drawing, but I had substantial conflicts with rivets in the fuselage where the track is installed, so I moved the holes based on existing fastener location. Now that I have started adjusting the frame, I may have made a mistake doing that. It appears that the track can be slid backwards or forward to raise or lower the canopy frame. I’ll keep you posted.

Anyway, here’s the first time the frame was put in place:

Here’s the forward rollers in the side tracks:

…and the rear track with the slider block:

Now I’m working on tweaking the frame so that it fits correctly. I’ve had quite a bit of what I would call “unproductive time” just standing and staring at it all, then going to read the plans, then going  back to staring at it. If an adjustment is made in one place, it will affect dimensions in another, so this could take some time…

Time: 6:30