Finish Kit 5
9/18/05 10 Hours
I decided to make the canopy skirts again after much fretting, so I set about that task first. I need to get this canopy wrapped up while we still have the warm weather here in Michigan.
This time around, I did it with the canopy fully closed for the upper three quarters of the skirts, and then I opened the canopy right up to pull the bottom bits remaining nice and tight. I am really glad I did them again, as they have turned out damn near perfect. I can close the canopy, and there are no gaps! Great stuff! Here's a couple of pics.
Here's the bottom of the left side. See how I made the skirts long enough so that they lined up with the other skins on the fuselage. It's little details like this that finish off a job.
Once all the skirts were done, I took the whole canopy apart (again) to paint. I took the frame outside and sand blasted it. I cleaned up all the other parts, made sure everything that needed dimples were dimpled, and all the holes were the right size. Here are some of the parts primed. This used up the last of the primer we had. Time to go get some more. I don't know why this picture turned out so crappy.
Here's the canopy frame hanging up. This is a tough part to paint as you have to wriggle around a lot to get it fully covered.
During the week I have to come by the hangar to paint colour on all these parts. Then they can all be rivetted together! Woo hoo, the canopy is almost done.
9/20/05 1.5 Hour
I stopped by the hangar on the way home from work tonight to paint the canopy parts. They all turned out pretty good, so I expect that this weekend I'll be rivetting this thing together!
I didn't have my camera, but you've seen the parts. I just painted 'em!
9/24/05 8.5 Hour
Today was the day for riveting the canopy together. I managed to buy some silicone sealant for Lexan and Polycarbonate from Orange Hell (Home Depot) during the week too so I could seal it properly.
First off I took off all the protective sheeting. Looks like I picked up a couple of scratches too, even though the film was in place. Nothing too serious that can't be buffed out later. Then I ran a small bead of silicone around each rivet of the top strip and riveted that on. That bit was easy! Here's a shot of the plexi sitting in place. Nice and shiny. And you can actually see through it. I wonder how long it will stay this nice?
Here's the top strip in place...
Next I cleco'd down the canopy and riveted the front edge. Now then, here's where I got a bit annoyed. I was picking out the rivets form the bag of AACQ-4-4's and riveting away when I started pulling a rivet and I noticed it was a bit strange feeling. I stopped pulling it about half way and looked at it. It was a completely different type with a slight rounded head, no countersink, but the same colour as the AACQ types. Well, it was loose in the hole, but not loose enough to get out. What a dillema. I couldn't wiggle out it no matter how much I tried. The only solution would be to pull it fully and drill it out. The last thing I wanted to do. So, I pulled it, and started drilling. Well, I got a drill through so far, but then it started spinning. Now what? I have this ugly ass rivet in my canopy that I can't do anything about. Any suggestions? So, when you're riveting away quite happily, CHECK what the rivet looks like before blindly putting it in the hole and pulling. Turned out I had quite a few of these odd rivets in my bag. Not good.
I did the skirts next. I ran some sealer along each skirt before setting them down to the canopy. Then I started riveting again, watching out for those odd rivets! Here's the finished job for the left side. I'll do the forward rivets there later when I remove the canopy from the plane. They're hard to get with a squeezer right now.
Once the right side was done too, I did the little dog house for the canopy track. It all turned out pretty good really. It took me practically the whole day to do this stuff. I still need to make two little handles to help open the canopy with. These will be attached at the back of each side.
Clayton came by to check progress today, and we made some little handles for the sides of the canopy to help open it up. We then rivetted them on. We debated for quite a while as to which way to put these on. Wide bit forward or wide bit rearward? After a bit of discussion, we both decided that this way looked best.
I also fitted the Koger sun shade. I still need to tweak the shade carriers a little to make them conform the the shape of the canopy bubble a little better. In these photos, it looks a bit saggy.
I also finished up the few remaining rivets for the canopy side skirts. That's it now. The canopy is officially finished. Yay!