Another day in the hangar working on the canopy skirts, in this case the port side. This side has the added challenge of locating and cutting the hole for the canopy latch. You can see the latch handle at the forward end of the canopy. After positioning to get the best fit it was match drilled. Unfortunately, the forward edge was just a bit short at the corner so I had to do a little repair to add a little material. I also had to add some material at another corner but that one was my fault (trimmed it a little too short). On the positive side, fiberglass can be repaired with some resin and glass cloth. If you look closely you will see a less than perfect fit at the curved area on the aft end of the canopy. This fit problem is present on both the port and starboard side of the canopy. I looked at a couple RV-8s and talked to another builder at a fly-in last weekend to get some ideas as to how the problem might be solved. I hope to talk to another fiberglass expert before tackling the fix.
