Spent about an hour making up the canopy side rail pin. On my plane, you will notice the pin is on the fuselage upper longeron. May not be the nicest thing to have to step over, but I blew out the threads on the canopy frame. The little gizmo I came up with holds that pin nice and solid to the upper longeron. Spent another 1/2 hour or so lining up the canopy on the fuselage and marking the forwards cut with masking tape. Had to take a break. Came back to it and set it in the driveway for a while - got that plastic over 100F easily. Made the cut with a dremel with a plastic-specific cutoff wheel. Nearly had a heart attack when the trimmed off part cracked. I believe it cracked due to the rough as-shipped edge finally creating enough stress in the narrow strip being cut off for it to split. But it made me really nervous that the dremel melt-through method was going to be disaster. The heat effected zone really isn't that large. Knocked off the recast plastic with my fingers, then made it smooth with a hand-held sander and 150 grit. Carol helped with moving the canopy to and from the plane. Put it on, marked a reference point in the center of the forwards and aft sides, then marked the aft side cut and made that no problem. I was smoother with moving the dremel along leading to less recast. Put it back and marked the sides. Did those, and it seems to sit too high. I had pulled out the seat to be able to access the inside from the rear, and I climbed in to find the sides could be trimmed a little more. That's all I can do today because the sun got too low to heat the plastic.
Side cut marked. Fwd and aft cuts made.
Side cut made, trim clecoed on.
Smooth transition from the windshield and turtledeck.
