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Jims RV-8
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Date: 8-19-2017
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Number of Hours: 2.00
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Manual Reference: 9-2
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Brief Description: Initial canopy view, workbench cleanup
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I pulled down the canopy from the upper storage area and did the initial fit on the fuselage...wow, not even close! There will be lots of cutting to make this canopy fit. They give you plenty of canopy material and let the builder cut it to fit.
The canopy is right at 8 feet long and I was mentally working out how I will be iterating between from cutting to fitting to cutting, etc. The idea here is to sneak up on the proper fit so there will be many iterations. I wish I knew the exact amount that needs to be cut off and I could just make on cut around - but no such luck. There are some red lines marked on the canopy, but Van's warns that these are just estimates and should not be used as first cut lines.
So my thought is that I will use the right workbench that I have used as the work surface on the majority of the build as the place where I will do the canopy cutting and sanding. The canopy is cut and then sanded smooth before it is placed back on the fuselage for fitting. Sanding is a very important step as the cutting will put stress risers in the plexi and moving the canopy will undoubtedly put some twisting on the canopy which could cause the canopy to crack. So, cut/sand/fit/repeat will be the practice.
Needing some more room I decided to clean off the left workbench. It had lots if parts, books, papers, snap bushings, etc., etc. and it was good to get the bench cleaned up. I plan to keep it in good clean shape going forward as it had gotten out of control.
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First canopy fit - big smile on my face
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lots of trimming off the bottom to make this fit
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this bench hasn't been this clean in a long time
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