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Dave's RV-7A Builder's Log
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Date: 6-1-2014
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Number of Hours: 3.45
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Manual Reference:
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Brief Description: Anchor blocks and windshield work
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As if I didn't already know that the canopy, windscreen and all the associated canopy skirts constitute the most disparate collection of parts on an RV, today served as a reminder. After procuring a drill press vise, I went out to the hangar to finish up some of the odds and ends on the canopy. The vise made drilling the nylon anchor blocks pretty easy, and aside from a couple of slight adjustments that will help make the canopy open and close easier, the actual latching and anchoring mechanism is finished. The challenge now is to somehow make this assembly of steel, aluminum and acrylic all match up with the fuselage. Making a sliding canopy is not for the faint of heart.
In order to be able to pull off the upper front skin to gain better access to the firewall (think engine installation here…), I needed to finish trimming the windscreen. This is the last of any major canopy cutting and trimming, so I figured I might as well get it out of the way. Windscreen marked and on the bench, out with the ExplodoZip, and commence cutting. No fire this time—in fact, it was pretty uneventful. One additional fitting showed an area along each side that needed to be cut, and once that was done, I was covered in a fine coat of acrylic dust…and the windscreen was cut. Sanding with progressively finer grit sandpaper to knock the edges off, and it was good enough for now. I will probably go back along all of the edges again, but enough for today.
When I put the windscreen back on the frame, I noticed that it is slightly higher than the canopy (by about 3/16”). The builder’s manual suggests that the windscreen should actually be even, or slightly lower, than the canopy. This makes no sense to me, since the entire area will be covered with a fiberglass fairing. Oh well, see paragraph #1, fitting this all together has proven to be a bit of a challenge.
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Right hand anchor block
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Ready for the final cut
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Initial fit of windscreen
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