This is a tedious one shot at perfect job . The canopy glass has finally arrived and after a whole lot of head scratching the canopy was cut from a T-18 canopy as per the plans . The T-18 fit very nicely i must say .
Placing the oversized glass on top of the airframe and trying to sense where it should sit provided the most discomfort in this operation . This will be a one shot trim there will be no second chances. What i was most concerned with was preseveing the clean flow or lines of the airframe. A placement to far aft will add more "bubble " forward and could produce a secondary rise just behind the wind screen . I have seen this before on other barracudas . If this happened I would be stuck with it or face the choice of buying another entire T-18 canopy. The other thing i have seen on barra's is that the curve from top to side of glass was placed high on the fuse profile which makes the windows slope down and in toward the spline - im looking for a clean line in all directions.
First the glass was placed and adjusted several times on top of the airframe , all lines were viewed from every imagineable angle . when satisfied the opening was marked on the glass protective film.
The glass was then supported and the canopy frame was settled into the glass and nested very close to the cut lines marked earlier . I let the frame find its own location within the markings to prevent any added stress to the glass when its apllied to the frame. Remarked the frame outline and then place back on airframe for double and triple check.
When satified the excess was trimmed off with a thin cutoff disc on the die grinder . Then roloc disc all edges and camfer edges and corners.
Decided to stop here and do some building in my head - thus creating a plan
Both sides need to be symetrical Upholstry door lach mechanism fairing windows in - will require spacers to hold tolerances skirting ? plan is to form a carbon fiber skirt - this will cleanly handle the forward overlap of the windscreen .
