Today I finally got frustrated enough to get this canopy beat into submission. It was little wide at the front windshield bow and alittle wide at the back. Using the strips of aluminum attached to the curved skirt part of the frame I could see that it needed some tweaking to make the strips rub the fuselage side skins. I had been using a ratcheting motorcycle strap but I wasn't getting much done for fear of wrecking the frame. Well frustration might be the mother of invention in this case. Note the dimensions: Width of the front bow is at the widest part. The width of the rear was taken just aft of the last curved piece in the skirt.
Front at start: 25 11/16" Rear at start: 27 15/16" Front strapped: 19 14/16" Rear strapped: 22 3/16" Front after: 25 6/16 Rear after: 27 12/16"
That's 5 3/4" of deflection to get the chromoly to yield 5/16" in the front and 3/16" in the rear! Now I see why they built so many airplanes out of this stuff!
Next is to get the tail end of the frame closer to the top aft fuselage skin.
The ratchet was maxed out - i'd recommend a larger one for anyone doing this in the future.
The strips of metal are no just rubbing the edge per the plans.
