Had only today to get any work completed. Family requirements are keeping me busy next week and work is the following week. Oh well.
Today I continued working on the aft canopy frame and made a lot of progress. I need to get better at taking photos along the way, it would make describing the work a lot easier. First task was to trim and radius the frame so the attaching brackets could nest flush against the frame. As the frame sits leaning aft about 11 degrees, I needed to trim an angled piece away from the bottom of the frame. I used my dremel to cut and radius the material.
After riveting the two attaching brackets together (two for each side), the plans call for locating the attaching brackets and drilling them to the fuselage. Initially I measured from the firewall and drew a line across the F-705 bulkhead. This showed me the forward location for the frame. I then clamped the attaching brackets to the frame so I could determine the appropriate location. As the bolt holes are inside the frame I needed a way to mark the hole location from the outside. I borrowed an idea from a web site and placed tape on the fuselage where the brackets woould be placed (wish I had a photo.) After locating the brackets correctly I drew their respective outlines on the tape. After removing everything I clamped the brackets back in place using the lines as a guide and drilled to #30. The plans call for AN4-10s and I will drill this to size when I take it back apart. The angle used for the attaching backets hung over the side slightly (as per the plans) so I removed a little bit of material so the skin sits flush.
All of that sounds straight forward and simple; but with all the filing, sanding and coaxing it took much longer than I thought it would.
