Saturday March 26, 2022
Canopy Side Skirt Fitting (Canopy)
2.7 Hours

First thing today, I removed the canopy and cut a little bit off this area here where it sits behind the ear to improve the fit. Then I reinstalled it and screwed it back together.

Then, I got the side skirt blanks out and started working on them.

I made a little spreadsheet to calculate the hole distances, since I don't have a little accordion thing to space the holes. They came out okay...there are a few spots where I must have slightly messed up the measurement, but it's something you'll only notice if you're looking for it. Once there's paint on the plane, it'll be essentially invisible.

I drilled all of the 3/32" holes on the drill press.

Then, I fit it on the side rail and drilled the top row of holes. I also trimmed the front and aft ends.

Then, I trimmed the lower edge to match the fuselage side skins and did some filing to get the fit closer.

Still some work to do here (including matching the height of the ear from the forward canopy skin), but it looks good.

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