Thursday May 5, 2022
Canopy Deck Riveting, Finished Canopy Frame Riveting, Canopy Struts
(3.0 Hours Canopy, 3.0 Hours Center Fuselage)
6.0 Hours Total

I started today by riveting the canopy decks on the right side in place.

I also installed the F-704K cap strip on the right side.

Then I installed the canopy decks on the left side. I ran out of LP4-3 blind rivets to install the cap strip on the left side.

I spent some time reinstalling the subpanel assembly, touching up some paint near the F-705 bulkhead, and putting some protective tape on the canopy decks.

I bolted the F-631 angle assemblies to the roll bar permanently.

And then bolted the roll bar to the F-705 bulkhead.

I deepened these countersinks on the sides of the main canopy plexiglass to accommodate the dimples from the side skirts.

Then, I cleco'd the canopy to the frame.

I riveted the handle to the left side of the canopy frame.

I riveted this area of the canopy frame. The center holes are reserved for the latch.

I riveted the C-704 to the C-631A's. I waited to do this until the plexi was in place to make sure the alignment was as perfect as possible.

Then, I installed the canopy on the fuselage and installed the gas struts. They definitely help with easy opening and closing of the canopy. However, they push the canopy forward quite significantly (like 1/4"). This may be a result of the forward top skin not being in place. It's impossible to open the canopy with the forward skin cleco'd in place (the clecos interfere), but I don't want to rivet that skin permanently until very close to first flight to maintain access to the area forward of the subpanel. I won't worry about it for now. There are some workarounds if the problem persists after permanent assembly of the forward fuselage.

The other concern is that after permanent assembly of the canopy frame, the left side isn't perfectly aligned where it abuts the fuselage side. I need to try to bend that area of the frame, I think.

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