Scott & Tanya Card RV9A build log (N4822C)

Since I was happy with the canopy edges, the next obvious step was to drill the attach holes. Another nerve wracking experience for sure. No details here as it is pretty straight forward but the required attention to what you’re doing is very time consuming. I put a 25lb. bag of lead shot up on the top of the canopy to apply consistent downward pressure in addition to taping things down well and clamping. I drilled the side rails from inside with Tanya holding pressure on the outside and inserting clecos.

After the canopy was drilled, I got out the side skirt sheet to see what we had. Hmmm… It needed to be trimmed down a little more than 1/8″. I don’t have a big foot operated sheet metal shear (YET), so I had to get a little creative with trimming a long straight line…

The canopy came off in prep for the first look at the rear window. Before I got to that, I thought I would take a look at how the instrument panel *really* fit with the adjusted canopy frame in place. Yep, it goes behind the frame and is a pretty close fit. But, it does fit. Woohoo!

Time for a project visit and RV Dinner! Jeff Bordelon, Jim Andrews, Zach Sadecki, and David Nelson (see Other builders links) dropped in to check out my progress and talk RV for about an hour or so, then we went to dinner. I had a blast! Jeff coined the term “cleco titty”, we all looked at the weird curve in my rear window, and Jim produced the golden nugget idea (at least for me) of how to mount the FlowScan sensor to some adel clamps on the engine mount. Kudos to Tanya for getting the snow drifts of plexiglass dust cleaned up in the garage before everybody showed up.

Alright, another day later, time to get back to that rear window. It does have a scary curve. Oh well, I’m going to build on, we concluded that a little time in the Texas heat and it will be all good. Mark, rough trim, drill, looks good. Next I’ll take the rear window back off and work on final trimming around the curve and at the center line at the cabin frame.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

I decided against allowing the full Texas heat to overtake the garage today for the health of the canopy. I’m keeping it right around 80 degrees today with the A/C. I have long since lost count of the number of individual trims I have done and times I have had the canopy on and off. Luckily once it is split, it can be managed solo. I finally got the forward/side transition slot figured out. I’m quite happy with it. Here is another great use of a Dell box. I set the canopy on a box while final trimming the sides. It worked perfectly, and I could spin it around on the bench :). Tanya kept the masking tape flowing today. No big surprise that I was about to use up all of the tape in the whole garage. (remember the picture long ago of my whole drawer of tape?). I wonder what the verdict is on how best to trim the aft corner of the canopy where is is supposed to tuck behind the aft skin by the canopy frame?

At this point, I think all of the canopy edges are properly trimmed to final size to my satisfaction.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

It took me five fit and trims of the front to get close enough to be ready to split the canopy. My first objective was to get the contour correct on the front edge. That took about three trims. Then I took off about 1/4 to 3/8″ at a time until the gap between the top of the canopy and the cabin frame was about 5/8″. This is a tricky dance as you could easily run out of canopy at the rear window. Tanya was at the ready each time the canopy needed to be put on or taken off. The canopy split was a piece of cake. All of the “practice” on trimming the front edge sure helped. I did the big cut without any help, no problem. All this with the garage at 89 degrees to keep from cracking the canopy. It was hot.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

I have the rest of the week off. Nothing to do but build. We’ll see what I get done :).

I got the canopy frame side rails riveted together. I did this with the frame on the fuselage to try to be sure something didn’t shift too much. Tanya came home at lunch and helped me move the canopy out to the garage. I spent a bit of time figuring out what my plan of attack would be and preparing by trimming the protective plastic and taping the cuts. I got straight to cutting the edges where the mold is clamped during forming. With all the first cuts made and the edges sanded smooth, we placed it on the airplane. It looks pretty cool, but there is a lot of work to do. Tomorrow I’ll begin trimming the forward edge.