finished canopy frame riveting
We finished riveting the canopy frame together without messing up any of the paint. It looks pretty good. As I was getting ready to pick it up and do a test fit on the fuselage, I realized that I forgot to put the little shims that I made in between the skin and frame. Major bummer. I did a test fit, and yep, it needs the shims. I left it and came back to it the next day and drilled out four rivets on each side of the forward frame in order to get the shims in. The next trick was bucking those rivets now. Note that the frame brace structure is covering the inside of the frame. I did some creative manipulation (grinding) of various heavy objects (bucking bars). You could call the maneuver “micro bucking bar on a stick”! The new rivets are in with the shims and the fit is definitely better.
We brought the canopy back out for final fitting to the frame. It needs a little more sanding up at the front to accommodate some slight shape change of the frame and skin after riveting.