Front Windscreen Fairing Attached

Austin helped trim and sand the front windscreen fairing and it's ready to attach.

I used West System fiberglass resin that's dyed black to attach the fairing.

More sanding and filling but as Paula said last night, "It's starting to look like an airplane".

I'm happy with the fairing over the top and how it fits and looks with the trim strip on the leading edge of the slider canopy.

Front Windscreen Fiberglass Fairing

I'm ready to start on the front windscreen fiberglass fairing and have everything covered and waxed. Looks like someone's angry that I haven't finished the canopy yet. I'm planning on doing the fiberglass this Saturday and hopefully it will go faster than the aft canopy fairing now that I've got some experience.

My first attempt at a fairing was a bust. I ran out of the nice 9 oz. 8 harness bi-directional (BID) fiberglass so I used some fiberglass tape from West Marine and used the stipple method. I also used black dye in the resin. With the dye, I couldn't tell if the resin was saturated correctly and couldn't see the positioning as it wasn't transparent. I'm sure glad I made the fairing removable because I didn't like the results at all.

I ordered what I wanted from Aircraft Spruce  (7781-60 FIBERGLASS CLOTH STAND 7781-60) and started over. The way I like to do it is to start with a large piece of cloth sandwiched between clear medium thick plastic. Then I use a paper template and roughly mark an outline with Sharpie on the plastic.

Then I peel back the top layer of plastic and pour resin on the cloth where the pieces will be. Marking with the Sharpie leaves a faint outline or you can just estimate as the exact position isn't critical.

Then I carefully put the top layer of plastic back and start rolling the resin. The roller I use was bought for rolling plastic Formica counter tops but any will work. I like this one because it cleans easily with acetone without damage.

After all the fiberglass inside the lines is thoroughly saturated and all the excess resin is rolled out to the side, I cut the pattern with a rotary cutter. It helps a bunch to have a self-healing cutting mat below and both can be bought at a hobby or sewing center like Hobby Lobby.

Pull away the excess and you're left with this.

It's easy to peel off one side of the plastic.

Then lay the section where you want it and smooth it out by hand or with a roller before peeling the top layer of plastic. I use a small roller that was a wallpaper roller in its previous life.

I much prefer this method as it's very easy to handle and gives total saturation of the cloth with NO extra resin. It does take longer, though plus there's some wasted cloth. Here's what it looks like after drying and some sanding and trim work. I have several iterations left before I glue it down but it's looking good so far. This is four layers of 9 oz. BID cloth. It may be a little thick but I don't want to worry about the top lip breaking from people using it as a hand hold to get in and out.

Finished Rear Canopy Skirt

Finished the rear canopy skirt.

Revised the pull tab.

Canopy Tab Opener

Here's the canopy opener tab I fabricated to help pull the canopy open. The canopy is really snug so this helps keep the pull up and even.

Canopy Skirt Continues

Almost finished with the aft canopy skirt.

Canopy Rear Skirt

I'm almost finished with the rear canopy skirt. I decided to go fiberglass and it's looking fine. Here's the prep work. I used heavy clear packing tape on the area to get fiberglass and outlined the final size with electrical tape. Then I waxed everything with paste wax.

Here's the final rough product. It popped off easily. I've been busy for the last couple of days sanding and filling. Overall, I was really happy with the way it turned out.

Installing Interior

I got a good start installing the Classic Aero interior. I'm really impressed with the fit and quality. We had a crowd home for Austin's birthday party so everyone got to sit in it. Austin said it looked like the interior of a Corvette. I'm also happy with the color of the panel and how it looks against the black panel instruments.

Here's Shelby with her Halloween cat ears watching me and Dave make airplane noises.

Forward Top Skin

Austin came home and we attached the forward top skin. Sure was glad he was able to help as my arms aren't long enough to reach most of the rivets. He ran the rivet gun on the outside and I bucked from the inside. I painted the glareshield in a matte hot rod black before riveting and it looked really good with the gold rivets against the black. After we finished riveting, I scuffed and repainted to cover the rivets that will be exposed inside the cockpit. The rest of the rivets will get painted over with the exterior paint.

Canopy Frame Adjustments

I cut the front canopy frame legs just a little short. It's a common problem. To fix it, I used a bronze sleeve bearing from McMaster Carr pictured below. I had to enlarge the inside diameter just a tad so I did the poor man's machine shop method of chucking a die grinder burr bit in the drill press and wrapping it with sticky backed sandpaper and reaming out the inside. Only took about 10 minutes and then I cut it down to length. You can see where I installed it just to the left of the blue "R" and the black wheel at the top of the photo. I also ordered two quick release pins with lanyards that I might use during test flights to replace the screws to allow the canopy to come off easier. It took a while to find the right sizes so I included the invoice with part numbers in the picture in case someone else wants to do the same.

Finishing Slider Canopy

I'm close to finishing the slider part of the canopy under Scooter's watchful cat eye. I painted all the inside pieces to match the interior trim paint including the underside of the trim strips. This will complete the bubble part of the canopy but I'll still have the fiberglass rear skirt and the fiberglass trim around the front windscreen to go.

Here's painting in progress for all the inside parts of the canopy plus the back of the co-pilot seat.

Fitting Canopy Side Skirts

Here's how I drilled the canopy side skirts to the inside braces. The paint stick with a shim holds the skirt in place while I reach inside with the wood backer tool to hold it against the inside of the skirt while I match drill the holes. I've finished both sides and it worked just fine.

Lancaster Shrinker-Stretcher

Here's a new tool I got to help fit the canopy side skirts. It's a Lancaster Shrinker-Stretcher. I only needed the shrinker jaws and I special ordered them with a stippled finish which is the roughness of 180 grit sandpaper and much easier on aluminum than the serrated jaws. You put the edge of the metal you're trying to shrink in the jaws and squeeze with the handle.

It allows you to make a compound curve like the one below. It may be hard to see but the side skirt is bowed in both directions which makes it hug the fuselage nicely.

Cleaning The Canopy

Here's a shot of the canopy with the protective plastic removed. I'm countersinking the attachment holes in the Plexiglas and finishing the side skirts before disassembly and painting. I polished it with some Plexus and it looks clear and shiny. There are a few small scratches I may repair but nothing of any real consequence. I still haven't decided if I want to go with a metal rear skirt or fiberglass. I ordered some more Alclad .032 2024-T3 aluminum sheet and I'll work with it this weekend. If I decide I don't like it, I can always go with fiberglass. Paula had a good suggestion to use both. Good idea! I might trim the edges with metal like the front of the canopy which will provide even support for the rivets and a good attachment point for the fiberglass.

Canopy Work Continues

I have been making very good progress on the canopy. Here's the nice aftermarket outside handle for locking the canopy.

The inside handle is finished, too. Works and locks nicely.

This is one of the rear blocks on the canopy that locks it into place when it's fully forward. The pin on the left goes into a hole in the white block. The lines are there to help align the hole properly. The white stuff is UHMW plastic that's really slippery but super solid. It's used in several places on the airplane that need to reduce friction between two parts.

Here, I'm working on the canopy side skirts. I'll need some help to drill them to the inside braces but that should be all I need before disassembly in preparation for painting and final assembly. After that, I'll fiberglass the front and rear skirts.

Custom Canopy Trim and Windscreen

Work continues on the canopy but the end is in sight. This weekend, I made a custom trim strip for the forward edge of the slider canopy. I shamelessly copied Matt Burch. I like how it turned out and think the extra support will reduce the stress on the rivets that hold the plexi to the frame. Plus, I think it will look better.

I fretted for a week about how to cut both sides of the windscreen the same so this is what I came up with. It's thick wrapping paper that I attached at three points with clecos to use as a pattern. The marked lines show through the paper so I just flipped it over to check each side. Worked great and fast and easy and now both sides are the same.

Fitting the Canopy

I've had the canopy on and off at least 20 times trying to get the fit just right. Getting close.

Lifting from the workbench.

Here's a close up of an edge of the plexiglass. Final polish was at 600 grit. Looks almost clear and you can see the drilled holes through the edge.

Canopy Bubble Drilled To Frame

I've successfully drilled the canopy plexiglass to the frame. I will have to take it on and off several times to tweak the fit but it's nice to have it looking like an airplane.

It takes a bunch of clamps to get everything aligned.

 

Canopy Big Cut

Made the canopy big cut. I didn't have any problems but it sure helped that it was 100 degrees outside and probably more in the garage.

I used my Sioux 2600 rpm drill motor with the fiber cutting disk. The drill had a lot more control than my cutoff tool. I used the frame as a support for the rear part of the canopy and blocks and tape for the forward part. It separated easily.

 

Here are the two parts of the canopy on the workbench positioned so I can smooth the cuts. I've got quite a bit left to do on the canopy but it was nice to finish the "Big Cut".

 

Starting On The Canopy Bubble

I marked the centerline of the canopy bubble. I'm going to double and triple check before doing any cutting but using the laser made it really easy.

I used a laser line device. Ryobi from the aviation isle of Home Depot. About $49.

The laser line didn't photograph so well but I thought it was an interesting picture.

 

Here's where I found the centerline of the canopy. I used the manufacturers marks on both ends and connected those. I tried the string method of measuring equally from both sides but the edges of the plexi are wavy and inconsistent so it was hard to find a perfect centerline.

 

 

Finished Canopy Frame

I finished fitting the canopy frame. Time to move on to the canopy Plexiglas.

This was the method that worked the best. I used a 2'x4' piece of 3/4" MDF and traced the outline of both the roll bar and the aft turtle deck. For the aft canopy hoop, I had to cut a small square hole for the slider block bracket and position the MDF hanging over the workbench a little. The blocks are 3/4" plywood screwed in place with deck screws. It takes a fair amount of force to bend the tubing so I screwed the board to the workbench. The inside blocks are slightly curved. It only took about an hour to do the actual bending.

This didn't work so well. Every time I'd get something right, it would change the shape somewhere else.