Late start to the day as we were out this morning and I spent some time sorting logistics with VANs and Rainbow Paints first thing. Then with the weather still cool and some rain in the air we went round hunting for other things.
Dad sorted the nutplates for the brake reservoir. Our plane is for all firewall nut/bolt penetrations to be into nutplates and have a smear of pro-seal on them.
I continued with the static line mounting (at arms length). We are going for the simple tie-wrap mounting method - small jig to get the spacing consistent.
Then with the rain stopped and the sun out the canopy cut was back on the agenda. After 30 mins or so it was beginning to feel warm to touch again.
I decided to go with the cut the two ends and then go back for the middle.
The side blocks and gaffer tape held everything and Dad supported it around where I was cutting.
The result - no cracks - some edging done and then tried on the fuselage.
The front looks fine (maybe a little generous). The rear window is tight.
This is part of the problem - the rear window 'dips' about 1/4" between the front and back edges, where as the fuselage is about 1/16" maximum. Our next step was to trim the 'moulding' grips on the sides which allowed the rear window to become significantly more flexible. By then the temps were dropping so we called it a day and will re-visit when possible. The weather isn't looking so good for the next few days.
All in all a big milestone today - canopy split - I would say I'm currently 75% happy with it, in a perfect world it should probably have been 3/16" further forward to balance the 'spare' material on the front / aft sections. But I think it will be fine - we will see.
