Made the “Big Cut”
Today was a big day. With the front gap down to 1/8″ and the gap over the roll bar at 3/8″ and the temps in the mid-70s, it was time to make the big cut on the canopy. I made sure the canopy was centered well and taped it down securely with duct tape. I used some wide 2″ tape to follow the line I made previously on the roll bar. It took quite a while to get it perfectly on the line. Following Dan’s method, I put some tape 1/32″ away on the other side of the mark and built up both sides with another couple of layers of tape. While I had the canopy perfectly positioned, I put the top aft skin on and marked a line on the canopy where it hit.
Rather than just use a couple of saw horses, I made a platform 4′ wide for the canopy to sit on. This worked out really well. I put blocks on either side to keep the canopy from springing out.
The cut went extremely smoothly. I taped the pieces together every 6″ or so. As it turned out, I forgot to cut the plastic on the inside. That actually helped keep the pieces stabilized as well. I cleaned up the edge with a belt sander and orbital sander.
With the canopy split in half it is much easier to maneuver. I was able to put it on and off the fuselage solo, speeding things up quite a bit. The fit turned out really good. As expected, the canopy tilted a tiny bit, which caused the line at the back to be off by about 1/8″ at the bottom on each side–not bad.
I made a few more iterations of trimming the front of the canopy to reduce the gap at the front. In that process, I realized that I hadn’t cut off the front corners symmetrically. I fixed that issue, which then caused the canopy to sit a little further down on one side than the other. I adjusted the position of the canopy slightly, which caused problems with the cut at the back, but that needs to be straightened up anyway.
With the canopy in its (hopefully) final position I taped it down again and marked the approximate location of where the side cuts needed to be. I cut them off, cleaned up the edges, and put the canopy back in place.
Long day, but big progress! Call me warped, but I really enjoy working on the plastic. It cuts and shapes really easily. It’s also a big bonus that the weather is hot enough right now that I don’t have to mess with heaters.