Canopy Installation, Part 3

Part 2 of the canopy installation installment ended with my unsuccessful attempt to repair a hairline crack in the forward cross tube of the canopy frame.  After I broke that externally sleeved repair, I planned on implementing an internal solid rod sleeve.  I had the common sense to also order some tubing as well that could also serve as an internal sleeve...and that is what I ended up going with as shown below.  The first picture shows the 4.5 inch internal sleeve drilled and cleco'd half way in place.  I did use countersunk blind rivets as shown in the next photo.

A final shot of the repaired butt weld area that is no longer welded!  I would add that the forward canopy bow now fits perfectly with respect to the instrument panel and provides the prescribed clearances.

Forward canopy bow with correct clearance from instrument panel.

View looking aft of the forward canopy bow.

Once the debacle of the broken butt weld was behind me, it was a quick matter to proceed with the fitting of the canopy to the frame and fuselage.  The first few photos below show the canopy laying in place prior to duct taping into final position, holding the lengthwise and lateral dimensions as called forth in the plans.

 
Now visible is the blue painter's tape running along the forward and aft canopy frames.  The forward bow will be marked for drilling by pressing the tape onto the bow by pushing on the canopy so as to leave an impression.

 

Next, the canopy was secured with duct tape into final position with the aforementioned measurements in place.

I was not satisfied with the impressions left on the forward canopy bow with the blue painter's tape so I ended up switching to traditional masking tape and was much happier with the results.  Below, I am drilling the #40 holes in the canopy bow at the prescribed 2-inch intervals.
 

 
After pre-drilling the forward canopy bow, it was time to re-install the canopy and drill the plexiglass. Shown below is a shot of the drilling of the rear canopy bow.

And finally, the canopy gets to perform its porcupine impression with a myriad of clecos.

Next up were the canopy skirts, which get dimensionally positioned along the length of the canopy with some duct tape and then the drilling and cleco'ing process resumes.