Tipup Canopy Skin Fitting Questions

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:12 am

I need to continue the quest to get a nice fit on the tipup canopy skin and have a few problem areas and need to know what you guys have done with these areas. Please offer your thoughts on the best way to deal with these spots:

I took seaming pliers to the front lower corners and bent the edge in toward the fuse on the last 1/4" or so at the bottom. You can see that in the pic. Even with this, there is still an gap and you can see right thru there from the inside.

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:28 am

I may be wrong...but, I wouldn't worry about getting all of it to fit perfectly at this point. Do you have the struts in yet? That will change things again...

I haven't even tried to fit the forward skin to the canopy frame yet. I had the skin on a time or two to check it, but getting it to fit will come later on.

As far as the bottom of the frame where it meets the fuselage, I used seamers from front to back to pull the skin and skirt out a bit.

YMMV...but I'm not worrying about it right now. Perhaps I should???

Post by **bullojm1** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:14 am

I took care of the gaps on the forward edge of the canopy skin with a metal shrinker. Worked PERFECTLY.

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:17 am

Hey Mike,

Mail that thing to me so I can use it!

Brantel · Post by **Brantel** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:21 am

Not worrying to much with it because I have tons more I can do before getting to the fine fitting but I just wanted to see what others have done to fix some of these areas.

I did see on your site where you pulled the two front lower sides in with a coulple 2x4s and a strap. did that work OK to eliminate the gap at the front lower corners?

I will keep pulling on the side rail to canopy frame weldment areas to get them worked out to the fuse sides. My canopy side rails matched the fuse curve almost 100% out of the box but the canopy frame weldment is pulling them inboard at that splice plate area.

cjensen wrote:I may be wrong...but, I wouldn't worry about getting all of it to fit perfectly at this point. Do you have the struts in yet? That will change things again...

I haven't even tried to fit the forward skin to the canopy frame yet. I had the skin on a time or two to check it, but getting it to fit will come later on.

As far as the bottom of the frame where it meets the fuselage, I used seamers from front to back to pull the skin and skirt out a bit.

YMMV...but I'm not worrying about it right now. Perhaps I should???

Post by **Spike** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:21 am

One thing to mention here regarding gaps like this, remember to not get them too tight. When you paint you will definitely add a few mils to the thickness of the material.

Spike

Post by **bullojm1** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:23 am

Also, dont worry about the front corners and how they don't line up. They will be pulled WAY in when you rivet it together.

Post by **bullojm1** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:24 am

Brantel wrote: Mail that thing to me so I can use it!

I wish I could! I ended up borrowing it from a local -7 builder who bought it for the same reason! Those suckers are EXPENSIVE! Maybe you could find a place that rents them?

cjensen · Post by **cjensen** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:32 am

Brantel wrote:I did see on your site where you pulled the two front lower sides in with a coulple 2x4s and a strap. did that work OK to eliminate the gap at the front lower corners?

This did work great! I pulled it in about a half inch past the fuselage sides, and it sprung back just enough to line up.