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My goal was to finish the slider before it got cold and I made it! Canopy is Sika attached with only the hole for the handle. It could have gone better but I'm happy with the result.






Now what do I do? Options are:

1) Fit the wings (will require waiting till late October for garage space)

2) Rivet on top skin and complete windshield (it's already cut)

3) Start wiring. The panel is already cut and I've fitted radio racks and made provisions for mounting everying in subpanel, etc.

I'd do #3 first

Thanks Brian - would you paint the panel and get it installed as part of "wiring"?

RV9inIowa wrote:Thanks Brian - would you paint the panel and get it installed as part of "wiring"?

DEFINITELY, get that panel completed and wired. Pay attention to wire routing and clamps, screws, etc, so you can access stuff later. Sometimes I would even cleco the skin back on and work underneath. It's easy to back yourself into a corner if you're not careful

Also I ratttled can paint my panel. If I had to do it over I would have painted it just like the outside. MUCH more durable and scratch resistant.

hydroguy2 wrote:Also I ratttled can paint my panel. If I had to do it over I would have painted it just like the outside. MUCH more durable and scratch resistant.

I was thinking of having it powder coated... if I can get a flat finish. There is a shop in town that I used for my steps and rudder pedals, but those were glossy.

Boy, it looks like you did a great job on your rear skirts Dave. That was one of the hardest parts for me to get right. Nice job!

Thanks Jeff - they were actually the easiest part of the canopy... less than 1 hour each. The bottom aft part is out maybe 1/4" from the fuselage, but once you go up about 4 inches they are flush and flat all along. Is that kind of typical with what other builders are getting?

I'm hoping that the airflow on the bottom aft corners will be a suction out of the cabin, which will make the vents work better. Then I can say I left the skirts out on purpose

I put a bunch of canopy pictures on Picassa if anyone is interested
http://picasaweb.google.com/11139212973 ... directlink

Whatever you do get your panel panted, wired, tested, and installed prior to riveting the boot cowl and permantly fastening the wind shield! I had my panel powder coated black with the textured and it is very durable! We wired as much of the pane as we could on the work bench and then installed it permantly and did the rest of the wiring. You will need your engine before you can complete the wiring but under no circumstances should you rivet the boot cowl until ALL WIRING OF PANE IS DONE!

How about #4, come and do my tip up?

That looks really nice. Id go with the wiring, etc. Get that done before the deck skins as others say.

Spike

Spike wrote:How about #4, come and do my tip up?

Aww c'mon Spike - aren't tip-ups supposed to be way easy?

Seriously, I think if I had to do another canopy, it would be way quicker. The steel frame was the big problem.