Opened the canopy for the first time!

AirWolf · Post by **AirWolf** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:47 pm

Well, last night was a monumantal night, or at least as RV building nights go. I drilled the canopy to the frame, and with it clecoe'd together, I was able to open the canopy for the first time!

Besides the canopy being stinkin heavy, everything works great! The only problem area was around the roll bar, where I had the wood spacers attached. After I removed them, everything worked great!

Now I've just got to fot the rear window!

captain_john · Post by **captain_john** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 7:14 pm

Cool!

Looks great! Tell me...

(here we go, tip up vs. canopy)

Why did YOU choose tip up?

I am going for slider because of the ability to taxi with the slider cracked. That is just really cool, in my mind.

I also don't like the naked-ness of the tip up. I drive my JEEP without top, doors or windshield, but want my plane to have a different feel.

CJ

nightflyer · Post by **nightflyer** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:36 am

Hey Ron, that looks really good! Must feel great to achieve a milestone like that. It's still a couple years away for me, I guess. My second-hand kit was originally ordered as a slider, but I'm strongly leaning towards converting to tip-up. Van's will sell the tip-up-specific fuselage parts as a package for about $300. Decisions, decisions...

Congratulations Ron!

AirWolf · Post by **AirWolf** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:56 am

Thanks guys!

Ohh, the tip-up vs slider debate. Well, I decided to go with tip-up for a few reasons. First, I like the unobstructed view that the tip-up provides, second, I like the accesibility to the instrument panel that you get in a tip-up. (If anything on my plane will ever change, it will 75% probability be the instrument panel, so I wante the ability to easily (or more so) change the panel.). Lastly, I chose the tip-up beacuse of the installation. I have heard that the slider is 'more' difficult than the tip-up to perfect.
Another factor is my geographic location. Being in oregon, I didn't feel that it was entirely necessary to have the slider for taxiing purposes. If I have the need to keep it cracked open, I'm sure that I can come up with an intermediary latch to give a few inches of ventalation.

I can't wait to get the struts on so that it is easy to open and close!

Post by **Spike** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 2:07 pm

Congrats!!! I'm also going with the tip up. Visbility Visibility Visibility. I also dont forsee a problem rigging something up so that you can taxi with it slightly tipped. I have helped a friend with his 8 slider and that definately reinforced my decision. Good job buddy, looks nice

-- John

AirWolf · Post by **AirWolf** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 2:53 pm

After messing around with the RV-7 Tip-up, I noticed that the shocks do not start bringing up the canopy until the canopy is almost a foot into its rotation. From that it looks like you can just use the latch on the top of the canopy resting on the roll bar, and that will give you some ventalation.