3/15/2008
The middle of March already...time is FLYIN'!!!
First things first...a couple of days ago, the guy that I bought the Sam James cowl from sent me pictures of the cowl. He told me he had already done a LOT of work to it, and I can tell from the pictures that he has. The hinges are already installed, and it has been fitted to his airframe. Since we have the same airplane, engine mount, and engine choice, this should fit mine without issue...I hope.
You can see in the pic above, he has marked the spot in red where the alternator rubbed the cowl. I will cut a hole there, and install a blister if I have a rub. No big deal, whatsoever for me.
Sweet, huh!!??
This morning after our EAA Chapter breakfast, I came home just in time to see Brit off with the doggies. Time for me to get in the garage! First, I installed the 710 pushrod that I had painted earlier this week.
Then it was time to start the forward canopy frame. This is a time in the project when many builders seem to get really frustrated. I have no doubt that I'll be in the same boat. This canopy frame for the tip up is really a pain in the arse to get to fit properly. The first thing I did was install the C-617,-18, & -19 blocks. I went ahead and marked these with torque seal, as I intend to leave them in from this point forward. They may need to come out again, but we'll see. There's plenty of material on the hinge to trim off for interference in this area.
By doing plenty of reading ahead of time on other builder's sites, I knew that there were a couple of areas that were going to need to be filed to get things to fit right. The welds on the canopy frame are one area, and the 768 sub-panel is another.
Once the filing was done, I marked a centerline on the top of the aft tube of the frame, then edge deburred the 702 skin. Van's calls for UHMW tape to be installed on the inside leading edge of the 702 skin. Turns out I had just enough left on the roll that Rob gave me the other day to make this work!
Before that skin was cleco'd to the frame, I filed the top flange of the forward channel of the frame to make sure it was 90 degrees to the webbing. It didn't take much filing, but it wasn't 90 degrees to begin with, so some work was necessary here.
Then the 702 skin was cleco'd to the frame.
I also clamped the hinges to the channel to keep the aft tube in position for drilling. You can see the blue centerline on the tube in the reflection below.
I knew from other builders that the aft tube does not fit at all toward the sides, and just like everyone else, I have a good 1/4" gap between the tube and the skin. Nothing can be done here because if the tube is bent toward the skin, the frame will then be too narrow to match the fuselage.
With the centerline showing thru the pre-punched holes, I drilled the aft tube thru the skin. The red arrows point to the two holes (the other side is the same) that will get rivets, but not riveted to the tube.
It was then time to fit the frame to the fuselage. The fit of the hinges was tight, but I beveled the leading edges of the hinges ahead of time...builder sites helped to know this again...the hinges slid in place firmly.
Then I cleco'd the forward top skin on.
The fit isn't terrible, but it will require work to get it right. I decided to stop here for today. It was lunch time (late), and the house needs to be cleaned...laundry needs done...I have a Cessna 195 R/C to work on...blah, blah, blah. The canopy frame can wait 'til tomorrow to piss me off. {8^)
3.75 hours