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Viking canopy fairing

dsm8

Well Known Member
Patron
Hello Fellow RV-12'ers

I attempted the canopy fairing according to AKI, and it failed miserably. I purchased the canopy fairing from Viking and after lots-o-trimming I have a pretty good fit, much better than my previous attempt.

Any suggestion on the adhesive to use to put on the foam and canopy to secure it. Any and all advice welcome

Thanks

Donnie Mac
 
Don,

I tried the Viking part to save time and, although I got it to fit pretty good, it looked horrible compared to the KAI approach on other RV-12's I checked out. I removed it and followed the KAI. There are a couple of good videos out there that review the Van's approach that were extremely helpful. I strongly suggest you review your efforts in attempting the KAI and reconsider. It's not that hard if do a little homework and nothing will look as good.
 
Canopy Fairing

Thank you all for input. I am going to give the KAI a second attempt.
 
My KAI fairing turned out really well I am happy to say, but did require a lot of patient sanding and refilling. It is a really worthwhile pastime. A few tips. Do not over bend the curved aluminium piece. Bend it just enough so that the touches the required spot without any gap. That will prevent the characteristic bulge that you see on so many RV-12 canopy fairings. Sight along the length of the fuselage and adjust the curved piece so that it does not bulge beyond the fuselage side and makes a nice curve. This is the foundation of a good fairing.
The other tip is to mark the outline of the next smaller sized piece of cloth on the preceding piece so that you keep them all aligned correctly. I didn't and I wish I had as they all sort of crept downwards until I barely had any glass to trim off the upper side of the arms of the fairing. Also, I used grey pigmented resin for all the layers and I should really have gone for clear in successive layers so that I could see what I was doing.
 
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