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Build Canopy Fairing On Fuselage?

iamtheari

Well Known Member
The plans offer that you can do the canopy fairing work with the canopy on the fuselage. This seems like a good idea to me, since it ensures a match between the two even if the fuselage isn?t perfect. Has anyone done it this way? Other than risking spilling epoxy on the side skins, what are the downsides?
 
I did it with canopy mounted on the fuselage and would do it again that way. I was able to set the fuselage on a table at a comfortable height to reach the fairing.
 
Same here, did mine mounted on the fuselage but mine was not on the gear otherwise it would have been easier on the table. I think building the fairing on the fuselage has the advantage that there is far less chance for misalignment caused by the canopy.
 
We did it on a table that we made sure was absolutely level in all directions. Our canopy fit turned out great!

I think the reason we got such good results is that we were really sensitive about any twists during the canopy frame build.
 
Built mine on the fuselage. Perfect fit. Masked off the fuselage to prevent epoxy from getting on parts they were not meant to. Would do it the same again. See the Kitlog link below.
 
Thanks, everyone. I think I will build it on the plane. I feel like my fuselage is probably straighter than my workbenches.

Meanwhile, for those who left the forward top skin (section 35) off as long as possible, did you have to rivet it on to get through the canopy section? I am thinking I may be buying my panel earlier than originally planned so I can rivet that skin on without having to wire things from below later on.
 
Mine is a slider canopy and I have elected to build the slider canopy on the fuselage, install my avionics, put on top forward skin, and then install windscreen.

I am just about ready to put on the top forward skin. It sure made it convenient to install the avionics and do all of the firewall work.
 
Mine is a slider canopy and I have elected to build the slider canopy on the fuselage, install my avionics, put on top forward skin, and then install windscreen.

I am just about ready to put on the top forward skin. It sure made it convenient to install the avionics and do all of the firewall work.
The RV-14 is tip-up-only. So I have to balance the risk of damaging the canopy skin by opening it with clecos in the top forward skin against the conundrum of spending money on panel components to install before putting the skin on.
 
The RV-14 is tip-up-only. So I have to balance the risk of damaging the canopy skin by opening it with clecos in the top forward skin against the conundrum of spending money on panel components to install before putting the skin on.

On the -7 tipup, there can be an issue of the skin in front of the windshield area not matching up with the forward top skin if you wait to rivet the forward skin until after canopy work (for avionics work convenience, same as you). I tried to minimize the risk by buying a few dozen tiny flathead screws & nuts with heads the same diameter as a -3 rivet. I think they were metric, but it's been a long time. It took maybe 20 minutes to cleco the skin on everywhere except where the canopy would hit clecos, and screw it down along those rivet lines.

After finishing the canopy fitting, I could remove the forward skin to do 'systems' work in the forward fuselage.

Charlie
 
Please keep in mind that even if your canopy on the table is held 100% straight and without any twist, there is no guarantee a perfect fit unless your fuse/longeron are 100% straight. Putting it on the Fuse and locking it in place, might yield a better match to the fuselage. The sanding portion and finish product perhaps can be done on the bench which I did to get the fairing to the near paint ready stage.
 
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