Those RV-7 <blank... blank...> slider aft canopy skirts

Hi all:

Racking up the hours on my -7 slider canopy aft skirts. I am determined to use the aluminum skirts and have not chickened out yet (there is still time!). I know everyone has this same issue: the dreaded gap in the lower aft corner. Here is an overall photo:



You can see the small gap on the lower RHS. I have worked the skirt over a 4" pipe, my knee, and several other living things, forming and stretching. I have curved and worked the aft end of the side canopy skirt as well and I truly think this is about as good as I can get it. The RHS is exactly the same.

Here is another shot:



Now I have a shrinking and stretching tool which may or may not help this situation but I am a little reluctant to use it just yet. I am not sure if shrinking in this area would really help.



Frankly this 3/16" gap is not going to be very noticeable on the taildragger but I wonder if anyone has some ideas or should I press on and live with it??

You are right, they wont be noticed but....

...your not done yet. They will move around a bit when you rivet them. I used an English Wheel and formed them.
Yours are better than most already.

Yes! To make these things fit perfectly take the skirt material and tape it down tightly in place. Then draw lines on it every 2 inches or so parallel to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage. then remove the skirt and start bending over a 4 inch or so curved surface keeping the lines parallel to the curved surface axis. This method has worked for me on several planes now, after the required cussing on the first plane I figured it out. This will duplicate the curve on the plane. It will require some minor adjusting but the curve will be running in the right direction.

1st - 'what Norman said'. I've made plenty of metal slider skirts and it takes a few minutes to get the hang of it. I sit in a chair and use my leg to twist and roll each skirt.

2nd - the 3/16" gap is one thing.....the short skirt is another. You absolutely should have made the skirt(s) long enough to pick up 'the line' of the upper/lower aft skin. Every line on the plane should flow to the next.

I'd make two new skirts......it's only going to take an hour each to get to the point you're at now and you'll be much happier when you get it right. Be sure to make them 1/4" longer than needed to pick up the line of the skins. I don't trim to the line till at least a couple of weeks of opening and closing the canopy to make sure it fits the way I want it to.

Also, it's not 'how tight' you can get the skirt to fit. You just want it to conform to the aft top skin. What happens when you get it 'too tight' is:

1 - a slight amount of pressure is exerted forward to the row of rivets on the forward part of the skirt. That translates to cracks in your paint around the rivets....even if you cover the rivets with glass prior to paint.....take a look at some sliders and see for yourself.

2 - a 'too tight' rear skirt will leave a scrape mark on your new paint in no time

Full circle...you just want the skirt to 'naturally' lay on the skin.

Good Luck.

I made a couple extra brackets

that pulled that corner of the skin a little tighter. I'll look for photos and post...

Aft slider skirt corners

This is what I did to help pull in the aft slider canopy corners...









couple extra photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/frazitl/CanopyRearCorners?authkey=Gv1sRgCOzo_oPv-5X4Tg#

I drilled the bottom holes thru the skirt and the extra bracket with the lower aft corner held tightly against the fuselage. Quite happy with how it turned out.

Good luck!

Those are great ideas. I'll chew on them and see what I can do. There is still hope for perfection!

Keep in mind that the fit here will also change with temperature - just another variable to add into the mix!

I did some more serious work on this yesterday and want to especially thank Norman from Canada above. His idea of making all the bends parallel to the axis of the fuselage solved about 90% of my problem. I still have a small gap but it is about 1/8 of an inch on the RHS (today I will work on the LHS). This all looks pretty good right now and I do still have the option on starting over again with new pieces but I think it will work.

Thanks again all!!

I'm new to the whole shrinking/stretching/english wheel stuff and need a little advice on my rear fairings as well, I've finally achieved a good fit with no gap via a Avery Tool shrinker I borrowed from another builder. What is the best way to remove the shrinker marks without altering the fit of the skirts. I've piddled a bit with sanding them down with 220 on a random orbital which removes 90% of the marks, but I can still feel some slight ridges when I rub my fingers over them. I'm a little afraid of sanding too much and making them too thin.

p.s. I'm new to posting so hopefully the learning curve isn't too steep!

Sand down the raised marks....

but stop there. Do not sand and try to remove the 'bites' that are below the surface level. Fill those with filler or glazing putty on top of your primer.

Awesome, thanks for the quick re-post. What brand/product would you recommend for smoothing it out? Should I apply and sand the epoxy/filler with the skirts as they sit now (undimpled and unattatched) or would riveting them to the canopy frame and filling it in later be more beneficial with the exact curve being set.
Thanks,
Andy

Sorry, I got a little excited with your reply I didn't read it fully. I'm asuming I should just lightly sand now, assemble and then apply the filler/glaze prior to final painting?

Slider Canopy Skirts Bracket

Here's a couple a pic of the canopy skirt brace I made. It was pretty simple and easy to reproduce if anyone wants to know how I made it.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=228235&l=dd668d37af&id=100000774994897