So like I said the hardest part was the 4130 tubing and trying to get it bent or bend it myself. I had no luck and had already ordered an -8 windshield Bow/roll bar. Obviously it was too wide to use and since I never found a person to bend a new bow the right size; I ended up modifying the -8 roll bar/bow.
I cut the bottom bracket and mounting plates off the bottom of the -8 bow. To get the right width I reversed the sides and flipped the pieces I cut off and welded them back on. I mounted the bow to the top of the side rails just forward of the main spar bulkhead.
Before I cut the windscreen I wanted to get the frame together and sliding for the rear portion. Based on the troubles I had with getting the 4130 bent I decided to purchase an rv-8 canopy frame. Shipping was a lot do to the size and the frame wasn't cheap. I ended up using only the front canopy bow since it matched the windshield bow so well and used a torch to bend one of the round canopy frame rails I had cut off to form the rear canopy bow. I used 4130 square tubing to make my canopy frame side rails.
From there I laid the new "Rocket" canopy from Todd's Canopy on the frame and bow. Did some trimming and once happy made the big cut. Cleaned up the edges and glued it to the boot lid and roll bar/bow. Then glued up the rear piece to the frame. From there I have been using a little bit of a mix and match in methods. I ordered the inner canopy braces for a -6 (x3) and attached them from the canopy rail to the outer canopy skirt which hold the skirt out in the front a little and flat at the back to follow the lines of the -4.
The rear skirts were made from scratch using the info I lifted from the build log on "Sprocket", a Harmon Rocket and found at the VX-Aviation website.
Thats up to date on where I'm at now. I plan on adding two Vetterman ventilators in the skirt for the rear occupant and making a aluminum strap for the top and sides of the windscreen then glassing in the fairing for the bottom of the wins screen and bringing it back to the sides to cover the meeting points.
Fell free to shoot me an email or call me.
I have a photo log going at:
http://rv-4fb.blogspot.com
southtarnation at yahoo dot com
two39-nine10-one916
Jesse Loy