Home Preparation Empennage Wings Fuselage Engine Finish Kit Favorite Links W & B Calculator Van's Aircraft Email Me

Fuselage July 2008 Updates July 09, 2008 Canopy Latch.... - 2.0 hrs Worked on the canopy latch tonight. I am running out of excuses to start cutting the glass so I started reviewing the plans more in depth on that process. I trimed the catch area of the latch arm which grabs the catch on the roll bar. This then creates a cam action pulling the canopy frame up tight to the roll bar. It is working fine now but I still need to wait until the glass is on to make sure I don't pull it too tight. I was not able to get the brass bushing over the shaft. I will check with my slider canopy buddies on how they did it. If you bring something like this up on the VAF forum the tip up biggots flame ya! Once I got the latch working ok I used a scothbrite pad to clean it up and get it ready for paint. Last I clamped the canopy trim to one side and fit a fiberglass piece I picked up for the back. Fits pretty good. Not sure if it will work once the glass goes on but it might. Just have to see if it will save some time. Sure would beat trying to fit aluminum on a compound curve. This website was built to document my work in compliance with the FAA requirements needed to certify my aircraft. My experiences and comments are by no means to be considered as instructions on how to build any aircraft.