It took me nearly an hour to open the canopy after I did all the layups and after waiting for them to cure.
I rough trimmed the top fairing so I wouldn't rip my hand up on the edges. After I got this done I just had to sit in it a while. Glad to have this almost behind me.
I'm pretty happy with the fit. The seal seems to be nice and tight without binding.
While I was waiting for the last batch of Superfil to cure, I laid out the slot for the nose gear in the lower cowling and cut it out with my jig saw. I cut it a bit short for starters. I'll lengthen it if I need to.
I'm sure I'll be working on the windscreen fairing for the next couple of weeks. Basically sand to the best shape I can, check for low spots, fill them, sand, rinse & repeat until you're satisfied.
In between working on the fairing I've been working on getting the cowling fit. Before I riveted the hinges, the hinges and hinge pins worked great. After riveting, I could hardly get the right side or the right upper in. The fit on the right was so tight I was using a drill to help and it was nearly hanging up.
I put the cowling together off the airframe and discovered that about 5 or 6 inches of hinge was offset very slightly just aft of forward. That one area was causing all the binding.
I drilled it out, moved it a bit, and then re-riveted it. Goes in great now.
Here I'm doing the same thing to the upper cowl where it attaches to the firewall. I actually ended up moving about a 6 to 8 inch long section very slightly aft. Once I did that the upper pins went in very easily as well.
I just filled the holes with flox.
Working on a hinge clip to prevent it moving. I made this from a piece of scrap J channel. I'll rivet one on each side of the firewall. I plan to do something similar for the upper hinge pins, except I'll rivet those to the cowling rather than the firewall.
Over the next few weeks I'll be working on the cowling to get it cleaned up as well as working on the nose gear slot. Obviously I have quite a bit more filling and sanding to do to the windscreen before it's ready to be called finished. I'll work on that as I go.
Yesterday I created a punch list of items to be completed before inspection and first flight. It's getting pretty short, although some of the things on the list will take more than a few hours to complete. I've had a bunch of folks ask me when I think I'll be done, but having never done this before I honestly don't know.
