Someone also passed along the following comments:
Do not, under any circumstances, follow Justice's advice when he
says to rivet the canopy deck to the longerons. Just pop in a couple of
cheap aluminium pop rivets to hold it and a strip of .032 underneath. You
will be glad when you position the canopy extrusions and can drill them
to the canopy deck, drill out the pop rivets and put platenuts on the strip
of .032 instead of driving yourself crazy trying to put in those nuts under
the canopy deck overhang.
1. Set your canopy frame (moving part) on the bench and check for
squareness. If you need to shim up one side, slide a spacer under the "foot"
in question. Cut off the latch tube extension on top side, right
on down to the longitudinal tube.
2. Carefully slip the canopy over the frame. It helps to have frame on two sawhorses, with blocks at the top edges to keep canopy from slipping off.
3. Mark a centreline on canopy. Move it around to locate best fore/aft position and mark a line to indicate position of front bow of frame.
4. Now mount frame, with spacer(s) on plane and slip canopy over it, positioning with marks. Following Jim Cone's notes, position for the big cut.
Frank, Vans manual and Justice have you drilling and clecoing the front and rear parts prior to cutting in half. I think this is unnecessarily difficult and would promote cracking due to stress. I will pass along more observations as I progress. Right now, I have to deal with getting the rear to sit down nicely with further trimming at the Big Cut. Tedious but definitely doable. I can't prove it but I really believe the 100F temps provided insurance against cracking. Hope I can get to the drilling before the snow flies! Strictly between the two of us: I *carefully* lifted the canopy single-handedly several times on and off the plane prior to the cut. I am 5'9"/170lbs and I *do not* recommend this without substantial prior prayer.
Also have a look at Paul Besing's pages. There are photos of his canopy construction process there.
3. Carefully check which is the top and bottom flange... the bottom is the longest side. Dwg #30 shows the lightening hole locations, so there's no need to scale from the drawing.
7. Vans photo shows 8 rivets attaching the F646 to the F668, so rivet spacing is about 1". Be aware of the position of the F645 which will attach to the F668 using the same holes as the F646. The top of the F645 is about 2 1/2" below the top of the F668 and F646 top, so you'll want a rivet about 3 1/8" from the top of the F646. Space other rivets accordingly.
8. The 'horizontal' lines of the notch are at right angles to the side of the panel. Being conservative, I cut 1/8" inside all the measured lines. This was fortunate, since the inboard side fit snugly with that extra 1/8"!
9. My panel measures a total of 39 7/8" wide instead of 40.16" as called out in the plans. I'm not sure yet how to cope with this.
WC's suggested length of 41 5/8" for the reinforcing angle is wrong... it should be 46 3/4" because he left out the straight 2 3/4" at each end. (WC made that first 2 3/4" is a separate piece... but it doesn't look like that on the plans). Spacings in inches between notches (measured from plans) from one end to the centre-line are:
2 3/4 1 1/4 1 1/4 1 1/4 1 1/4 1 3/8 1 3/8 1 1/2 1 1/4 1 3/4 2 6 1/2
Use a piece of scrap between the drill bit and flange to prevent damaging it.
10. There's no mention here of cutting the panel to shape, but it is implied by "drill (#40) the angle to the instrument panel".
Ken Rogers wrote: Don't cut the panel sheet until you have built your canopy. You will probably find that the canopy will NOT fit well to the panel shape as per plans, especially in the upper corners. I can see no reason to cut the panel before at least completing the canopy frame. If you feel you must build a panel, make a dummy one out of plywood or hardboard first.
I followed Ken's advice, and was glad I did. I only actually cut the panel to shape after I'd finished building the canopy deck. The final shape of the panel was a bit different from the shape shown in the plans. Note that the top of the panel will be out of sight behind the Wd616D tube of the canopy frame when the canopy is shut, so the absolute shape of the panel isn't critical... it just has to be clear of the canopy skin. However, when the canopy is open, this will be visible, so it should be reasonably neat.
11. The side reinforcements of the panel are about 3" long, so 4 rivets at 3/4" spacing isn't possible. I just reduced this spacing a little.
The short horizontal pieces mentioned by WC (see section F-F' Dwg 32)
will be riveted to the F621A, and have platenuts to attach the panel. 
See also my panel page for information about panel layout, etc.
RV-List message posted by: Ross Mickey <rmickey@ix.netcom.com>: I am laying out my 6-A panel and am finding the F-645's are in a terrible place. These are the "ribs" that tie the subpanel to the instrument panel. I just called Vans and was told that on the tip up canopy, the instrument panel is not structural and it would be fine to move these. A local builder has fabricated a custom panel and incorporated support panels into the sides of his centre-mounted radio stack.
2. Check Dwg 30 -- this shows the aft end of F621B as 7/8" wide... i.e.
the flange is pretty much hard up against the edge of the longeron. I put
two holes in between the two F604 uprights... now I'm wondering how I'm
going to rivet the F604E on (the top two holes are in behind the F621),
and rivet the F621 on.???? I pilot drilled the holes into the longeron,
then back-drilled into the F621 with my close-quarters drill set. This did
involve some contortions, but also meant that the holes were definitely
centred in the longeron flange. 
Scott Risan at Vans emailed me: The position of the forward end of the F621B and aft end of the F621A are both determined by the F604E as they will be trimmed and the vertical flange of both will rivet to the web of the F604E. The aft end of the F621B should be trimmed and fit according to the dimensions on Dwg 30, lower right. This drawing also has dimensions to trim the forward end of the F621B and aft end of the F621A.
Remember you have to be able to buck all those canopy deck rivets somehow.
I would also suggest that if you have not already riveted the 604E covers on that you leave them until after you have finished wiring, they can then be fitted precisely to the underside of the canopy decks (which would originally have been fitted to the 604E which is cut and fitted in place but without drilling yet).
If possible, it would be a good idea to attach the aft lift strut mounts to the F621B canopy deck before it is rivetted to the longerons. Or fit some K1000-08 platenuts before riveting canopy deck to longerons. Getting a spanner or socket in under the deck and onto the nuts is very difficult.
3. Check the dimensions of the F621A. I trimmed only the front of it to get the 12 1/2" length, 4" width dimensions given in the plans. If you trim the aft end, you'll make it wider. When trimming the front flange and turndown, trim it 3/16" backward of square to allow for the slope of the subpanel.
4. I trimmed the F621B square and level with the front of the F604E. I trimmed the F621A top and bottom flanges so that it only had a tab at the overlap... this can be bent to match the F621B flange.
5. I drilled my front hole 1 1/8" from the subpanel -- 3/4" for the angle and 3/8" for a little clearance from it. I used the same pilot drill longerons, backdrill technique as in step 2 to drill the F621A to the longeron.
7. Dwg 33 shows this attached to the longeron... it needs to be 3 7/8" long. Dwg 32 shows the angle on top of the F621A.
9. I did a lot of trimming of the F603 cutouts. If the panel hasn't been trimmed down yet, there's no need to check its position vertically (it looks like I'll eventually need to trim down the top of m a little). I did check the bottom to ensure it was horizontal, and also checked that it was centred.
11. I think that what WC refers to as "canopy deck angles" are the weatherstrip flanges that need to be fitted to the aft side of the subpanel. Some of the rivets attaching the ribs to the subpanel can/should be used to attach these flanges. I used a .063" x 3/4" x 1/2" (made from 3/4"x3/4") for the centre piece of the weatherstrip flange (between the two canopy hinges) to stiffen up the subpanel a little. This centre section is 17" long. The curved side parts (see Dwg 35) are 15 1/8" long, made from 1/2" x 1/2" x .025" angle.
Will Cretsinger wrote: The weatherseal should be installed with some extremely tenacious trim glue. The backing glue that comes with the weatherseal is totally inadequate because there is a lot of forward scuffing motion when the canopy is being closed, especially where the sides of the canopy move forward while closing. And if you cut slots for jettison, the weatherseal is not continuous...
Do not rivet the skeleton together yet... it's much easier later. That also allows you to rivet the forward part of the canopy deck (F621A) in place now.
1. See the RVator for a discussion on how to weatherproof the hinge slots in the F668. I plan to put a strip of .025" (or maybe .020" or even .016") across the gaps, flush-riveted down on one side only. That way, if the canopy needs to jettison, it'll bend the .025" strip out of the way as it goes.
2. Clamp the fwd frame in place with 5/8" spacers between it and the sub-panel.
4. Trim the aft end of the Wd625A flush with the edge of the Wd625B
so that the F631A can be clamped tightly to it. Clamp the F631A to the
cabin frame with 1/4" spacers. Note that the outside edge of the F631A
aligns with the edge of the cabin frame. The outside edge of the Wd625
aligns with the skin (3/16" further out than the F631A). 
7. Dwg 30 (not 35 as stated by FJ) shows how the F644 should look. The flanges of the F644 will face inboard (away from the hinge).
RV-List message posted by: Douglas G. Murray <dgmurray@telusplanet.net>: The F644 piece shows as having a flange (on the end - builder made) on some drawings and not having a flange on other drawings.
F644 needs a flange on the rear end and is riveted to the sub bulkhead. It provides more stability for the hinge block. Drawing 31 in the lower left corner shows the part without the flange but it should be included as per drawing 30. While Van doesn't call out the rivet size or spacing, you will find that a couple of AN 4 470 rivets will do the job for you. There is a lot of leverage possible on the hinge blocks when you operate the canopy. The tighter the installation of the F644 & F646 the better.
My F644s only had flanges on the front, so I just made a couple of rear
flanges out of some scrap .032" angle. These were rivetted to the F644
with flush rivets (flush head towards the UHMW block) and to the sub-panel
with universal rivets. 
RV-List message posted by: Jim Sears<sears@searnet.com>: A while back, Marian Rendall asked the group about how we did our F643s (long centre rib under the forward skin) at the forward end of the rib. His top skin had started cracking at the forward end of the F643 in about 100 hours of operation. Per the plans, there is no indication that the F643 rib needs to be riveted to the firewall. The other two ribs that extend to the front do require it and have flanges.
I made a simple attachment out of a couple of pieces of .063" angle to connect the F643 to the firewall.
Drill the bolt holes 3/8" in from the edge of the F680, not 1/4" in, to avoid problems with F697.
The panel hole for the jettison handle goes 8.78 inches from the bottom of the panel. Note that Van's says to put the jettison handle 5/16" left of the centre-line. This doesn't make sense -- it leaves the handle protruding at an odd angle, not square to the panel, and it looks cheap and amateur. There's no reason at all why it shouldn't be placed 5/16" right of the centreline, which would look (and work) much better. Alternatively, the crosspiece of the handle could be mounted vertically.
Note that, once installed, this canopy jettison handle is going to prevent the panel from being removed. The bolt attaching the handle to the release mechanism will need to be removed first, then the handle removed, then the panel. Of course, reaching that bolt is going to be a contortionist's nightmare. My thoughts (so far unrealised) are to cut the handle in two, then join them together again with a sleeve and bolt arrangement, between the panel and subpanel. That bolt would be accessible when the canopy is open.
Trim the F697 and F680 as per the plans, then a bit more to ensure clearance of the mechanism. I found that the bolt head of the release mechanism rubbed on the F697, so I drilled a 5/8" hole in the F697 to give clearance.
Don't rivet the forward skeleton structure together until after all this has been built.
Location of the slot in the F668 subpanel for the jettison handle: 2" down from the top of the F668, 1/2" right of centreline, 2" long. This will need to be a little further right if you place the jettison handle right of centreline in the panel.
The slot in the bottom of the F643 web as shown in the plans wasn't
enough to clear the jettison mechanism. I cut the flange, and about 1/4"
of web, off the bottom of the F643 all the way from the F668, and about
4" long. I'll rivet a new flange on above this. 
This also applies to the forward skeleton structure... only rivet it on after all the cockpit things have been installed.
From Jim Cones' newsletter Jan 97: Chet Razer has a tip about fitting
the tip-up canopy. He says not to spend a lot of time making a perfect
fit between your F671 forward top skin and the C602 canopy skin until after
you install the two gas struts that help lift the canopy. When the canopy
is in the closed position, both struts are compressed and they exert a
lot of force puching the canopy in a forward direction. If any slop exists
in the canopy hinge pins and pin blocks, the relationship between the abovementioned
skins changes. Also the canopy side skirt fit changes. Bottom Line: Don't
do any final trimming or fitting until the gas struts are in place.
4. Do not rivet the side arms of the frame to the forward frame yet. Otherwise, they will be a nuisance when you work on the forward frame, especially when fibreglassing the forward frame.
At this stage, I found the canopy frame to be a bit too floppy, so I set about completing the frame -- F631As, and the F604C splice plate (WC's step M.1.). I carefully made the frame exactly the same shape as the existing rollover bar structure. I then found that Vans hadn't welded my Wd625 canopy side frames the right shape. The curve matched the shape of the longerons well enough, but the welded-on parts were at completely the wrong angle. If I had the resources, I would have got the parts unwelded, then rewelded them together again at the correct angle. That would need to be done on the plane, since these Wd625 parts aren't at right angles to each other. Since I couldn't do that, I elected to place some shims between the Wd625 and the F631A. These shims were tapered to fill the gap between the F631A and the Wd625, ground down from pieces of 1/4" bar -- that's how badly out of line Vans parts were! After all this, I drilled a couple of 3/32" holes so that the Wd625 could be clecoed to the F631A, producing a reasonably rigid canopy frame.
Not shown in the plans, but their will eventually be 4 * 1/8" rivets (plus a couple of 3/16" bolts in the canopy latch mechanism) attaching these parts together.
9. RV-List message posted by: Bob Skinner <bskinner@vcn.com> regarding the gap at the butt joint between the forward skin and the canopy skin/glareshield?
I went for a fairly close gap and opened it up as needed to avoid interference when opening and closing. After building my tip up, I had a couple of ideas on what I might have done differently. I wondered about riveting a flange of .020 between the forward skin and the sub panel. This would hide the notches on the sub panel and give a smooth surface for the front canopy skin to slide on. This extra piece would be easy to paint to fill the gap if the canopy front skin had to be trimmed back a little more than desired to achieve proper operation. Don't forget to cleco from the bottom so when you open the canopy you won't distress the skin against the clecoes:(
>Should I have the canopy side skins butt against the longeron (as the
>plans show), or should I overlap? In either case, what spacing should
be
>used, and how can I prevent scratching the paint on the longerons
or
>fuselage?
I elected to extend the side skins for a couple of reasons. I liked the lines of the canopy better, having the side skins match up with the edge of the fuselage forward and rear skins. I also felt that, for cold country, it would be easier to seal and the overlap would hide any weather stripping. Lastly, I felt that I could cover any mis-alignment in case the side skirts didn't line up perfectly with the fuselage side skins. With overlapping skins, you can bend the overlap in or out to achieve a nicer fit. To keep from scratching the paint on the fuselage, I lined the inside of the skirts with .010" UHMW. After 4 years and 470 hours, I had barely noticeable rub marks on the paint. And, of course, when the canopy is down, this area is covered.
With the overlap, you will have to be concerned with the forward corner of the front canopy skin catching on the flat deck riveted to the longerons at the sub panel area. I made a little guide with a 45 degree bevel that was slotted and mounted it to the deck with a screw into a nut plate. I lined the surface of the 45 degree angle with UHMW. With this method, you can have a tight fit along the side of the fuselage. The angle will guide the front canopy skin so it clears the top of the longeron and you won't have to worry about bending the forward canopy skin.
BTW, I ordered a roll of .032 from KC Airparts so I had enough material
to make wider canopy side skins and front canopy skin. I also used some
to make the front fuselage skin because it seemed that the kit supplied
skin might be a bit small. In other words, on the front skin, I worried
about slight shifting as the skin was being drilled on and the possibility
that when drilled on at the longerons, there might be a "cut corner" similar
to what happens with the elevator skins on many RVs. Perhaps these skins
are large enough on later kits.
11. Draw the canopy tube on the inside of the skin, then pilot drill.
17. I used my fluting pliers to joggle the C602 skin. Note that this joggle should be angled upward to match the line of the canopy.
19. The C603 canopy side skins butt against the forward canopy skin, and extend to just aft of the F631A of the canopy frame. They will be trimmed to match the cut line of the Plexiglas. The rear skin should butt up against it at the same angle.
3.c. 2 AN960-516 washers are needed for the forward strut mounts. The supplied washers are too thin.
Fitting the aft strut mounts was a real pain. If possible, it would be a good idea to attach these to the canopy deck before it is riveted to the longerons. Or fit some K1000-08 platenuts before riveting canopy deck to longerons. Getting a spanner or socket in under the deck and onto the nuts is very difficult. In the end, I made a special 'tool' -- a piece of 1/4"x1/4" steel rod bent at right angles -- to hold a 1/4"-drive socket.
From Jim Cones' newsletter Apr 95: Bill Benedict says that if you are installing lift struts to hold up your canopy, you should install them so that the extending strut part is pointing down. The struts are filled with oil to lubricate the strut and seal. If they are installed with the extension pointing up, it will not be lubricated and will fail much sooner.
3.e. Fibreglass reinforcement of forward canopy
Will Cretsinger wrote: I installed foam and fibreglass fore and
aft of the strut attach points -- forward all the way (about 8" or so)
and aft about 3". I seem to recall that the instruction received with the
struts was not too clear as to the necessity of installing foam/FG all
the way across the bow so I did not do so.
I am happy with my installation and don't believe that the full treatment would improve the situation. I belatedly installed small angles on each side of the canopy near the rear to serve as lift handles. When the canopy is lifted from one side by pushing upward on the angle, some inward force must accompany the upward force. Otherwise, the opposite side of the canopy tends inward thus scraping or slightly binding. I do not believe that added stiffness across the bow would change this situation since it is a fact that the big canopy is somewhat flexible. It only takes a few times to learn to push inward as well as upward when opening the canopy.
RV-List message posted by Louis Cappucci: I applied the foam and fibreglass to stiffen the front of the canopy frame (per Will Cretsinger's notes) to bare and roughed up aluminium. I primed afterwards. I riveted the skin on before doing the fibreglass and foam stiffening.
First get the forward fuse skin clecoed on (the skin that goes from the firewall to the subpanel). This will keep your subpanel and hinges straight and in alignment. then use spacers to get the canopy frame the proper distance from the sub-panel and longerons and clamp it down. When everything is where it should be, drill and cleco the canopy skin to the cabin frame. Dimple, prime, and rivet the canopy skin to the frame. Also make sure that the two halves of the canopy bow are clamped together (i wouldn't drill and rivet the splice plate until after fitting the plexi), so that the structure is a little more rigid. Now you can fibreglass the channel.
1. Cut pieces of foam to fit in the three channel sections, the straight one in the middle, and two curved ones on each side of the hinges. Then cut pieces of fibreglass cloth to the right size to wrap around the pieces of foam. At this point, you're just getting your materials ready!
2. Mix up two batches of resin and hardener. Take one of them, and add microballoons to make a wet micro. Now you're ready!
3. Put a thin layer of resin on the interior of the channel. Place the pre-cut piece of cloth in the channel, centred with equal amounts overhanging the side of the channel. Wet out the portion of the cloth which is inside the channel. At this point you will have wet glass inside the channel, and dry cloth hanging out, ok?
4. Take the foam and cover it on all sides with a thin layer of wet micro mixture. this will prevent the foam from soaking all the resin away from the cloth, so i am told.
5. Place it inside the channel, on top of the layer of glass already in place.
6. Wet out the remainder of the cloth, and fold it over the piece of foam. The cloth should have been cut to give two nice overlapping layers here.
7. Put down some peel ply and try to get everything as straight and level as possible, otherwise you will have a lot of sanding and filling later on.
To recap, if we took a cross-section of the channel, the layers would be the following:
I wasn't happy with how my first fibreglassing attempt looked (structurally it was fine, it just looked a bit ugly), so I ground it off and redid it:
I followed WC's instructions and trimmed about an inch (or less) at a time. Towards the end of this process, I was starting to worry that the two supplied cut-off wheels would wear out before I'd finished cutting. However, in the end I had about half of one wheel left. Note that WC's implication that the fit should be perfect isn't all that important. You will need to trim it some more after separating the canopy.
Don Jordan's comments below all pretty much apply to me too. I used my air drill for the cutting, and it worked fine. I really thought I'd blown it when I pushed the sides in and the front was an inch or more off the deck. However, after splitting the canopy everything fell into place, more or less. I needed to trim about 1/4" or so off the bottom of the split at each side to make front and rear mate well. I think it's a good idea to at least drill the C613 side skirts to the canopy frame before fitting the plexi. After doing a bit of trimming of the plexi sides so that they're clear of the holes, the C613s can be clecoed on to help hold the plexi in place.
The front of my canopy is about an inch back from the front of the canopy deck. I wanted to keep it as long as possible, the theory being that that would give an extra 1/8" or so of headroom.
1. a) Before putting tape on the roll bar, mark the position of all the pop-rivets on the front or rear face.
c) The inflection line that WC mentions is 2 1/2" back from the edge at the centreline, 8" back at the sides.
d) The inflection line is about 3" back from the edge.
e) The clamp lines are about 2" in from the edge.
m) I used a 3M mini-sanding disc in my air drill to round off the edges.
RV-List message posted by Don Jordan: I marked the centreline on
the fuselage & plexi. Trimmed the front at the mould line. Trimmed the
rear to 67" then 66" then 65" like it calls for in the rear just to get
started. This is good practice. Make 3-4 cuts each & keep the glass
cool as possible like George does in the movie. Then the sides a little.
I needed to pull the sides in & the wife & the dog both left town.
When pressure is applied to the sides , the front wants to come up. I used
a hinge pin I think with clamps to pull it in each time. The front started
about the 668 like Will C. indicated. It will move aft to about the centre
of the canopy skin as you trim the front & the rear will come up. Have
your front corners joggled. I tapped the plexi for each cut in lieu of
a pin mark. The corners seam to need the trimming, yet you fell like each
cut will be too much. The catch-22 is your sides need to be pushed in.
My side trimming was always left long. Just enough to get the rod under
the plexi & over the 621 sides. When close to final I installed two
of Sam Buchanan's "hold the front down" clips on the canopy skin. Every time you add side pressure the front wants to come up.
As you cut the front the rear comes up. I got within 1/4" in the back and was running out of corner in the front, so I cut it in half. I did not drill the plexi prior to separation because I felt I still hold the option of moving them halves a little after the cut. Like Will Cretsinger points out in his notes, when you have to do it where the back is not up all the way, your cut will not be parallel across the top. You will need to trim from the top down to get that right. I trimmed the rear of the canopy & the front of the rear glass until I liked them. I then can put the 632 brace back in which nails the roll bar. I finished the edges with wet 180,320,400,600,1500 then red rouge. Drilled the rear glass & the canopy to the bow & with the side skins on, the screws in the canopy.
I previously drilled the side skin rivet holes, so I have the final trim on the sides done & used the side skins clecoed to hold the plexi in. With the side skins pre drilled for the screws with the normal drill, I used the plexi drill to go through the glass, then drilled the frame with a normal drill. I think Bob Avery told me to use the plexi to go through but it don't like al so I used the regular drill. The unibit works great for enlarging the holes later. I WOULD NOT EVER drill plexi with anything but a plexi drill. I tried on scrap with ever technique I could think of. Seems to crack when it goes out the back each time.
I would leave the most forward screw in the sides out. I stopped too short with my rivet pattern at the front . I am going to have to add a pop rivet, to hold the side skin down at the joggle area.
RV-List message posted by: "thomas a. sargent": When you get to the shaping of the edge of the canopy (rounding it off), or any time you use coarse sand paper on the edge, be very careful how you remove the dust that accumulates. I made a lot of fairly deep scratches along the edge by wiping off the dust with my finger. It looks like, and mostly is, just Plexiglas dust, but apparently there is some small amount of coarse grit that has popped off the sand paper mixed in with it. If you press your finger firmly against the plexi and wipe it along the edge, a few grains of abrasive will get caught between your finger and the plexi resulting in deep scratches roughly parallel to the edge. Use a brush. I figured it out too late. I am now paying for my sins by polishing these scratches out. Some are so deep that I have to start with fine sand paper (600 - 1000) and then use the Novus coarse scratch remover followed by the fine scratch remover.
RV-List message posted by: Jim Cone: I found a really good way to cut the canopy that is much easier than using the cutting disk that Van's provides. It allows cutting with one pass at a fairly high speed with little binding of the cutter. It cuts the Plexiglas like a hot knife through butter. I used a die grinder with a 1/8 inch collet and mounted one of the little one inch fibre cutting disks made for the Dremel tool. Harbor Freight sells a very small die grinder kit that has several accessories including a 1/8 inch collet for $14.99. The item number is 47050-OVGA and is available online at Harborfreight.com.
RV-List message posted by: "Crosley, Rich" <RCROSLEY@HRTEXTRON.TEXTRON.COM>: Another great canopy cutting method is to use a Roto-Zip tool with a 1/4" mandrel and a cutting wheel. A cutting wheel a little thicker than Van's works best, Van's wheel tends to wobble at high RPM's. Also works great on fibreglass.
In one place, DWG 51 calls out AN509-8R18 screws to attach the C608. In another place it calls out AN509-10R18 screws. the -10R18 screws are correct... they're in Bag 912-1.
11. Mark a centreline on the C624 so that you can see it through the
pilot holes in the side frame. If you don't do this the first time, you
can shift the strip forward/backward a little and try again.
The suggested spacing for the canopy attachment
pop-rivets means that some of the canopy attach rivets will hit the pre-existing pop-rivets. Use the pop-rivet locations marked on the front/rear of the rollbar (step L.1.a) to ensure that this doesn't happen.
12. This is important... screw/bolt the rollbar before riveting the aft top skin on. Especially before riveting the last few rivets at the front of each side.
Getting washers and nuts onto the screws and bolts inside the rollbar is tricky. Washers could be pressed to a fingertip and quickly slipped into place, but nuts were too heavy. In the end, I glued (temporarily -- don't use cyano-acrylate!) a nut to my fingertip so that I could manoeuvre it into place and begin tightening it.
Use thin 960-10L washers on the screws... they're a bit too short otherwise.
3. b) Twist the links clockwise!
h) I couldn't find a C616 in my parts, so I made one from a piece of hinge pin, as follows:
4. Remove the rollover bar to allow access.
c) I followed WCs instructions. With the benefit of hindsight, I suggest pilot drilling the lugs, then drilling these to the F631A from the aft side. The bottom hole needs to be 13/32" up from the bottom of the F631A to clear the bottom plate on the front. NB the tooling hole in the F631A, which might be in the wrong place when attaching the lugs.
d) It is necessary to cut a slot in the F605 for the nose of the Wd617 (see Dwg 51, centre-right). "Fully engaged" means that the lugs are at the very front of the hooks... the cam shape of the hooks means that they are over-centre in this position, so won't release without a positive action.
I needed 1/8" spacer under the right lug and also under the right
C611. I attribute this 1/4" difference in length of L & R sides of the canopy to the shims I needed to add to straighten things up.
5. f) Note the small step (.032" or so) in the straight side of the C607. This should be in the front of the slot to ensure that the C607 is exactly flush with the skin. I needed to reshape the C607 a little to make it fit nicely.
You'll need to drill the aft hole in the C607 out to 1/4".
7. I don't know why the odd drill sizes are called out... I found that the usual bits can be used.
a) Pilot drill #19, then drill out to 11/64". For improved aesthetics, insert the screw from the bottom of the knob.
b) #12 drill is OK -- this is a 3/16" screw.
P. 2. Will need to grind a little off one side of the washer.
The AN3-15A bolts called out by Vans to attach the C611 to the F605 bulkhead are too long. Use AN3-12A instead.
The procedure for this was as follows:
RV-List message posted by: Rick Jory <rickjory@email.msn.com>:
FWIW, I used Van's technique on drilling the canopy . . . no cracks. I used a hand electric drill on SLOW speed and a #40 to drill into the plexi. I then used my air drill to drill into the canopy frame. Once all of this was drilled, I removed the clecoes and drilled out (enlarged) the holes in the plexi using a plexi drill. This last step was also done with an electric drill, again, on SLOW speed. It was like putting a hot knife through butter. I haven't done any of the rivets yet, so maybe this is where the cracks occur?? Anyway, that's what I did and it seemed to have worked.
Also add some guides so that the canopy closes cleanly.
The article you are looking for is in the June 97 RVator page 6. I followed the directions and fabricated a pretty good looking fairing. To bond and seal the plexi and aluminium I used Dow Corning Trade Mate Silicone Sealant/Adhesive along with pop rivets. This sealant/adhesive was recommended by TAP plastics. It is used in industrial applications to seal and bond plastics. I was very careful to mask the plexi and aluminium so that the squeeze out could be peeled away when the tape was removed. And to prevent problems with painting the tape keeps the silicone off the aluminium.