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Engine Mount, Gear Legs |
General If you get to the end of your canopy installation, and it still tries to buldge out too much as mine did, I have a fix---works like a champ and makes the width completely adjustable. Lui has pictures of the way I cheated and can get them out if anyone needs them or email me off line at jcash@centurytel.net. Sounds like a lot of you are getting close. I'm sure anxious to see more F-1s at at fly-ins. Jim Cash Greg, Now that you've been flying a while, how do you like the windscreen you installed? For those of us that haven't gotten quite that far, the "looks" of your windscreen definitely presents a different image of the F-1. What was required? Any tradeoffs with access to the boot cowl, etc.? Just curious. Mark Swaney (#31) It does cut into your boot cowl access a little bit, but the access is still outstanding, so I would say no big deal there. Work to install is probably a small amount more, but nothing the average builder can't handle with ease. A doubler and extra nut plates essentially. I was very careful about where I cut the slider bubble such that the windscreen angle matches the slider angle. This was not that difficult, just something more to look at when your building. Overall I like it allot. I believe it to be more bird resistant do to the angle and thickness and this was actually my main reason for doing it, second being it looks better, and if its any faster (probably not much) I'll take that as a freebee. Greg Mark Do you have the dimension for the distance between the top of the front canopy bow to the top of the rear canopy bow? Bob W As I recall it's 51 1/2" or so... Mark Hi guys, I seem to be on this thing too much lately---promise to get quite after this. Art Chard just finished building up the canopy on a new F-1 (he did mine also). On mine he used the standard kit, dual track system, which works fine. However, on the new bird he built a single track system that works great---very smooth with no bump in the middle as you open or close. I like it, as well as several more innovations he added---this guy is a bonified genius. He puts an .063 base under the the track, a torque system on the rear so you can adjust the width of the canopy frame, and a nylon insert fitting that tracks with the canopy and over the rear slide to help seal the slide and housing when closed---just to name a few. I'm taking pictures of this and the TruTrak installation and sending to Lui, so he can make distribution if you want to see them---my computer is an antique. Also, if anyone is getting to the point of needing a core for the fuel servo and distribution box, or a freshly rebuilt Woodward governor give email me off line at jcash@centurytel.net. Jim GlacierHas anyone shot PPG K36 primer surfacer (with K201 activator) on the windshield fiberglass fairing adjacent to the plexi on the windscreen? K36 has a small amount MEK in the formulation and I need a BUILDREP on any negative or good results. MEK in locktite kills and crazes plexi and that is the basis of my question here. Thank you in advance. Best Howard GlacierYour right about MEK killing plexi, I've seen the results of that, and its not pretty. My advice would be to keep the primer off the plexi to the max extent possible. Primer over the fiberglass that is over the plexi should not be a problem however. That's my opinion. To get a very small ridge from the plexi to the fiberglass do the following. After you have the glass lay-up complete and cured against some sort of mold line maker like 5 layers of electrical tape, remove all that tape. Then apply two layers of electrical tape about 1/8 inch from the fiberglass such that you now have a 1/8 gap of plexi showing. Sand this gap for better adhesion to the plexi, and then fill the gap with micro, and spread it on in to the fiberglass. When that cures, sand the micro all the way down to the electrical tape, until the electrical tape shows again, being careful not to cut through the electrical tape and fair it all in to the glass. When your done, you will have a very sharp line, that you can just barely catch a fingernail on. When you paint and primer there will be no reason to put either on the plexi. Greg Nelson Everything fitting up well. IMHO the speed W/S should be installed before the front hoop of the canopy is fine shaped to the front bow. Worked out well. Blue skies Bob W You are the 2nd fella to tell me that...could be I need to change the assy instructions for that part. Builders: do any of you concur with this change in sequence? thx Mark I think in theory it would be nice, but it is easy enough to use spacers on the W/S and grind the windshield to make the two parts align. Then the fiberglass tapes do the rest. Either way seems ok to me. Regards, Bob Gross I had no problem with the line-up of the sloped w/s and the rest of the canopy; however, I suggest not gluing it down till you finish the plumbing that's going under it. It goes forward a lot further than the regular one ( I did both ), and it interferes with the work to be done. BTW, Gougeon has the strongest epoxy compatable glue I've seen. You buy a great big duel barreled syringe, which has disposable mixing tips and just pump. The w/s and the Al become one; nice feeling. Bob Hayner To align the canopy bow to the front bow try the following after getting a fairly close fit. With the W/S in place fit the canopy bow to the rails. Cleco the canopy to the front canopy bow. Now measure across the canopy bow stubs (Mine was 28 1/4") and remove the high spots by bending the bow open at the high spot. Depending on the amount of difference maybe 3/8th of an inch and then bring it back to your desired dimension by bending it closed at a low spot. This gives you a method to determine the amount of bend. Bob W Do we countersink or dimple the pop rivets that hold the side skirts to the
Bill, the forward and aft sections meet in a butt joint, but in order for them to stay aligned, you need to bond Front Bow I spent two weeks getting the canopy frame to fit properly. I wish that I had cut the back off early in the process. There is a reference on a diagram in the manual to 9/16" between the rear of the windshield bow and the front The distance between the bows is not really adjustable -- the hook, when engeged, gives a certain dim, Hi Fellas: I finished bending the front canopy bow tonight - yahoo!! :) It is accurate to within +/- 1/16", which I figure Can anyone help me with the canopy side skins? > I have one fit up and it looks good except there is to much pressure on the > fuse, when you slide the canopy back the rear bow canopy pin moves outboard > and won't re engage > I v'e been tweaking on this for 8 hr. now. Welcome the big problem. You not alone here. The secret is to pre load the aft canopy bow to be too small. Then when the plastic and side skirts are attached, they will provide a balancing counter force to pull the rear bow outboard to where you want it. It is a REAL BIT#% but we all did it. The side skirts should barely touch the fuse sides. You may need to take some roll out of them or other forming. I also had to grind the pin catches thinner (outboard edges only) as they were scraping on the side skirts thus pushing them away from the fuse. All these factors casue these types of fit up problems. I got cramps in my hands from pulling those hundreds of clecos over and over and over, but finally I prevailed (it only took me two months for the canopy job). Keep at it, you will win! Regards, Bob Gross only 8 hours into the side skins? I put over 250 hours into figuring out that canopy...and it looks like I did it in 8! Seriously, as Bob says, prebend the aft bow a little tighter than required. I squeezed mine (in a warm shop) with the plexi in, VERY carefully, to get it a little tighter (may or may not be a good idea...your call). Also take a look at Blackjack construction photos...Jim uses a cable deally to tension the rear bow together... Do the right angle ears on the roll bar brackets get cut off? Why are they there? How much space should be ideal between the canopy plexi and the W/S plexi? Thanks Bob W No -- Those are stiffener flanges > Edge-to-edge? 1/8" to 1/4" works OK. These parts do not need to touch, as the composite fairing will jump the gap nicely. OK! Mark Hi Jon, After looking at your pics, it seems you had the opposite of the problem I had. On my ship, the side skirts layed outboard of the windshield skirts. I don't know why. I had to put little spacers under the windshield side skirts to bring them out to the mate with the canopy side skirts. Any how, it looks like you are pretty close the way you have it. If you can't get any more curve into the canopy side skirts, then i'd likely glass it the way it is, putting some extra strips of fiberglass over the indented side skirt area to build up its thickness. You'll end up with a thick strong glas fairing there! It seems all these rockets are different in many places! Keep up the good work. Regards, Bob Gross Drilling Plexi It is my understanding that the plexi gets drilled up to the second stop on a unibit and the hoop to #30 on both the front and rear hoop. I imagine the plexi gets countersunk at the #30 size. Bob W It looks like we are using #8 tinnermans on the #6 screws. Right? Correct again! Mark Does the hoop as well as the plexi go to the 2nd stop on the unibit? This dosn't sound right. Correct. The rivets are 1/8" so don't drill the steel up any larger please! Mark Canopy Stop hi gang i cant reach the canopy when i am strapped in the front seat and it flies back when released from the front cockpit with a crash whether taxiing or standing still. anybody have a fix for an intermediate stop about half way closed or do i just grow longer arms??? tom #30 Lyle Heffler did somekind of manual crank on his award winning RV-8 (doh!-hate to mention that in this forum) that you install on the right side of the front windshield bow. When you are strapped in, you just use the manual crank attached to thin steel cables and here it comes the canopy. I thought it was slick. If I find the photo, I'll scan it and post it. Saludos, Luis 21 Tom, I pull the canopy forward before strapping in, and unstrap before putting it all the way back. That way you can turn and hold it as it slides back. Also, I put a 1' piece of rubber tubing under the slide at the back on both sides to absorb the impact when it does slide back unassisted. Jim Cash Drill hole in the track and drop a pin in if you are flying alone... Larry I have a very nice canopy stop that can be operated from the front seat while seated, or before you get in. Very simple with minimal moving parts. Basically its a L shaped piece of 1/8 AL that pivots on the canopy rail flange on the inside. A slot in the rail allows the long leg of the L to protrude into the track and stop the canopy. A push pull tube connects to the other leg of the L to operate the stop from the front seat. I like it because you can always close the canopy no matter the position of the stop, but when deployed, it halts the canopy at half for solo operations. The idea came to me while I was sleeping, had to get up in the middle of the night and draw it before I went back to sleep. Nest morning it still looked like a good idea, and it was, so I built it, and I like it. Greg Nelson friend of mine has a commercially made canopy stop on his RV-8. It uses a spring loaded pin to stop the canopy on its way aft. I'll get the details for all. I'll get one for myself as well. Regards, Bob Gross Lets see if this helps. Put your E mail in HTML mode under Format. Side view of canopy rail and track. nose is to the right. L shaped piece pivots below the rail on a bolt at the intersection of its two legs. When pulled the long leg pivots up into the canopy track, blocking one of the wheels. Position is about mid way below the rear track. This is the stowed, non blocking position. On the vertical arm of the L, I used a little Clevis from a RC airplane, and a tube to run a handle forward, to the front cockpit. This is actually very simple. These little canopy stops are made locally. The black knob is attached to a spring loaded plunger that extends into the track to stop the rollers aft movement. The mounting plate is curved to match the shape of the Van canopy track section. Very nice tight fit. I can get them for anyone who wants one. Regards, Bob Gross Canopy Rails Hi Bill, I am copying Lui in on this to ask him to send you all the pictures of the canopy that he has at this time. Next week I will try and get pictures of the single track on the new F-1---its the way to go, I think. You will see one shot where we used 1/16" steel cable from True Value and formed a triangle with an "I" bolt at the top. Both ends are attached about midway along the vertical portion of the canopy rail, allowing the frame to be pulled together as the bolt is tightened. It does away with the problem of trying to bend the frame in with plexiglass installed so that the rear latches match up. I have 100 hours on mine with no problems. Another picture should show the nylon insert that slides with the canopy, attached by a small piece of fishing leader steel cable, and fits perfectly between the slide and slide housing as the canopy drops down at closing. It stops the airflow from the back that you get from the adverse pressure gradient that is typical of this type aircraft. My wife's comment was that there was no drafts in this airplane, as compared with my RV-4. The other bigee is a .063 base that we added to the fuselage that supports the canopy rail---adds strength and looks good. I'll have some better pictures of this when I send Lui the new shots. Bill, you might also consider adding the gussets at the corner of the firewall and the fuselage sides. Lui please add that picture also. This big engine torques pretty good when you start and stop it, and these gussets add strength at a very critical point. I guess we should ask that some of this be added to the builders manual, but they are having trouble enough with as is. Anyway, the pictures should clear up the above word scramble. Jim - Bill, you will need two tracks long enough to run the full length of travel by the canopy. Mine did not, but the kit has changed some since then. I will get those pictures out early next week, and send a copy directly to you. Jim Bill, this is a modification Art Chard installed on a new F-1 that he did some work on, and it just came out of the paint shop. There is not kit, but it should be easy to modify your existing system. I'm going out for a closer look pretty soon, will talk to Art for more detail and get back to you in a day or two. Several of the guys are interested in it---seems to work very smoothly. Jim Jim, I have questions about the single tracks since this is the new innovation since your airplane. I hope that you can answer them. Do the canopy tracks run parellel to each other, or along the side of the airplane? The second pic looks parellel but the third looks like they follow the airplane line. I am hoping that Art has run the tracks along the airplane rails and made up some mechanism to make it work. Maybe your ultra simple comment answers this! Thank you for any light you can shed on this. --Thomas I just took another look at the canopy, as it is now installed. Tom, the rails I see no Canopy Tracks Dimensions in V 2.23. During Canopy Tracks install, I have come across some This must have gotten lost in the re-write for the SS w/s. V2.22 says regarding the formed track: 24" aft track; Hey Mark, Speaking of tracks, why did you change from extruded canopy tracks to the formed 040 tracks? Hey Scott: The fine folks at Van's Aircraft decided they did not need the liability of providing parts for our ships. Scott, And whom ever else is interested. The Van's part number for the tracks is C-657, if memory serves. Hey Fellas: You don't need 2 sets; you need 2 pieces at 50" long (std length). Cheers Mark FWIW, it t ake about one tenth of the force to unbend the tubes.
I see that as I trim/fit my SS windshield, it conforms well to the top of the windshield bow, but on the sides, I had the same issue and solved it two ways, a little of each. First I built up the bow with spacers, just used Help!! Is the new style windshield trimmed to fit (1)outside, (2) inside, (3) or on- top-of-- the vertical aft I may have confused you. The w/s lays above the side skirts/glareshiel at the front bow. try to leave a little
Can anyone comment on how much gap is acceptable on the SS windshield? I would think that sounds pretty good, my only concern is how much pressure does it take to make the plexi I worked 3 weekends forcing my first slider frame to conform to the shape of the windshield bow only to Dave, I had a similar problem with mine, and found that I had one of the 'early' models of the ss windshield. This is a good description of the process. As we noted when we did the New Guy here, an exact match of the wish I could form metal well enough to make a fairing from it. My hats off to guys like Scott who have the skill and tools. What do you > plan to do over the top of the windshield and where it > meets the fuselage
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