Fastback 27


Before I did any more bonding, I took the opportunity to trim the canopy skirt for the canopy itself. To do this, you need to trim 7/8 above the joggle (point of canopy intersection). I marked a line all the way around the skirt. I found the best method to cut quickly is to use the pneumatic cutter for the first pass, followed by the dremel. When I cut the entire part at once, the cutters tend to walk or get bogged down. In fact, two passes turns out quicker and with straighter lines.

You can see the black line is where it will likely be completely cut. I decided to leave a little extra material here for the time being. It will keep the canopy more steady until I install all of the bulkheads, but more importantly, I’m not positive exactly how much I want to trim here.

After this I set about bonding the center bulkhead. I had to reinstall the roll bar. The bulkhead is 1 & 1/4″ aft of the roll bar, and 1 & 3/8″ off the rails. To keep the spacing, much as I did on the fore and aft bulkheads, I used popsicle sticks. They are about 1/16″ thick, and if you tape them tightly together you can account for any warping or deviation. I measured my little popsicle stick spacers and they were dead on. Best part, they are completely reusable. No need to cut up wood for this specific occasion. They are also light, so they stay where you put them easily enough. Getting clamps to stay where you like them to on the roll bar can be a challenge unless you have a circular shaped piece. With the popsicle sticks, you don’t even need that much.

I initially tried to clamp the bulkhead in place and then adjust. This was taking too long, so I made two more popsicle stick spacers for the bottom clearance. This made it easy to insert the bulkhead, check fit, remove, sand and repeat until I had the bulkhead exactly how I wanted it.

While the center bulkhead was curing, I pulled out the canopy. I didn’t do anything today, but I wanted to acquiant myself with the red cut line and the Show Planes instructions. Squire was pretty excited to see the canopy out of the box!

Before I left, I also set the top bulkhead in place.

Note that the top bulkhead doesn’t not abut the center bulkhead to form an intersection. You will need to create the intersection with flox / fiber.

Here’s a better picture showing you the upper intersection.


About Peter

plbarrett.com | Certified Flight Instructor (Single & Multi-Engine, Instrument, and Advanced Ground) | Commercial Helicopter

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