Section: 38

Hours: 6

I sanded and profiled the canopy skirt to final shape and applied a top coat of clear epoxy to seal the micro balloon filler.

 Section: 38

Hours: 4

Here is the new canopy frame next to the old frame. Next up is painting.

Section: 38

Hours: 8

I sanded down the fiberglass layup to match the contours specified in the manual. Then I applied epoxy glass bead filler to smooth over pinholes and build up the contour in a couple low spots. Then I mounted the canopy back on the fuselage and buttoned everything up because I will be taking at least a month off while I go through surgery to donate a kidney to my brother up in Seattle.

Section: 38

Hours: 8

I sanded and roughed up the canopy frame skirt area and plexiglass for fiberglassing, applied an epoxy and  glass bead fillet and then layed up the fiberglass skirt. I used lots of black pigment this time to ensure the view from inside the cockpit will not show any light areas at the fillet area.

 Section: 38

Hours: 6

I riveted the side skirts on, inserted the back shims and bolted the plexiglass in place. Everything fit really well and the canopy opens and closes smoothly.

Section: 38

Hours: 6

I transported the plexiglass to the airport and fitted it on the canopy frame. Luckily the rebuilt frame almost exactly matches the original so I did not have to do any reshaping of the plexiglass.

Section: 38

Hours: 7

I was able to fit the canopy frame in the back of my Rav4 and transport it to the airport today. The canopy to fuselage fit appears satisfactory although perhaps not quite as good as the original.

Section: 38

Hours: 2

I applied the anti glare black for the under plexiglass area.

Section: 38

Hours: 4

I sprayed on epoxy enamel to match the cockpit interior. I used Stewart Systems EcoPoxy Enamel. To get a good finish you lay down a couple mist coats and then do a flood coat which hopefully will flow out to a smooth finish. Hard to do without getting runs.

 Section: 38

Hours: 7

I signed the canopy frame and left a message for prosperity before closing out the inner skin.

Final drilling the inner skin.

All skins riveted. The inner skin cannot be bucked so it gets pull rivets.

 Section: 38

Hours: 7

More counter sinking and riveting on the canopy frame today.

Section: 38

Hours: 8

The 2nd canopy hinge part arrived today!

After clecoing the frame and skin pieces together, I hung it between my 2 work benches to make sure there is no twist before doing the final hole size drilling. This insures a straight canopy frame that will properly fit on the fuselage.

Here is the frame assembled with all holes drilled to final size ready for riveting.

 Section: 38

Hours: 5

I started assembling the forward canopy frame bulkheads. I'm still missing the 2nd hinge assembly. Hopefully it arrives soon...

 Section: 38

Hours: 7

I started riveting the canopy together and primed the remaining canopy frame parts today.

 Section: 38

Hours: 7

I restored my paint booth, got out the paint gun and applied primer to the new canopy frame parts. The roll over frame was undamaged and I was able to cleanly remove it from the canopy frame so I will reuse it in the rebuild. This will be good because all the screw holes will perfectly match those already in the plexiglass.

While programming elevator trim throws on my Garmin G3X I discovered I could not achieve the required control motion of the trim tab. After doing a little research on VAF I discovered that the early RV-14 kits came with a linkage assembly that was too short. I ordered a new set of parts from Vans and built a longer one. Here is a picture of the original (on the left) and the new one. 

 Section: 38

Hours: 7

I used the Dremel tool with circular cutoff disk to make a couple of slices in the fiberglass fairing skirt on the canopy. Then I carefully wedged toothpicks under the fiberglass to get it to part from the canopy frame and plexiglass. The epoxy does not form a chemical bond to aluminum, so I was able to break the mechanical bond with some effort. This is why it is so important to do a good job of roughing up the aluminum and plexiglass before laying up the skirt.

The skirt cleanly came off in 1 large piece after applying tooth pick wedges under it. Here you can see the glass bead/resin fillet and fiberglass layers and the underlying rough aluminum skin and plexiglass. You can also see the aluminum clips that hold down the edge of the plexiglass.

Here is the plexiglass after removing it from the frame. Luckily it came apart cleanly and I will be able to reuse it.

 Section: 38

Hours: 8

Deja vu- worked on assembling the canopy frame. I tell all my friends that I'll build my second RV in half the time. Well, that might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but it is definitely easier the second time around.

Section: 38

Hours: 2

I started transition training with Stan Lawrence in his beautiful RV-14 with IO-360 fixed pitch prop and Advanced Flight Systems / Dynon panel. My RV14 has IO-390 with variable pitch prop and Garmin, but the airframes are the same. Hopefully skills learned will apply to both airplanes. The 14 is a dream to fly- great visibility, great performance, coordinated controls and light touch.

The good folks at Vans kitted up all the parts for rebuilding the canopy. The crate arrived this afternoon and I had Woody give it a good inspection before signing off on delivery. Unfortunately only 1 of the hinge hanger pieces arrived, the other one is back ordered.

Section: 38
Hours: 4

Last year was a lost year to Covid. I started my tail wheel training and moved the wings to the airport and then everything shut down. The fuselage was almost ready to transport to the airport but it sat in my garage the whole year.

I got my vaccine shots and I am now ready to got back out in the world and hopefully get the airplane in the air this year.

The first task up this year is to get the rear window on. I had left it out to make it easier to work on projects in the cabin, but most of those are done. It was warm today and I worked slowly. I smeared pro seal between the skin and the plexiglass and tightened down the nuts and bolts to a low torque. Everything went well until the very end. A small crack came out of the last bolt I installed. I stop drilled the crack with 1/16" bit, drizzled some acrylic weld from Tap Plastic into the crack and called it a day.

Section: 38
Hours: 2

I did last minute touch up sanding and surface prep on the canopy skirt and then primed it.

Section:
Hours: 3

I mounted the aileron trim servo and added the spring clips to the aileron actuator tube. First I mounted the servo to one of the wing access panels and ran the actuator arm to center. Then, with the actuator tube connected to the aileron, I set the aileron to the center position using the rigging template attached to the end of the wing. Finally I lined up the mounting plate to the hole in the wing and used a drafting triangle and angle measure tool to transfer the center point to the actuator tube.

I then removed the actuator tube from the wing, marked the positions for the spring clips and drilled the rivet holes for the clips.

I used the provided pull rivets to attach the clips and then installed the aileron actuator tube back in the wing. I won't attach the springs until after I attach the wings to the fuselage and get the final rigging set.