May 30 2004 - I laid up the canopy bow fairing. The stackup is glass - carbon - glass - carbon - glass. The thickness is about .065 and the layers are staggered so that the front edge is only one ply thick.

After removing the peel-ply, the results are pretty good. Here the aft edge is trimmed and the gap is even. I used three layers of plastic tape along the slider to set the gap. I also attached some .040 safety wire to the frame and routed it out the back to pull open the canopy after curing. This helped a lot.

Ready for filling and priming.

Finally complete! The windscreen has been finished off and all the protective plastic removed.

The overlap came out really good.

The inside edge of the windscreen is not perfect by any stretch. There are areas where the edge is a little ragged. After paint I'll apply a bead of Proseal which should cure any areas not addressed prio to paint.

I'm not sure yet how to finish off the inside lip. For now it will remain bare. The only big mistake on this part of the project was that I did not take into account the fiberglass fairing as viewed from inside. A layer of carbon fiber or an inner paint strip would have hidden the ugly layup. As it is, you have a multi-colored band of fiberglass, filler, and spot putty.

A parting shot of the canopy. I'm really glad this is over with.

Jun 10 2004 - The latch mechanism. I installed a spring loaded ball into the arm for a solid detent when closed. Otherwise it is completely stock.

The fabric along the inner skirts came out real nice. It presented a problem for where to mount the "Experimental" sticker, though as this is a common location. I have a solution that will be posted shortly.

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