27 May 2016

Finish: Canopy and Window. Rear window fitted, cut and drilled.

I had help for this entire sequence of steps.

The rear window must be carefully placed (below, my friend is merely ducking so I can grab the shot).


A couple of notches are removed (right) so that the window can fit around the F-01432B-L Roll Bar Brace (left, from 38-02). 


Those notches were cut with a Dremel and cut-off wheel, finished with fine files, then sanded smooth  to a glass finish.


The forward outboard edges of the rear window needed a small trimming so that the F-01474A-L/R Stiffener Angles (installed later) are cleared (thanks Greg!).


When it comes to drilling the holes in the window, a second person (in this case, me - look carefully under the window, I'm there) sits in the baggage compartment and holds a wood block for the driller (my friend) to work against.


Here we are polishing the edges.  First pass with 220-grit to take out any roughness.  Second pass with 400-grit to take out the scratchiness from the coarseness of the previous pass.  And a final pass with 600-grit to bring it to a glassy sheen.


Finally, to rivet the Stiffener Angles, consider using the "wedge tool".  However, 1) do not rivet the angles in until after the rear skin is dimpled and 2) rivet the angles to the skin before riveting to the rollover structure.  I got these out of order initially.


It's worth noting that the window edges needed zero trimming.  They perfectly lined up with the Rollover Structure and were flush with the F-01431D Window Shims.  That's just amazing.

In support of easier access to the tail cone, I will withhold installing the rear window until just before the plane goes to the airport.  At that time, I will be painting the edges so that the sealant will be concealed from the inside.  Posts #5 and #6 explain here.

The work illustrated here took us exactly 12.4 hours.

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