Days 49-50

We finished the rivets on the wings! It felt like they would never end. Yet we persevered! They look great. All that is left on them is to install the fuel senders, root rib, NAV light mounting hardware, and a pair of crank bearings that just arrived. Once all those are finished the wings will officially be ready for paint.

We then moved onto getting the canopy ready for installation. First, we ran wires for the canopy lights. This is a little tricky because there are 8 wires to be ran through a small conduit layered inside of the canopy that is not easily done. We also drilled holes and installed rubber grommets in the inside of the fuselage for the wires to pass through down to the main wiring harness. After the wires we fitted the retaining strips along the bottom lip of the canopy. Using a grinding disc, we were able to remove small amounts of the headliner foam to accommodate the strips so that they sat flush. Then using some contact glue and cleco's we glued it into place. It is too difficult to try and insert the strips once the canopy is on, so this was a pro tip we found.

Once everything was prepped, we set the canopy on a pair of 2x4's set across the fuselage and cleaned all the bonding surfaces with Sika cleaner. Then primed them with Sika Primer 206 G+P and then applied a good bead of SikaFlex 295 UV Sealant. We then set the canopy down into the fuselage, clecoed it in place and then set about riveting it in once we were satisfied with its alignment. When we were done, we removed the masking tape and cleaned the excess sealant off. We then bolted in the parachute cables and torqued the bolts. As well we finished running the canopy light wires down through the fuselage side panels. Once the sealant has dried, we will finish cleaning it all up and the apply a small bead around the lip to make sure it has a good seal.