Day 135

Today we took the canopy back off of the fuselage to sand and prep it for a better fit and for paint.

Before taking it odd we ran a piece of tape along the edge of the fuselage skin so that we would know exactly where the canopy was to fit. We Cleco’ed and fit the canopy as best as we can, but there were a few places where the indentation line where the canopy meets the skin was not quite perfect enough.

Using a block and 80 grit sandpaper we went around the canopy and worked in a perfectly straight line. Then we sanded and scuffed the entire canopy. There is a spot in the inside that will need to be primed because when it was manufactured they leave a sticker on it and tape over it. (For identification we suppose)

We also ran a pice of wire for the cabin lights to make sure the would go through, and how it would fit on the fuselage.

Also enlarged the slits where the mid-fuselage parachute cables go because there was too much binding for them to fit properly.

After we were finished with all that we set the canopy back onto the fuselage and Cleco’ed it back into position to make sure everything lined up again properly, and to check if our line we sanded was satisfactory all the way around.

Lastly today we drilled the parachute cable tray the rest of the way out and cut and placed foam padding inside it so that when we put it back in later the cables will be able to rest in there without making noise, or damaging the thin metal tray.