First the workshop gets a spring clean-up. Then I rivet the clips to canopy reinforcing braces.



I cleco again all the skins to try to find where my small problems might be. I have a small problem with the right hinge binding a bit. Then I simulated the shims needed to raise the skin at the center, still quite thick. I'll fabricate them later as the frame is supposed to move during the installation of the struts and of the canopy.

A long day in the workshop today, with some good things and some no so good. First I rivet the canopy jettison mechanism. Nothing difficult but a lot of clecoing and unclecoing.



Then I rivet the siderails to the forward frame. A few rivets had to be redone, but nothing to bother.



Here is how it looks with the frame partially open.



Installing the canopy skin, showed some problems. Among them, the skin is catching the forward fuselage skin when the canopy is opened. This is a known problem so I fabricated a shim, but despite being quite thick it seems no to be enough. Before working further on this problem, I'll check on the internet.



So I decided to work on other parts, I riveted the rudder and elevator stops.



I also finished the gas struts support by drilling the central hole to size and tapping it



And last, I finished the side latch by cutting, drilling and tapping the connecting rod.

First I finish drilling the splice plate between the front frame and the siderails.



Then all the parts are disassembled, deburred and sanded before priming. It could be that this was the last big priming session (for aluminium parts at least).

After the session today, it seems nothing has changed from yesterday. A lot of the work today was assembling and disassembling the parts and tweaking all the little problems. First the rear frame and siderails had to be adjusted.



On the picture, the junction between the siderail and the forward frame that needed some tweaking.



After all was done, I installed the splice plate between the siderail and the forward frame. The holes on the forward frame will be enlarged a little later, this will allow for some small adjustments if needed.



The forward frame making an angle with the siderail, a small wedge has to be installed. On the picture it is not yet at it's correct position, I'll do it later.

Only one hour in the workshop today, I tried to install the rear frame and the siderails. On the picture, the spacer blocks that will allow the frame to be the correct distance from the rollbar.



On the left, the rollbar and on the right the frame. The gap is a bit too wide here (we want 1/4") but is mostly correct elsewhere, some fine tuning to do.



Here, the whole frame with the siderails. Those still require some adjustments before the drilling begins.