KRnetHeads, The carbon fiber canopy hinges are almost cured under heat lamps. They've been cooking at about 150F degrees for 5 hours, so I think they're about done! See enclosed photo to get the idea of what I'm up to. The side-hinged canopy is about to become front-hinged. There are 12 layers of .020" thick carbon fiber built up into a 2"X15" hinge, applied over packing tape. Tomorrow I'll match drill the front edge of the canopy frame for some #6 countersunk screws, then pop the hinges off to shape them into a more aerodynamically clean shape, then will epoxy the hinges to the canopy, and pin the fronts for pivoting.
In my mind, front-hinged offers a much safer alternative to the side-hinged plans-built version, because prop-wash closes the canopy, rather than ripping it off! A bonus is that while taxiing, you can open the canopy and sit up on the seat back for a perfect 270 degree view...no S-turns required. And cooling during the summer is much better, and requires no hands, rather than one to prevent the canopy from being ripped off. Having experienced it both ways, it's a no-brainer. Sorry Virge, but the plans missed the boat on this one! See enclosed photo. More to come... Mark Langford ML at N56ML.com website at http://www.N56ML.com -------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 130608_028m.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 76441 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://list.krnet.org/mailman/private/krnet_list.krnet.org/attachments/20130608/e045b19d/attachment.jpg>
