I removed the canopy from its storage area in the loft and checked to assure all of the protective plastic was still in place. I then marked what I thought would be the final cut line and proceeded to remove a little material at a time. I started by cutting off the excess flage area just to get a feel of the process. I used the high speed pneumatic cut-off tool.

I spent most of this week working to assure a good fit with the 702 canopy skin. In particular I worked to get the “ears” just right. That required a lot of removing and re-clecoeing the skin.

This project has taken a back seat to other activities since April. Having other airplanes and motorcycles to enjoy really slows a build project! But since I AM retired, I work on this project as I please! An for me this summer was full of very enjoyable flying and motorcycling. In particular I enjoyed riding in Arkansas with my sons Derek and Travis and my niece’s husband Chris. And just as special was the trip my wife Joan and I made in Ercoupe 99213 from Portland Oregon to our home. It is pretty cool when you can share a passion with those you love.

Now back to the project! For me, one of the more difficult assemblies has been the tip-up canopy. I followed Van’s manual (Section 9) with the exception that I installed and removed the canopy about two dozen times during construction to assure a good fit. It was a tedious and very time-consuming process. Hopefully it will all pay off when I am finished.

This week I have been getting ready for my upcoming trip to Sun and Fun. On my way, I plan on attending the annual “Blitz to Branson” hosted by the Internet BMW riders. My R12 GS BMW is all packed with provisions and camping gear and ready to go. Hope the weather improves soon!

I have also been working on part of the project that has me a little baffeled. Previously, when I have felt Van left some important information out of the instructions or drawings, I have almost always found that information buried in the details somewhere. But not this time.

The QB fuselage has the F712B canopy deck flush riveted to the F-718 angle along with other parts of the 705 assembly. These parts have to be modified by the builder depending on whether one is building a slider on a tip-up canopy. In particular, F757T has to be trimed quite a bit. That was not a problem. The problem was how to rivet the upper portionof F705 D to the 705F channel. Ther was no way to access a squeezer nor a rivet gun tool in that area without removing the 721B canopy deck. I finally gave up and drilled out over 30 flush rivets on each side and then I was able to lift the canopy decks up far enough to access the junction of the side and top channesl as shown on Drawing 20. It was still not easy to rivet but I finally completed the nine or so AN470AD4-7 rivets that go on each side.

I then ordered a longeron yoke for my rivet squeezer to help with replacing the rivets in the deck. It should be waiting for me when I get back from Sun and Fun.

This week I worked on a number of small things including safety wiring the fuel line fittings, installed a platenut in the firewall for the oil pressure line, reinstalled the SoundEx insulation where it had been removed for work on various components, worked some more on the forward canopy latch and installed the strobe power supply in the baggage area floor.

I decided that I will never need to use the canopy jettison since I do not intend to do areobatics. So I installed the forward canopy release mechanism except for the WD 620 T handle. That way the complete release can be added fairly easily at a later date and I can remove the canopy for work on the panel.

I finished all the forward ribs and sub panel parts and clecoed it all together. When I installed the upper forward skin I found that Van’s quickbuilders had failed to countersink all the holes in the side skins and forward longerons. Therefore the top skin would not mate properly with the side skin. The only solution was to drill out a number of rivets from the side skins and countersink the longerons and then dimple the skin. I shortened a countersink bit and used my angle drill, thereby minimizing the number of rivets I needed to remove from the side skin. This took about 7 hours. But when I was finished the top skin seemed to fit nicely and the lap over the side skin appears to be fine.

I also installed the parking brake valve this week. I made a new bracket for the brake line bracket and included a short arm on the upper portion to attach a clamp for the control cable.

I built the canopy latch and installed it this week per drawing 48. The only tricky part was cutting the slot in the side skin. I used lots of masking tape to protect the adjacent areas of the skin and cut the rough opening with the pneumatic cut off tool I purchased fromn harbor Freight. It went really well. Then I used a small file to finish the slot to final dimensions. Very nice, and no oops! I painted the ugly yellow knob with some left over Ford Truck metallic green. Looks much better!

I spent this week constructing the cabin frame, sometimes called the roll bar, per Van’s drawing 39. After riveting the 613 channels and attach brackets, I tried a test fit to the fuselage Thursday evening. It seemed to fit pretty well but after looking at it closely Friday morning and taking some fairly precise measurements, I realized it was not perfectly square on the fuselage. At that point I thought I would need to order a complete new set of channels from Van and start over. It was discourging because I thought I had been really careful in trying to keep the channels square as I was building them.

However, after I removed the assembly from the fuselage, I found that roll bar had a slight twist in it that was easily straightened. I then re-attached it to the fuselage and upon further review, it square to the centerline of the fuselage and fit very nicely.

This week I have been catching up on a number of little details and studying the panel and sub panel drawings. I have not yet decided on my panel configuration. I may stay with the panel Van furnished or I may go with a modular design as furnished by Affordable Panels. I plan on attending Sun and Fun this year and maybe I can get some idea there as which way to go. That also includes the choice of instruments, steam gauges or glass panel.

Today I installed the two forward fuel tank attach brackets. This was a little more time consuming than I had expected. Mainly because I took extra time to make sure I was locating them properly.