Canopy part 3: installation

TLDR

• Installed the canopy

Detail

Today I installed the canopy using Sikaflex and rivets.

Sealing

The Sikaflex has a working time. Even though it’s not as pressing as ProSeal, I still set a timer for each phase of the work.

Activator

I used Sikaflex 205 as the activator. It’s clear liquid and easy to apply. I just wiped it along the canopy lip and waited for it to dry. This entire process took about 10 minutes.

Primer

Sikaflex 206 is used for this part. This is the dark stuff that people talk about. It’s pure black liquid. And I used a art foam brush to apply the primer. The brush I bought from Amazon was a little oversized. I just cut it to exactly the size of the canopy lip so the primer fully covers the area, but does not make a big mess out of the connection area.

Sealant

The sealant is Sikaflex 295 UV. It comes in a standard caulk gun bottle, and I squeezed it to the canopy using a Home Depot caulk gun.

I followed with a rubber squeegee to smooth out the sealant and made sure everywhere in the connection area are covered by the sealant.

Fitting and riveting

I then lowered the canopy onto the fuselage, and clecoed them every other hole.

Once I made sure the shape was satisfactory and every hole still aligned, I started to pull rivets in every other hole.

As I pulled rivets, I alters between both sides of the canopy to make sure it’s balanced, although I don’t know how much it matters.

Post-process

Before the initial sealant was fully dry, I used acetone to wipe off the excessive sealant on the skin.

Then, I used Evan’s trick to put stripes of two blue tape and one stripe of fine line tape on the skin and canopy seam, then applied one final line of Sikaflex 295 to make sure the seam is fully filled.

Once the sealant was dry, I pulled the tapes and the end result looks pretty nice even without painting. It actually looks like an accent line on the airplane :)