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Gerard,
Installing the
forward hinge system is a three step process which can be fairly easy or
moderately difficult depending on the current configuration and
how much
you want to change.
1.
Canopy Hinges
Installing the hinges is
straightforward. Remove the canopy and invert on work stands to apply
the 16 plys of carbon fiber to stiffen the fwd canopy as per Lancair
plans.
Apply peel ply to lay-ups and secure with
duct tape so you can set canopy in place on longerons and fwd deck. This
is done to assure the carbon/canopy properly cure to the dimensions of the
aircraft. After 16 plys are fully
cured, install hinge brackets to canopy frame per plans.
Total time WAG: 20 hours
2. Forward
Pivot Brackets
Installing the hinge pivot brackets on the header
tank is more problematic. If the header tank is not installed in your
aircraft you can install a vertical bulkhead or panel at the correct fuselage
station and mount the brackets there. If the header tank is installed
(in either permanent
or removable fashion) you must cut out pockets in the aft tank face and do
fiberglass buildup to attach the brackets per plans More difficult if
permanently installed header tank.
Total time
WAG: 20-30 hours.
3. Canopy
Latch Mechanism
Installing the
spiffy latching mechanism that Lancair sells will require quite a bit of
work but is also straightforward to do per plans.
If you continue to
use the existing latches from the parallelogram installation you can skip this
step. Usually the two aft latches are sufficient, but you have four in
place if needed.
Total Time WAG: 0-30
hours
All this assumes you
do not have any other components already installed in any of these construction
areas that will conflict for
same space and/or
can be removed or relocated. The hinge arms might hit the back of some
instruments as an example.
This is a reasonable
project unless you have unresolved space conflictions.
Another option to
consider is retrofitting the canopy hinge system that attaches on the aft canopy
rollover structure that is installed on some of the Legacy canopies. This
would eliminate the step 2 problems if the hinge system is adaptable to the LNC2
aircraft.
A long winded way of
saying 3 months and 100's of hours is a very high WAG from my
viewpoint.
Good
luck
Doug
LNC2-235 90%
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