The Long EZ Build: Bottom surface, inside aft nook, and rain lip

Before I could get started with the bottom surface of the canopy frame, I had to plan out how I wanted the seal of the canopy to be. So I gave that a LOT of thought:

First of all, I wanted the longerons to be flush with the rollover assembly.

The steel is 1/8" thick... so I needed to fill the remaining longeron's top surface...

I thought about ramping up to it, but the top longerons are often used to level the entire airplane - so I didn't want to introduce an uneven surface. Then the question became, do I use micro or flox to fill? Since the top longerons will get stepped on from time to time, as the pilot and/or passenger enter/exit the aircraft, I figured it would be best to fill with flox. So I sanded the surfaces and pancaked on 1/8"+ of flox...

After cure, I sanded them down flush with the top surface of the rollover assembly.

With the longerons now completely flush and level, I focused my attention to sanding the bottom surface of the canopy frame. I then dry fitted the canopy onto the fuselage - the top skin of the canopy now sat about 0.1" high - which made perfect sense since I had added about 1/8" of flox to the top longerons.

So now I needed to remove 0.1" off the bottom of the canopy surface, this way everything would be flush again. HOWEVER, I also wanted 0.1" gap to allow for a foam seal later on. So rather than milling off 0.1", I decided to mill off 0.2". I took my handy router and set it to a depth of 0.2"...

Using the side rail as support and a steady hand, I milled 0.2" off the foam surface...

Since I was using the side rail as support, I now had to get rid of the remaining 0.2" lip...

I switched to a bit with a roller bearing... and milled the lip off - perfectly flush with the rest of the canopy surface...

Lightly sanded everything nice and smooth...

...for a perfectly flush bottom surface!!

I then refitted the canopy onto the fuselage... the front lip rested on the instrument panel - leaving the top skin perfectly flush with the nose top skin...

I then shimmed the aft end 0.1" (the gap I purposely calculated for a future weather seal).. and the top skin was perfectly flush with the top nook!

The result was a perfectly consistent 0.1" gap along the entire rail...

It was now time to focus on reinstalling the front corners near the instrument panel. The reason they were removed in the first place was because they had gray release tape under them.. the tape was installed under on purpose before doing the canopy outside layup in order to prevent any overhang from bonding to the fuselage. At that time, I didn't know where the canopy front lip cutline was going to be, so I simply extended the gray tape all the way up to the instrument panel.

Here I am test fitting the corner back on...

After a little sanding, it was a spot on match! (remember that I added 0.1" of flox to the longerons, so I had to remove a little foam from underneath)...

I then traced a spline from the top of the instrument panel to the inboard face of the top longeron...

So this is what I have to mill out... the outline in red...

After taking it to my bandsaw and cleaning it up a bit, here is the corner ready to be permanently reinstalled onto the fuselage...

Perfect fit!

Checking the inside contour one last time...

Happy with the result, it was time to mix some epoxy! First I sanded all mating surfaces for a good bond, then painted plain epoxy...

Applied flox to all mating surfaces...

And flox on the inside face...

I then bonded the corner on.. and stuck a toothpick in to keep it from moving...

And then repeated for the other side..

Before the flox cured, I painted plain epoxy to the top surface and applied 2 plies of BID at 45.. making sure to overlap 2"+ onto the fuselage...

Peel plied for a nice transition...

My original plan was to glass under the corner and leave a 0.75" lip overhang for a rain lip. However, it was very difficult to get the lip to stay where I wanted without ruining the layup on the foam. So I decided to not worry about the lip for now and just get 1-ply BID to stick to the foam... I used a clothespin to hold the layup in place... notice the layup underneath also overlaps onto the instrument panel and longeron...

The next day after cure, I trimmed and sanded everything up...

I then sanded the bottom surface to prep it for installing the rain lip layup...

I then prepregged 3 plies of BID at 45 and bonded it underneath the corner...

I cut a piece of a plastic card, covered it with gray release tape, and used a clamp to hold the lip layup in place...

After this layup cured, I trimmed it up and prepped it for a top layup that would connect it with the rest of the instrument panel lip..

I also prepped a flox corner all along the top edge of the front lip... which also continued onto the top edge of the front corners...

I also prepped a flox corner on the forward face of the top instrument panel..

With all mating surfaces sanded and flox corners prepped.. it was time to mix epoxy! I started out by painting plain epoxy to all mating surfaces... even inside all flox corners...

I then mixed up flox and used the baker's trick to insert flox inside all flox corners...

I then installed BID at 45...

Two sections for each ply... 2 plies BID total for the top lip... making sure not to overlap in the same location...

After cure, I trimmed everything up and sanded everything nice and flush...

I left the rain lip 1"+ for now.. it will be trimmed to 0.75" later...

Now that's what I'm talking about! A perfect rain lip... this will allow me to install a weather seal later on... preventing water or air from leaking inside...

With the front lip complete... it was time to focus on the turtle nook (not sure why I call it "turtle nook"... I think I heard someone call it that one time and it stuck)... any who... I measured 0.5" all around the arch...

I started by shaving as much foam off as I could with the multi tool...

I then used a knife.. and then sandpaper...

I put tape over the aluminum extrusions to keep them clean...

Also, I sanded as far back as I could reach on the top longerons...

Vacuumed and cleaned up... ready for epoxy!

I slurried the inside surface of the nook...

I then prepregged two sections... 3 plies each of BID at 45...

I should note that I ended up cutting the left and right halves in two because they didn't want to stay in place... so rather than having two halves.. I had 4 quarters... and that made managing the prepregs much easier! Also, notice I did not transition these layups onto the firewall. I decided to apply 2 plies BID tape later to make it easier to install...

Just like the inside layup of the front corners (by the instrument panel), the nook lip also did not want to cooperate. So again, I had to let this layup cure as is, and worry about adding the rain lip later.

After the inside layup cured, I trimmed everything flush and sanded underneath it to prepare for the lip layup...

I also sanded the firewall (about 2" all around) and on the inside of the nook for a 2 ply BID tape. I added a bead of flox for a nice fillet...

I also added a fillet to transition the inside nook with the top longeron...

Adding 2" BID tape on the inside corner...

Using small 12" sections made it easier to install...

I then prepregged 3 plies of BID tape.. painted plain epoxy to the inside nook (approx 2" from the front lip) and stuck the layup on.. overhanging by 1+ inch...

I did one half first... and then another prepreg to complete the arch...

Here's the result...

After cure, I sanded the front edge of the lip (so I wouldn't cut myself with the razor sharp edges).. and sanded the top surface to prep it for a nice glass-to-glass bond...

I also made a flox corner all around the arch..

I painted plain epoxy to the top lip surface... and added flox inside the flox corner all around. I also added a flox fillet so I wouldn't get any air bubbles...

I then added 3 plies of BID tape in two sections...

Notice how I brought this layup all the way down onto the fuselage side...

After this layup cured, I trimmed everything up and sanded everything flush...

That's a nice looking rain lip!! It's 0.5" deep..

The lip sticks out about 1" for now, but I will sand it down to 0.75" later when I match it with the canopy lip...

Speaking of canopy lip, it was now time to focus on the canopy side... so I measured 0.4" all around the aft end (in order to leave a 0.1" gap between the nook rain lip and the aft canopy arch)...

Using a knife, I carved away! And then sanded it smooth...

For the front lip is also about 1" long for now, but will sand it down to 0.6" later...

In the meantime, I went ahead and marked 1" on the front lip of the canopy... and milled those away...

After test fitting the canopy onto the fuselage... I noticed the lip spacing was perfect. But the aft end needed to be trimmed by a hair (0.1")... so I put tape all around the aft arch...