Even though the canopy primarily latches using the hooks at the bottom of the roll bar, there is a handle that rotates underneath the roll bar at the top as well. This handle doesn't really have any kind of positive locking mechanism - it just acts as a failsafe in case the hooks don't latch (or you forget to latch them). I match drilled holes from the channel into the plastic block that the handle sets in. The plans say to use a washer and cotter pin to hold the handle in place, but I'm thinking about adding a spring underneath the washer as well. As-is, the handle could relatively easily swing underneath the roll bar when you lower the canopy. If you're not inside at the time, you are now locked out of the plane! A spring won't make it foolproof, but it would hold the handle up against the block and trap it against the channel. In order to rotate it underneath the roll bar you'd have to pull down first.
The canopy bubble will set outside of the side rail, but inside skins that are attached to the side rail (the side rail has a jog in it to allow for the canopy width). I put the blank skins in place and marked all of the cut lines to match the front skin, the rear skin and the top line of the side rail.
I trimmed and sanded the sides, then started laying out the rivet locations.
Once I realized that the rivet locations were going to be slightly different for the top line of rivets vs the bottom line, I lost interest in laying it all out by hand. Amazon to the rescue, and within hours I had a new rivet fan! I should have bought this a long time ago! Just mark the first and last rivet location, then decide how many rivets you want between those. The fan does the rest. So my head scratching of how to best lay out the slightly different spacing of the top and bottom became a dead simple task.
Once again I put the canopy back on the frame, this time to see how much more I needed to trim off of the side following my last trimming. I had to pull back the tape in order to see the side rail to try to mark off where to trim. Each side needs at least 1/8-3/16", as well as more material taken off at the curve from the front to the sides. The good news is that for the crack I found the other day, cutting another 3/16" off in that location will leave so little of the crack remaining that it'll probably make sense to just sand away the material vs just stop drill. I'll just have to play that by ear.
