Before placing the latches in the frame I wanted to finish, for now, securing the hinges. Rather than washers on the through longeron screws I’ve opted for a thin plate of 4130 steel that bridges the front and rear screws. Four plates two for each hinge.

I matched drilled the holes through to my little pieces of plate.

Then I trimmed for a good fit and rounded the edges. I will use lock nuts eventually and perhaps slightly longer screws. The pic above is the underside of the longerons, tricky to photograph. For now the hinges are sitting without movement when the canopy opens. All ready for the latch fitting.

The plans have you just position the latches on the frame. As mine is almost reverse the plans I have to inlay the hinges to at least the level of the longerons when the canopy is closed. I didn’t quite understand this and wasted a whole day digging out a bit more of those hardpoints. Then I understood how it has to be and filled in that days work. All a part of doing modifications.

You can see the sort of fit I have here. Next up is getting in the plane and closing the canopy to ensure I have the catch in the right place. Oh I didn’t mention that I had to make the three receiving aluminium angle latches and spent a while getting that right.

I jumped in and out and tweaked this first latch cavity a number of times. When its seemed OK I’ve again gotten in and this time kept the latch in place while some Builders bog set. This still is quite strong enough for testing. When I am certain of the position I’ll match drill through the canopy frame for a permanent fixture.

After the front latch seemed Ok I repeated the process on the middle latch and then the rear latch. The inlay work took quite some time.

Now with three latches on the canopy does close and lock but it is not right at all. It needs tweaking and I’m not yet sure exactly how its going to work out. I can play with the rod length which is part of the linkage design which dials in the fuselage side hook position. If that fails I’ll be moving the frame receiving points and trying again.