With the canopy end prepped I made a cutout and shaped the foam block.

I spent some time fitting it to minimise that amount of micro I’d need later. Foam weighs less than micro right?

I’ve been working on my blue foam layups trying to improve them. I prepared this surface very carefully and used sandpaper down to 240grit

I did the foil layup method for the 2 ply of BID and the result was excellent. Still tiny voids in the open cell foam showing but no bad areas, bubbles or anything like that. Just a clean layup.

The next day I did the same thing on the other side. Pictured is the beginning of the micro. I never seem to picture this for you. Its like batter that gets spread out into the worlds thinnest pancake.

After the cure, a very nice bulkhead. Except for one thing….

I really wanted to keep working today so I put the heater on and fast cured the piece. This produced a delightful bend. You may think that was my intention or you may think it a mistake after making the perfect bulkhead, your choice. The thick to thin is however intentional. Thick at the bottom where I need it to hold the canopy apart, thin at the top where that spreading strength is much less effective.

Due to the bend I had to reverse the sides so my careful fit was not as perfect in reverse. An extra millimeter or so of micro was needed. I went for thin slurry for the join and then very stiff (lighter) micro for the fill. Next up was a simple two ply BID tape on both sides which is really going to make it strong.

Here’s the outside which is a bit of a lip so I could do the tape. I may still put an external lip later to seal the join with the turtleback. For now the gap is very small.

If you are wondering why I did this bulkhead instead of the plans arrow stock or just location pins, I have an answer.

I may still do the location pins. I think that if I can get a good internal seal with this bulkhead I may reduce the engine noise by several db! That’s the main goal. The other idea is that this lightweight piece of foam with the glass may make the canopy a lot more rigid as temperatures change. Its a much bigger canopy than plans and the guy who made it used extra thick perspex. I had this in mind with the whole frame job. Strength and rigidity is required.