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I was able to pull the whole assembly table with the fuselage on top of it into an area where the roof doesn't cover the patio and so I was able to open the canopy frame far enough to attach the gas struts. That revealed immediately that the frame needed quite some adjustment to fit the fuselage.



The front bow had the common problem of on uneven clearance towards the instrument panel.


And the sides didn't really align flush with the canopy deck parts.



It required quite some wiggling and pushing to adjust the lateral misalignment - but that was nothing to the heart-wrenching pounding with a heavy rubber mallet (the same that shaped the longerons) to get the front bow in uniform distance to the instrument panel. I did not quite achieve the 7/16" and stopped at what looks more like 8/16" or maybe 9/16" but it is the same distance along the whole length of the piece and I didn't want to break it. We'll see how that plays out with the canopy ...
Bit once more I was very impressed with the Stewart paint. All that pounding didn't do anything to the paint. Not a scratch, nothing came off or got dented. Great stuff!





Then it was to adjust the aft part of the frame and this was when I realized that I skipped an important step in the process. In order to align the canopy to the aft window edge, there first has to be an aft window, so it could present an edge to work with!
So I had to interrupt the build here and jump back to section 25 and see how to put that window in. Even more complicated as I chose to use a fuel resistant, tinted window instead of the Makrolon window provided by Van's and this needs a bit more attention.
I got as far as to put the side skirts clecoed back in and noticing that the window needs very careful adjustment before drilling the first hole. Then I ran out of time and had to just let it sit there. Tomorrow I am heading for a short trip to L.A., so I won't be able to finish this step any time soon.



A hand drill is on order from amazon.com as I feel that I don't want to widen those pre-drilled holes in the plexiglass with electric or even pneumatic force.