Fitting Wolfpitts PRO Canopy On Acrosport 2S

[smizo]

so im fitting a wolfpitts pro canopy on my single place acrosport 2 project. figured i'd document here in a new thread how i go about building it and installing it. i wont call it a "how to" but rather just how im doing it. ill be copying the open/release and hinge system from the extra 300. first thing, i got the skirt in and trimmed it down to its near final size. final sanding and finishing of the sides and front will be completed once its bonded to the frame. next problem was the rear hoop. made a plywood template and attempted to bend the tube around it..... yea, ok. tried it with heat, it kinked at the top, and bent away from the form on the sides. there was no way that was going to work. then i called tony at speciality aero. gave me their procedure. was all ready to give that a shot but then my buddy at a machine shop said to bring it down and we can monkey around with his old manual bender. we filled the tube with sand, capped the ends and proceded to make one. turned out that one would be practice, but after we got the radiuses figured out and how much to bend at a time we made a real nice one. so today i made a simple jig on the table to weld up the frame. now i need to go back down and bend up the front hoop. once the basic frame is done i can start playing with the hinges and release. heres some pics:

skirt stuck on the plane as it came from speciality aero:

Trimmed and sanded skirt:

trimmed and test fit in place:

unsuccessful hoop jig:

Jim working the manual bender, he was the labor i was the eyeball

Finished hoop:

starting frame construction:

The hoop is going to sit about a half inch forward from where it is here for turtledeck overlap:

chris

 

[Neil]

 

[smizo]

 

[Beej]

 

[JimmyProton]

 

[smizo]

 

[Beej]

 

[smizo]

 

[Jean-luc]

 

[smizo]

 

[Beej]

 

[Jean-luc]

 

[smizo]

 

[Beej]

 

[smizo]

 

[darylat8750]

 

[smizo]

 

[Neil]

 

[smizo]

 

[Beej]