I laid out and drilled the holes that attach the forward engine control bracket to the center subpanel. The throttle, prop and mixture control cable housings are anchored here.
The top edge has a seal support angle mounted 1/8″ below the top flange. This will hold a piece of weatherstripping that will seal the forward edge of the canopy. I first laid out the holes according to the plans and used the rivet fan to drill them to #40. To position it, I clamped a flexible aluminum ruler to the forward flange and then clamped the seal support angle to that with some 1/8″ spacers between them. I then match drilled the subpanel and then opened the holes up to #30.
The seal support angle and engine control bracket are then riveted to the center subpanel. I didn’t prime these parts because these will be visible when the canopy is opened, so I want to paint it with my interior color. Since there is a lot of work in the upper forward canopy over the next 6 months or so, I’m going to hold off on painting this to avoid scratching it up.
I also riveted on the F-644-L/R forward fuselage channels. These require flush rivets on the outside faces because the canopy hinge bracket rubs against an UHMW plastic block mounted here. The plans also show the support seal cut off flush with the channel, but the plastic block is 1/8″ thick, so I left the support angle a little long.
