I repositioned the canopy and clamped it down.  I then used a 1/8″ plexiglass drill bit to drill through the canopy, aiming for the 3/32″ holes already in the frame.

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, the front of the canopy pulled up about 3/32″ of an inch on the left and 2/32″ on the right.  This is a pretty common problem, and the fix is fairly easy.  The canopy can be pushed down flush with very little force, so I’ll fabricate a couple of aluminum clips that can be riveted to the canopy frame to keep it tight while I lay up the fiberglass along the front joint.

Now that the canopy position is locked in, I laid up some masking tape to define the area to be painted.  I’m going to paint the part of the skin that is under the canopy a flat black to avoid glare.

I trimmed along the line I defined a couple of days ago, this allows the canopy to transition more gently from the skin to the side channels.

Here’s a shot from a different angle showing the gradual transition.  This is a much better solution than extending the notch forward.

I countersunk the screw holes in the canopy for #6 screws and then drilled the holes out with a 5/32″ plexiglass bit to provide a little bit of room for the screws to move around.  I also drilled out the corresponding holes in the canopy frame to #27.

I used a piece of masking tape to mark all of the holes that attach the rear window to the top skin.  I laid out the masking tape 5/16″ from the edge of the skin (half of the 5/8″ overlap between the window and the skin).  I marked the start and end points on the tape, then laid the tape out straight to lay out the holes.  I then put the tape back on to transfer the holes to the skin.

Here’s a closeup of the transferred holes.  Afterward, I punched the skins and drilled these out with a #50 drill.  I drilled these small so they would act as a pilot for the plexi bit.

I also trimmed off a bit off the base at the forward end of the rear window to clear the cabin frame attach angles.  Without this, the window can not be pulled fully down against the cabin frame.

Finally, I reinstalled the window in preparation for drilling.

I finally finished the bathroom remodel, so I can get back to the plane.  When I left off, I had marked but not trimmed the front edge of the rear window.  I broke out the cutting wheel and pretty quickly trimmed this off.

Despite being only 60º in the garage, undeburred plexiglass is still ridiculously flexible.

Now that the holes are drilled, I laid out a line 5/16″ behind the holes and trimmed the aft edge of the rear window as well.  The cutting wheel is officially retired!  There will be some minor fitting left to do, but I’ll do all of that with the belt sander.

I laid out the holes for one of the side skirts, then clamped them together and drilled both at the same time.  The plans show a uniform spacing for each row, but because the rivets are angled back at the aft end to follow the angle of the canopy frame, the plans show a slightly wider spacing for the upper row of rivets.  Instead, I laid out all of the rivets on a 1.5″ spacing except for the aft pair in the upper row which are about 1.7″ apart.  I also spent a little time trying to plan how I would fabricate the lift handle.  I’m leaning towards cutting a slot in the side frame and skirt and installing the angle from the inside.

I only had a little time in the garage tonight, so I decided to drill the canopy side skirts, mostly to get them off my bench.

Here you can see that the front joint is aligned with the downward bend in the longerons.  Since the canopy rails aren’t yet riveted down, there is a gap here that I’m hoping will go away once everything is riveted together.

Here you can see that I left the side skirts a little long so that they can be trimmed to perfectly align with the skin that surrounds the rear window.