Final inside sika layer and skirt pin hole filling: 6 hours

• Wiped with sika 205 Aktivator then primed with sika 206 primer
• Applied and smoothed sika 295 one section at a time. I used my home made delrin "tool" for shaping the sika.
• Everything turned out very well. One thing that made it easier was preheating the sika to about 85f. I also started out with a larger hole in the dispensing nozzle.

• Cleaned off the inside of the canopy skirt with acetone
• Brushed on and squeegeed in a layer of System Three clear coat epoxy.
• This is the first time I have used this epoxy and I did not realize how long it takes to cure. After more research I found that this epoxy is better for pin hole filling on more smooth finished pieces and doing it in one coat.
• After waiting for the epoxy to get tacky I put on 2 more coats. After the last coat I rolled it with an epoxy roller. Next time I fill some thing kind of rough like this I will use West epoxy with the fast harder. However, I believe that this epoxy will be fine (it just took a lot longer) and if not I can sand and apply another coat of it or West.

Finished skim coating the skirt:

Very happy with how the sika turned out:

Canopy taping: 1.3 hours

• Finished taping the inside of the canopy to apply final sika cosmetic coat

Canopy sanding and paint testing: 2.5 hours

• I made some test samples with blobs of sika on aluminum. I painted over the sika with sika 206 primer then scuffed that and painted over with rustoleum universal and painters choice - each in satin black.
• Sanded sika on canopy forward edge with 220 grit. -This took the majority of the time but I'm very happy with the results.

Paint testing (these will be frozen and heated after they cure to test):

Happy with canopy forward edge:

More canopy sika: 2.8 hours

• Did final sanding on the canopy sika joints
• Applied tape for the sika primer
• Painted on sika 206 primer
• After about 2 hours I taped for the sikaflex 295 on the front edge and back edge of canopy
• Applied sikaflex and tooled with delrin scrapers and popsicle sticks

End result on the front edge - big improvement:

In progress:

Canopy sunshade and more sanding: 3 hours

• Finished drilling and tapping holes for velcro sunshade tabs on canopy frame
• More final sanding of sika flex
• Made another delrin scraper to shape the cosmetic sika coat

Sunshade install prep complete:

Worked on canopy sunshade & misc: 3 hours

• Drilled and tapped the holes for the Koger super sunshade track
• Located and drilled 2 of 6 holes for velcro tabs to secure the sunshade to the canopy frame
• Adjusted canopy sunshade ribs to fit the canopy more closely
• Coated some scrap pieces of aluminum with sika primer as a test
• Coated a piece of aluminum and sikaflex 295 with the primer to see how it holds up. After I put on the cosmetic coat one option is to "paint" over the sikaflex 295 adhesive with a coat of their black 206 sika primer

Sunshade ribs:

Laying out the sunshade to locate the velcro tabs:

Locating the holes for the sunshade track screws:

Sika primer test pieces:

Inside canopy taping and sanding: 4.5 hours

I finished putting two layers of electrical tape around the interior edges of the canopy then made considerable progress sanding the sikaflex and getting it ready for a cosmetic layer.

Ready for sanding:

Looks much better after the initial sanding:

Canopy taping: 1 hour

Spent some time taping the inside of the canopy to prepare for sanding the sika flex.

I used blue painters tape to get close then I will be putting on two layers of different colored electrical tape so I can tell when I sand through a layer.

Tape in progress (Britt observing):

Canopy front edge: 2 hours

I finished sanding the forward edge of the plexiglass and the sika to get it ready for a cosmetic coat of sika.

The edge of the plexi took the most time sanding with large blocks with 220 and 400 sandpaper.

No photos today.

Canopy prep and cleanup: 3 hours

• Final check of canopy skirt fit
• Removed canopy from fuselage
• Started prepping canopy for sika flex cosmetic coat - a lot more sanding!
• Made some shapes out of scrap delrin for forming the sika coating
• Vacuumed out the inside of the fuselage 

"Custom" delrin scrapers:

More sanding!:

More skirt sanding and delrin strips: 2.5 hours

• Sanded the inside of the skirt
• Rounded the edges of the outside of the skirt
• Cut and sanded two delrin strips to keep the canopy slide tracks from getting scuffed when tipping up the canopy

Last trial fit of the skirt:

Delrin strips:

Where the Delrin strips will go: