The canopy........25 hours

Installing the canopy seems to scare just about everyone that I've spoken to or read about. Well, add me to the list! There are numerous comments about using carefully blunted drill bits, fast, slow, masking tape, cracked plastic etc, etc. Sonex has recently updated their website with some handy tips, one of them involved drilling the holes through the perspex. Well, what do you know, with the right tool it's a piece of cake. Just use a step drill, I think that I've now got four rattling around my shed from this construction. I have now proved that it is indeed fool proof.

However, lining up the perspex, getting it all to fit, not bind on anything, ensure that your perfectly fitting canopy frame doesn't get warped slightly out of shape after doing the screws up tight. Well that's a story in itself. Patience, patience, patience. I lost count of the number of times I pulled it apart, drilled a little, cut a little, sanded a little until it works. I am not entirely happy, but I need to pull it apart to paint so I will do any final adjusting once I assemble it for the final time. You'll notice my expensive dash panel, paper cutouts for instruments is the extent of my budget for the time being until my piggy bank looks a bit more healthy.