I started off today by trimming the newly glassed front edge lip on the aft nose/avionics cover.  I then remounted the cover to assess its fit on with the nose and the canard.

I found that I then needed to do a small layup on the front left corner tab to extend it just a hair more to fill a gap where it marries up with the canard leading edge.  I added a single patch of BID on the inside and also on the outside, respectively, with a very small dab of flox to fill the small edge gap of the new lip.  I then peel plied both sides of this layup.

As this layup cured, I got to work on installing the canopy latch external key lock (below), but to stay on topic I’ll jump ahead a few hours and show the new glassed front lip on the aft nose/avionics cover with it re-micro’d, in prep for final surface finishing.

Now, the installation of the canopy latch key lock was an adventure in and of itself, which I wholeheartedly expected it to be.  The 2 main issues were 1) the depth (too much) of the lock barrel with the pivoting latch plate installed (mainly the securing washers + screw head) and 2) getting the pivoting latch plate installed which had to occur AFTER the large ~1″ diameter lock assembly securing nut was threaded onto the barrel.

To gain a bit more depth clearance, I thinned down the pivoting latch plate from about 0.085″ thick to half that thickness where it got secured to the end of the lock barrel.  This gave me just a skooch more room depth-wise, but I was still not able to mount the external lock assembly fully flat against the outside surface of the sidewall in my one of many, many trial installs.

I ended up drilling a small hole on the cockpit side to allow me to get a small hex wrench through to allow me to attach the pivoting latch plate AFTER the big lock securing nut was threaded on just enough where it was ready to be fully installed after the pivoting latch plate, washer, star washer and screw were all in place.  After I did finally get everything together and installed, the screw head was pressing against the inboard sidewall a hair more than I wanted.  So I loaded up a new blade in a razor knife and simply cut around the screw edge to allow it to protrude through the interior sidewall.  This provided the relief necessary for the inboard wall to return to its original position.

I’ll also note that I used blue Locktite on all threads as I installed this lock.

So…. after a few hours of false starts and changing up my install plan a few times, I finally got it!

Here’s a short video showing the basic operation of the canopy latch external key lock:

Tomorrow I’ll finish cleaning up the install with some judicious application of pour foam and micro going inside the sidewall around the key lock barrel and pivoting latch plate.  I also plan on working the interfacing slot on the handle that the latch plate will pivot up into to keep the canopy latch handle from being pushed inward… to prevent opening the canopy.  That, and more work to get the nose finished in micro.

Pressing forward, step by step.