I marked a centerline on the outside of the lower canopy frame tubes, and drilled the C-660 side skirts to the frame:
I had to do a bunch of trial-and-error fitting of this area at the front of the skirts…
…because when the canopy is opening, the forward corners of the skirts want to dig into the fuselage decks unless you trim them back enough. I think I did an okay job here – there's a minimum but sufficient amount of clearance between the skirt and fuselage while the canopy is opening, which results in the minimum possible gap when it's closed. This will be covered by the fairing strip that goes over the rollbar, so it shouldn't leak much air. Also, note to self: Touch up the paint on the fuselage decks that you scratched up while fitting all this stuff.
The plans have you clamp the C-759 inside skirt to the C-660 skirt, and match drill the first four holes at the forward end:
Then you're supposed to sandwich the undrilled C-759 in between the canopy frame and the C-660 (both of which you already drilled) and just sort of let fly with the drill and hope for the best. I was skeptical, but it seemed to work okay on the second try. Here you can see the canopy sandwiched between the C-660 and C-759 skirts:
Unfortunately, on the first try I managed to let the C-759 slip down about halfway through, so the line of holes goes off in the weeds. This will cause edge distance problems once I drill the holes through the plexiglass, so I'll have to remake this part.
I also discovered that I need to remake both of the C-791 canopy skirt braces I made last week. You see, if you follow the dimensions in the plans, you end up with a bunch of places where there's not enough edge distance for the rivet holes. I'll have to make another set, this time substituting my own dimensions in order to make everything work. Sigh. Luckily these parts are cheap.
Hopefully the replacements will arrive by the time I get back from vacation. Sometimes I think I'm on track to set a new world's record for the number of RV-7 parts replaced. I guess that's what happens when you're a clumsy perfectionist…