The temperature in the hangar yesterday hit a balmy 101 degrees and I didn't want to miss out on perfect conditions for drilling acrylic plastic so I went to the hangar and drilled the canopy to the front and rear bows of the canopy frame. Before I did, however, I sought information from Van's Aircraft's technical department regarding instructions to "pull down" the sides of the canopy and duct tape them down, knowing that doing so would eliminate the near perfect fit of the sides of the canopy against the canopy frame angles (these and the side skirts still to be drilled will "sandwich" the edges of the canopy in place). The response : //Hi Bob, //Yes, what you are doing is acceptable. The plexiglass will flex a bit. It is best to fit first and trim second. As long as you are getting good contact over the front bow, you will what to avoid filing. This may cause a weak point. //Thanks! //Tom I had also asked about that point where the canopy edge goes over the canopy frame near the notch cutout. They didn't seem concerned about that. And so I did as instructed and drilled the canopy to the frame front and back, using the deburring tool on each hole in the canopy before clecoing it into place. After doing so, I found that there's NOT flex in the canopy to move those sides back into position after removing the duct tape, so I marked them and after taking off the canopy, sanded the sides to near the line to see if they'll fit better. I didn't sand them all the way to the line but pretty close. I'll do more after I pick up some 100 grit sandpaper. I polished the edges to 225, 400, and 600 grit just to be safe. I also deburred the underside of the holes in the canopy and all the holes on the front and rear bow. I guess I was supposed to drill the side skirts to the canopy frame (not through the plexi) before taking the canopy off the frame but, of course, until the sides fit back in their appointed spot, I can't really do that. Once they do, I'll have a helper next week hold a wood block against the frame as I drill the side skirts though the canopy. I'll probably have to wait until spring to do the fiberglass work in the front of the canopy as I'm moving back East for three months but getting this part done now puts me back on track to maybe get this thing in the air next year. Whether I'm flying it is still to be determined. By the way, looking back at the instructions (where I date everything), I found it was FOUR YEARS AGO when I first pulled the canopy out of the shipping box and set it on the canopy frame.