Once the shop warmed up this afternoon, I sanded the fwd edge of the canopy to 220 grit and clamped it to the frame off the plane. I had previously measured the width of the frame front and back, and sure enough, clamping the canopy to it caused it to spread out a little bit. People have reported significant deformation with this issue which makes the canopy hard to open, but mine was only spread about 3/8". Not bad, but still enough that it would likely cause the rollers to rub the outer sides of the canopy tracks and make it hard to open.
I spent some time with ratchet straps and whatnot and squeezed the frame about 3/8" narrower than it's previous resting position, then put it all on the airplane. It was noticeably tight and hard to move because it was obviously too narrow, but when I clamped the canopy to it, suddenly it was perfect.
By then it was time to wrap up for the night, so I left it on the plane with the bows clamped and taped & the side skirts clecoed on to keep it from sprawling out. I really believe this thing is ready to finish sand the edges to 400 grit and glue it together if I can get another warm day, which won't be tomorrow, because its only supposed to be in the 40's.