The hangar temperature is at 74 degrees now, so it was time to play around with the canopy!

1. Masked off the instrument panel, side switch panel, and circuit breaker panel.
2. With the help of my friend Jim, we lifted the canopy onto the canopy frame, just to get an idea of how it naturally sits. As expected, there is about a 2-3" gap between the canopy and the top bar of the frame. The folks at Airplane Plastics trimmed a lot of the sides off already, so it appears there will be minimal trimming needed there. (The cuts at the front part of the bubble won't be critical, as long as the bubble rests down on the rollover bar like it should. This windshield portion will will be tossed out and replaced with a thicker one.)
3. We attempted to find the centerline by measuring up from the edges and pulling a line up the top of the canopy to the firewall, but the waviness in the protective plastic made it difficult, so we removed the canopy and set it on the bench. Then we drew some lateral lines on the table and ran a fabric tape measure over the top. We mashed down the plastic, marked the centerline with waxed lacing cord, verified it visually from both ends, then taped the lacing cord down with packing tape. This will be close enough to centerline to satisfy me.
4. Taped the edges of the canopy with blue painter's tape, which I'll use to mark each subsequent cut, then I'll cut along the line, right through the tape. I will probably only cut off 1/4" at a time.