At the risk of "one-upping" others, I have to say that N56ML can go
completely topless in well under five minutes, most of which is spent
unscrewing the the two canopy strut connections to the canopy. Then
pull two piano hinges and the canopy and front deck are simply lifted
off together (they are hinged together). After that, it's pull two
piano hinges and the aft deck easily lifts off. For the "full Monty",
pulling two more pins release the top of the cowing. Way under five
minutes, probably three. For those who choose to do this, and it's
pretty easy, it's detailed on N56ML.com as I built the forward and aft
decks.
See http://www.n56ml.com/kmlfd.html for exactly how this is done....same
for the aft deck. Looks hoaky, but it's been "flight tested" up to 240
mph....by me. There's a photo of it at the Gathering at
http://www.krnet.org/mvn2008/080921312.jpg , with just the aft deck
removed. These hinges and the rest of the connection might weigh two
pounds (the hinges are only 1.25 pounds), but the convenience and safety
of being able to inspect, repair, or modify, or add more stuff, is
invaluable. It's a pretty minor effort building these hinges in, in the
grand scheme of things.
Keep in mind that the piano hinges need to be waxed with something like
auto paste wax, and reinserted. That keeps things nice and slippery, as
well as minimizes corrosion of the unplated hinge material. Another 5
minutes a year effort, if you're slow. I used slightly smaller "piano
wire" from aircraft spruce, which coils naturally and creates a little
"preload" so hinges don't need to be secured....friction takes care of that.
Mark Langford
m...@n56ml.com
http://www.n56ml.com
Huntsville, AL
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