With the nose release in position, the release servo installation has been completed & actuation pushrod installed.
After a false start, I decided to fix a 3mm Liteply plate across the fuselage immediately behind the 2nd former. The servo plate then clips onto this plate at the front & is secured using a couple of rear brackets, allowing it all to be removed if necessary.
Meanwhile, although the Cabriolet canopy was originally built to Jilles' plan and used 2 pegs at the rear, plus a sprung loaded catch at the front for fixings, it has now been modified to replicate the full size hinges to allow either the Cabriolet or closed canopy to be fitted interchangeably.
Current status shows the Cabriolet canopy hinged on the RHS, but not yet secured on the LHS.
Simple pin hinges were made using 1/4" wide brass strip , plus 16 SWG brass rod & tube which could be easily soldered together. The fuselage side of the hinge has 2 tubes, whilst the canopies have 2 pins. The hinge pieces are all glued & screwed to the respective frame parts.
The plan is to make the catch using a similar tube/sliding pin arrangement. The full size has 2 locking pins, connected by a rod so that the canopy can be released from either seating position/via the ventilation sliding ports.
Balsa pieces have been shaped for each of the 4 nose block quadrants, so the next job is to make up some moulds to allow pieces of church roof to be cast & then epoxied into place
The final piece of upper turtle-deck has also been fitted as well as small spruce blocks in the cockpit floor where the skid rubber retaining split-pins will be secured later.