I was getting the 28% Extra ready for the season (I know, a little late). Anyway, I hate messing with them four bolts that attach the canopy hatch to the fuse. After praying for some wisdom and looking things over, I decided to take a 4-40 pushrod, threaded on one end and use that in place of the rear two bolts. I took the right side blind nut out and fed the rod through to the other side. I screwed it in far enough so that when it came out the other side (left), I could put a lock nut on it. Next, I took another lock nut and took the nylon out. I then slipped that onto the rod (right side) and soldered it on. This way when I'm threading the rod in from the right, I know when to stop when the nut hits the fuse. The lock nut on the left is there for insurance that it won't back out from vibration. Next, I bent the end 90 degrees to form a "L" shape so that the rod can be twisted in easier. Last step was to paint the end black so that it blends in with the stripe. It holds the hatch on great and I don't think I need to do the forward hole as the hatch is pretty tight to the fuse now and hard for me to pry up.

Nifty idea! I went a little crazy with the 41% and use 1/4" Nylon bolts to hold on the canopy. Its nice though because now I can use my power screwdriver to put the plane together.

Cool idea...looks clean and simple. Probably wont back out ever.

Thanks alot. Taking the canopy off and on now isn't the chore[:@] it used to be.