Diana-2 VH-VHZ, stranded in Australia (pic links only)

On Jul 28, 9:20 pm, Marc Ramsey wrote:

Looks like they deepened the canopy cut out at the back to allow a bit
better view down. That's the sort of thing prototypes are used for. Is
that the best evidence you have of changes?

It kinda looks that way. However, it is a far from trivial thing to
change the canopy rail curve that drastically. There are somewhere
between three and six molds you'd have to change, and I can't imagine
going to the trouble unless it was really important. I don't think the
minor visibility improvement in that direction would justify it.

Moving the wing forward that little bit requires almost as much
tooling change as changing the canopy rail curve. However, the
resulting CG shift might really come in handy. If the empty CG was
coming out further forward than they originally expected (say, if they
were originally too pessimistic about the shell weights of the aft
fuselage and tail parts), moving the wing forward can mean less trim
ballast, lower trim drag, greater cockpit payload, or some combination
of all three.

So, Marc, you could well be right, but I'm betting the other way on
this one.

Thanks, and best regards to all

Bob K.
http://www.hpaircraft.com/hp-24