Title: Door and Closeout
Having read the instructions for mounting the doors to the fuselage, I decided I didn't like the fact that I was doing it using the real bubble glass for the doors. Mess it up and that's a bunch of money to replace that glass. So I had a bunch of the glass left as a result of fitting the glass to the door frames so I made a piece that I could substitute for the real thing. I added a small piece of the tape that goes between the door frame and the window as well as a piece of the gasket material that goes between the window and the fuselage frame. I still had the door frame set into the fuselage in the same position that I had it in when I did the window fitting so I clamped my fake window on to the door frame and fuselage and also clamped a couple pieces of wood to make sure the door didn't move in or out of its frame. Part of the instructions that I didn't give myself a solid chance of getting right was to drill the hole for the hinge into the door frame and make it as centered in the door frame as possible. So early on I had marked on the door frame where the hinge was going to locate, centered between those marks on the door frame where the hole should be and drilled it on a drill press before I set the door into the frame to do the original fitting of the window. That hole was straight and in the center of the door frame as it was supposed to be. Added a couple more clamps that held the hinge in place. I was able to drill the lower hinge hole through the all ready drilled hole in the door frame, through my glass spacer and through the hinge. I installed a screw and nut through that hole that was just like it would be when the window was installed and then drilled the two holes up through the butt rib flange. Kind of the opposite order the instructions called for. But the bottom line is that the door opens perfectly and is still aligned with the frame as it was when I did the glass fitting. Now all I need is to drill the through the window for the hinge when I do the final mount the window on to the door frame. I also started the fitting of the close out between the butt rib and the fuselage. Got both sides fitted and in paint but won't do the final install until I am ready to do the final install on the butt rib itself since the close out gets riveted to the lower cap strip of the butt rib.


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