Doors

Finishing

"Door and Transparencies" is the first chapter of the finishing kit. Somehow I didn't manage to get any pictures of the preparation of the two door halfs. Probably becase this is a VERY dusty thing and I didn't want to ruin my camera.

However I got these of the gas strut attach brackets...

... here already epoxied in place.

Then comes the fitting on the cabin top.

You put it on and clamp is as tight as possible to the cabin.

Then you drill holes around the window to get good clamping with the help of the clecos. The part with the holes in it gets trimmed off after the the halfes have been glued together.

OK, you have to bite in the bullet and glue them together with epoxy. You should clamp them as tight as possible without making any depressions. Here I am not overly satisfied with my job - there will be substantial filling down the road.

Fitting the doors is a tedious process of on and off and sanding and on and checking and off again... is is not documented with pictures - but at the end the door is on!

Next is the door latch mechanism. It is sometimes strange: When the door handle is almost finished by the factory, why do I have to drill and tap one hole (the one with the skrew)?

The door latch mechanism is going together.

The next two shots are detail of the mechanism.

With the 'button' at the end of the handle you can move the inner pipe, which will enable the handle to turn later on.

As this movement is spring loaded, you have to put on a spring that is kept in place by a pin, as you can see on the image below. But be aware: this is NOT the way to do it!

You rather insert the pin and then you spin the spring on. Simple and easy.