I finished cutting and fitting the right wing closeout this past weekend. Nothing big to report, went as expected. There is a bit of trimming to do on the leading edge side but that will come later as I cut and fit the wing root cuffs. I need the windshield in place for those.
I previously built the passenger door (many months ago - pre-covering). When I went to fit it for the hinge, I realized that I hadn't taken into consideration the A-Pillar cover I just installed last week. So, the door didn't fit correctly. I also noticed that I didn't have it square to the door opening in the fuselage, meaning that there would be some tweaking necessary to get it square. As a result, I had to rebuild the door. After trying to "fix" it by drilling out some selective rivets, that didn't work, so I drilled them all out and started over.
With sixteen joints and eight aluminum tubes to manage I finally resorted to super glue to "tack" the pieces together. It worked pretty good. If I had to take a joint apart or reposition it, I used my MAP gas hand held torch to heat up the joint and release the super glue. Once I was happy with the fit I set about re-riveting all the pieces together. After riveting a couple of pieces, I would set the door back in place to be sure nothing moved before moving on. Eventually, I finished. Fits much better now but there are a few holes to fill to make it look good.
The door is just held in place by spring clamps at the top where the hinge will be, just hanging in place You can see the orange tips of the clamps. There are also a couple of 1/8th inch paint stirs used as spacers for the hinge.
Getting close...
Not quite there...
The final fit.
Looking aft showing how the center piece bows out...
Now starting on the left door, same process but from scratch. I am using the right door as a starting point on the aluminum tube lengths. This should get me real close, but will take some time to get it right.
After this fits correctly, then on to the optional "windows", they are another frame that fits inside the upper portion of the door. They will open out and allow airflow without opening the door. Could be handy in Phoenix.
