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Europa-List: Re: Fitting doors

Subject: Europa-List: Re: Fitting doors
From: danbish <bdanbish@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2009 09:29:43

Hi Rick,

Based on your kit number, you may have the same issue I had a month back when I
started this process. If you search my name, you may find the thread and the
answers I got from Bud and others regarding this. 

Evidently, the earlier kits have a wood insert built in. Mine is A144 and the 
insert
is visible from inside the fuselage looking up at where the door tang sits,
just under where the hinges will go. So you won't need a wood insert but there's
still a gap between the hinges and where they sit on the fuselage, so I
put in a mixture of dry-ish flox then release film on top, then clamped the 
doors
in place with the hinges already 5-min glued on. Put a piece of sponge inside
the hinges to get them to press outwardly and make a good impression on the
flox. 

Once cured, I clean them up, scrape off a mm or so then put down 2x layers of 
bid,
making sure everything positioned correctly. I could've done the bid at the
same time, but I like to make sure it's all positioned correctly first. I clamp
the door & hinges in place while this is curing also.

Once all that is cured up, I'm ready to drill the holes from the hinges into the
door tangs then use a forester bit to make the recess around where the nuts
will go, per the manual.

Now, with the doors clamped back in place, drill straight down through the door
tangs through the fuselage and you're almost done. 

One change I made was to increase the screw size to 1/4" on the top hinge. That
size screw is easier to make the correct countersink for without weakening the
hinge and it's just a little more substantial for the door. Probably overkill
but doesn't hurt anything. 

You'll want to check the thickness of your perspex as mine is 1mm thicker than
normal and I had to remove some material from the inside of the door flange. Did
that today - messy job, lots of fine dust. 

Just got the starboard door finished today and have the port side clamped onto
the flox as per above so we're at about the same place on this. Look at my album
for photos, though I have it pretty much simplified now. The 2nd door is going
MUCH faster. 

Good luck!


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