I had a bunch of time to spend out in the garage today. We have extremely cold temperatures here in Western NC, and our furnace is broken. Luckily the heater in the garage works though, so it is warm there. I started by drilling the holes for my hinges from inside the fuselage.
This would have been easier if I hadn't gotten ahead of myself and installed the pedals, but it worked out ok with some helpers to hand me tools.
After drilling the hinges, I installed the rod ends with a few nuts. I also included some shims behind the hinges to account for the inter door skin.
I am holding the hinges in place with Cleos for now
I was running into the clecos on the hinge support, so I out a few rivets in as temporary piece. I will drill them out later to prime parts.
Here is the inge installed, it operates pretty decent, but is heavy held together with clecos.
I decided to start working on a potential gas assist for the door. I bought cheap gas struts on Amazon, and drilled the included ball end to allow me to attach it to the door.
I will drill these rivets out later to prime these parts.
I made a quick video of the door opening and closing, there is black sharpie around the opening that makes the gaps look larger than they are.
Lots of work to get that exactly right.