Finishing up the doors and starting on windows

Finally the doors are about finished!  I've got a few tasks related to the doors yet to complete such as installing the 3rd latch block and the door closed indicators but for the most part I am done with them.  The painting turned out to be much harder than expected.  I should have expected more because I knew I wanted the inside of the doors to look good.  This is one area I will look at many times per flight so I didn't want to have to look at a blemish that I should have fixed.  Two different priming sessions, three paint sessions, and lots of sanding but at least I'm done...I think.

I didn't take any pictures with just the primer on but my last post had a few.  I ended up sanding most of that grey primer off in an attempt at filling all the pin holes.  I did a final sealing layer of Azko epoxy primer (the green stuff), lightly sanding with 320 grit, and then the first coat of paint.  This is after the first coat of paint.  The red blotches are spots where I didn't do a great job of filling the pin holes.  I had to come back with spot putty to fill those holes.

Final coat of paint applied.  Ready to install back on the fuselage...however I seem to have misplaced the shims and bolts that hold the pilot side door on.  I spent two days tearing the garage and many areas of the house apart and my best guess is that I must have mistakenly placed the bag of parts in the plastic box I took to Oregon with the engine last month.  Poo.  Now I have to make up some more shim's and size the bolts again.

This is the first time the windshield has been on the airplane so I had to take a picture.  I was measuring how far forward I had to paint the glare-shield.

This is the glare-shield painted.  Now all I have to do is install the windshield!

Rear windows trimmed and ready to glue in.  I am using the Silpruf method that is used on Glasair's.  Several RV-10 builders have used the method and it makes for a strong but professional looking install.  Van's method has you using weldon glue and then fiber-glassing over the windows.  The end result is lots of cracked fiberglass because the windows expand and contract at a different rate.