Skip,

Jim White installed the FB doors on our airplanes first, followed by the
side windows, then the windshield. Rationale was the large amount of work
with power tools, etc to fit the door frame to the fuselage/top--potential
damage to the windows/windshield. Also, it was easy to work through the
window and windshield openings when working the door/door frame fit. We
release taped the fuselage bottom when we bonded the door frame to the top,
then pulled the door frame and top away as a unit. The resulting door/frame
fit is among the best work we've done, and I can recommend this method. We
installed the windows/windshield with the top upside down on a simple
holding jig, then set the whole assembly onto the fuselage bottom and
clecoed it in place to be sure we had the top and bottom "matched" during
the cure. The top gets pretty heavy and clumsy with the Plexiglas and door
frame installed, and takes more than two people to install/remove it safely.

As has been reported many times in these pages, do all possible work on the
top before installing the Plexiglas to reduce the potential for damage, and
do all possible work inside the "boat" before bonding the top on to reduce
wear and tear on your soon-to-be limber body!

By the way, I bought "SprayLat" from Aircraft Spruce to recoat/protect the
Plexiglas after we peeled it to inspect for defects. Bought three quarts for
two planes, but one quart per plane would be sufficient. The directions say
to spray it on, but brush or roller works very well--we put on three-four
coats and it has held up very well.

Call me if you want more details on any of this.

Bob Pastusek
703-271-8008


Skip -

Builder assist program at the factory installs the 3 side windows first,
followed by the fastbuild door and then the windscreen.

John

Skip Long wrote:

> Hi,
>
> What's the best sequence for completing the top of a LIV?
>



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