-8A Baggage Door

[pvalovich]

I've been fiddling with the baggage door assembly and fit for a week. I'm pretty happy with the fit except for an approximate 1/8" to 1/4 inch rise along the aft edge starting about 6 inches inboard and increasing to 1/4" at the edge. The rise is fixed with very little pressure and the door fits completely flush. Trying to get it to lie completely flush without slight pressure seems to make it worse further inboard.

It seems to me that by following Van's instructions and taping the door flush before drilling the inner door panel, the problem should go away when the parts are clecoed and rivited and the assembly becomes rigid as described in the instructions. However, if it doesn't I'm in the big hurt locker.

What has been the experience of other VAF builders?

[scsmith]

I found the baggage door fit to be the hardest metal-working job I had ever done. Its right out in front too, where a poor fit is in everyone's face.

What I did:

Keep working on the ribs until the door will lay down PERFECTLY without the inner skin on, just laying under its own weight. A shrinker would be great to have, but I didn't -- so a seamer and a fluting pliers and a plastic malet and bucking bar had to do. I also had to add a couple of thin shims in the outboard corners, between the outer skin and the ribs.
It's going to get harder to maintain the good fit as you go from here, and you should start off from the best possible fit.

Fit the inboard edge of the inner skin in place with cleco's to hold it in the right spot, then tape the door closed, or better yet, put two nylon band straps around the fuselage holding it shut over the ribs. Then climb inside and hold the inner skin against the ribs, drill and cleco. If you are lucky, the fit will be preserved. There is some room for cheating with the cleco holes to adjust if you need to. Then, I put some 5-minute epoxy on the inner skin-to-ribs surfaces, cleco'ed and strapped it down again. This preserves the fit and inner skin position before you climb back inside and, again with the door strapped shut, put in the pop rivets.

Mine came out with about a 1/32" lift at the trailing edge outer corner. It sucks down with the door latch pins engaged.

Rick Galati may be able to offer better advise, his door looks superb in his photos, and he is a guru on this sort of metal work.

Good Luck.

[Chino Tom]

Originally Posted by scsmith

I found the baggage door fit to be the hardest metal-working job I had ever done. Its right out in front too, where a poor fit is in everyone's face.

+1. I did have a shrinker and after getting close, shrunk the outer skin edges to make it fit flush before the final pop rivets. Wish i would have thought of using epoxy or JB Weld on the ribs and inner skin before riveting. The latch does pull it tight.

[db8]

What Steve mentioned is the best way to do it. I would use the strap method instead of the tape (like he mentioned). Dave