Why did this take so long? Well first I added the seat back brace closeout so I could add the baggage light switch (see other entry for this day) and the bracket for the baggage door strut. After making the cutout for the switch, I removed the protective plastic and riveted the bracket into place (yes, no screws as the plans called for). I also made up the hinge pins so they would lock into the door when in place. You can see I drilled the holes twice; the more outboard holes let the bend in the hinge pins interfere with the eyelets and bound up the hinge. The inner holes don't interfere...
With the hinge working, I followed the remaining instructions to attach it to the F-1058 and the F-1058 to the fuselage. Many rivets later and the door is on. Next was fitting the strut. The instructions with the strut give a location but it was super easy to just open the door to slightly over 90 degrees and drill the door bracket there. It then closes with just a bit of travel left over - perfect! I hope the KitLog image is not too small - in Image 3 you can see the light switch just above the struct bracket on the seat back brace. One small problem - the strut displaces the door slightly so it does not quite stay centered in the opening. Once I install the lock, if that doesn't fix the problem then I can trim the interference at the top aft of the door.
Rivet count: 82 (0 redo, 530 total redone) Total: 16619 - Plus 549 done at Van's
