Day 52-54

Messy, messy, messy. That is the name of the game with these perplex glass windows for the rear seats and the hatch doors. That and patience. There is a lot of placing the glass up on the plane, measuring, cutting and rechecking fit.

We begin with placing the overside perplex on the canopy, or the hatch doors, and tape them securely down. Then using 1/4 fine-line tape, trace out the perimeter of the window frame. We then remove the glass and trim down to the line. We roughed it out first using an angle grinder, and then sanded it down with a sander and 80 grit paper. Once down to the line we would place it back up on the plane and make small adjustments were it needed until it fit perfectly in their respective frames.

When each of the 4 glasses were fitting, we taped them back into their frames again. Using a marker, we then traced the interior frame to match the area where the sealant would go. Removing them we took tape again and traced out the marked areas. This area was then abraded with a scuff pad as well as 80 grit sandpaper to make sure there would be good grip for the sealant to grab onto. We then abraded the fiberglass parts as well. Once everything was prepped, we then taped and masked of everything to help minimize messes when we go to seal in the glasses.

When we had all that done, we then thoroughly cleaned all surfaces, applied appropriate primer to joining surfaces, applied a good bead of SikaFlex to the window frames and then placed the glasses in. Once the glasses were fitting in the frames, we then pressed them in hard until they were seated and there was ample squeeze out all the way around the glasses. This insured that there was a perfect seal all the way around.

We then were able to clean up the squeeze out and remove the tape and masking once the sealant was sufficiently cured out.