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“In this issue you’ll … add details and fix together the two parts of the DeLorean’s left-side door, before fitting it next issue.”

Contents

Parts

Materials: The only metal in this issue is the Door Panel itself. The Mirror is a shiny sticker. The rest are all plastic parts.

Magazine

• Drive Time: Model Instructions
• Production Diary: Action and Stunts in Sonora, CA for Part III
• A Time Traveler’s Guide: Seamus McFly

Build

Door Details and Trim

Step 1

Fit the Lock Barrel into the matching hole of the Door Panel.

There is a flat keyed section that aligns this:

Step 2

Secure the Lock Barrel from behind with one (1) AP screw:

Step 3

Push the Door Trim onto the outside of the Door Panel.

This will only fit on the model one way:

Step 4

Secure the Door Trim in place from behind with four (4) JP screws:

Step 5

Position the two Brackets onto this inner section of the Door Panel, and secure with two (2) AM screws, as shown.

This is your friendly reminder to try using 3-in-One Oil on all screws going into metal:

Step 6

Retrieve the Left Window (Upper) from the last issue, and secure it to the inside of the Door Panel with two (2) NM screws:

Step 7

Fix the Wing Mirror Body to the Wing Mirror Support with one (1) JP screw, as shown.

I am going to hold off doing this step just yet. See the Mod Zone below.

Step 8

Remove the backing paper from the Mirror…

…and secure it to the matching cavity of the Wing Mirror Body:

I leave the clear protective plastic on these things until the model is done:

Step 9

Push the Wing Mirror assembly into place on the outside of the Door Panel.

Step 10

Secure the Wing Mirror assembly to the Door Panel from inside with one (1) AP screw:

As most builders of this model soon find out, these wing mirrors are very prone to breaking off. In the coming issues, we will be handling the body assembly a LOT, turning it over, on its side, and so on. Therefore, I am going to try to attach the mirrors in another way. This here is a 200 piece set of 3x1mm neodymium magnets:

To start, I removed the mirror assembly and glued one of these magnets into the mounting recess of the Door Panel:

Next, we need to remove a millimeter or so off the large post on the Wing Mirror Support:

Oops, I went a little overboard and removed too much. Well, this is how I learn and hopefully keep you from making the same mistake:

Thankfully, we can fix this with a little Bostik Blu Tack! I stacked two more magnets onto the one we already glued in place:

Then, I wadded a little ball of Blu Tack into the back of the Wing Mirror Support, pressed it into position on the car, and those two loose magnets stuck themselves in place:

Finally, we need to go back and do Step 7, attaching the Mirror parts together:

Bingo, it works like a charm! I did a much better job of this mod the second time around in Issue 73, so you may want to check that out as well.

Now I can easily remove the wing mirror off at any time. And, if it gets bumped off, it will not break anything:

Step 11

Retrieve the Left-Side Door (trim assembly) from Issue 67. Fit it inside the Door Panel, aligning the four posts, and making sure the wiring is captured inside the rear channel circled below:

Step 12

Secure the trim assembly to the Door Panel with four (4) DM screws:

Step 13

Press the Arm Rest assembly (also from Issue 67) onto the trim assembly, as shown, and secure with one (1) AP screw:

While the steps of this issue are now complete, I have three small mods to do. First up is these color-matched screw cover stickers included in Decal Set II from Mike Lane:

Mike includes two sizes of these stickers. Use the larger peel-and-stick decals to conceal the ugly black screw heads on the door interior:

The smaller grey peel-and-stick decals are used to conceal the screw head inside the handle:

The second mod adds a couple of the ‘bugs’ that are found on all automotive glass. You can find these in Decal Set III from Mike Lane. We already used a black one of these back in Issue 62. However, this time, we will use two of the white decals for the side windows:

On a real DeLorean, these are located at the lower-rear corners of the large and small windows. We just need to peel-and-stick these decals to the inside surface of each:

Now our driver-side door is looking pretty sharp!

Our final mod is to match the vent duct on the door interior to the same color as I used on the dashboard back in Issue 44. I used a small sponge brush to paint this circular recess ‘duct’ with Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black acrylic. I cleaned up the edges with a cotton swab dampened with isopropyl alcohol. Be sure not to rub too hard as the interior panel is black plastic painted grey and you can actually remove the grey. In this photo, the paint is still wet, but it will dry completely flat:

Thoughts

That was a long issue with four different mods! I am pretty happy with the Wing Mirror magnet mounting solution. I have seen others use larger magnets, but I wanted to avoid any drilling into the metal Door Panel. My mirror stays attached well enough with the smaller magnets. You can open and close the door without it falling off as well.

Next Up

 Issue 70 – Interior: Door Headliner/Strut (Left)