fabric doors

[matsuthunder200]

Was wondering about fabric doors.. I have a 46 bc12-d. Can i go to fabric doors when i rebuild her?? If so dose anyone know how much lighter they are...... I seen somewhere in a post that Robert Lees had a plane with fabric doors...

[Hank Jarrett]

I have wood doors on my 41 and fabric on the 45. Neither one fits on the other (not even close) and the metal doors I have looked at from post 45 don't fit either one either. You would have to build custom doors and framing around them. It's going to be a LOT of paperwork for a minimal weight savings. Sorry I have never weighed any of the doors but the wood and the metal doors are heavier than the tube and fabric doors. The fabric doors are VERY light but the tubes are "P" shaped in cross section providing a flange around the edge to overlap the fuselage and provide surface area for the fabric. They would be "fun" to make.
Hank J

[Forrest Barber]

We used the tube & fabric door on the 1946 BC12D "Leisa-Marie"
of course we had to build in the proper door frame at the time of rebuild... This gave us the swing up window. weights are about the same. The pre-war wooden door was heavier of course/