Finally, the windshield got installed today, but only after much cogitation and obsessing about every detail of the process by me, plus due deliberation by neighbor Mike, who lent a steady hand and more than one good idea, and Miggles' quick shutter finger on the camera to preserve the evidence. The whole story, with all ten pictures deemed worthy of publication, deserves and got its own article page. Following are a couple of highlights. As seen in the first photo, the first dicey part was placing the windshield itself, with the sticky butyl rubber sealant tape already stuck on the back of the side and top edges. If it touched the wrong surfaces at the wrong times, we would have had a major league mess. We lucked out.

After intervening steps (see the whole story) the next critical stage was putting the fiberglass retainer in place on top of the gooy bedding and glazing compound, while gingerly maneuvering it with the sticky black butyl tape sealant on the windshield side. (Mike was occasionally dubious, but calm.) We got it lined up without smearing the sticky stuff... much.

Even with some goo squishing out on all sides (as it was supposed to) when the special large flange rivets were finally all pulled down tight, the "60-hour retainer" is looking sleek. 

The end result, a clear and clean windshield installation. Really clear! Yes, there's a windshield there.

The whole story, or as much as can be told, with more photos, is here. There are still a few small details to finish, like filling in the gaps around the upper corners, but compared to the last three months of work focused on this task... that's miniature peanuts.

The end is getting closer. Going forward from here, there are still decisions that will have to be made, and parts that will have to be built more than once, but the last of the big mystery "I have no clue how this is going to work" tasks is almost done.