So, that door is still a pain in my rear. I stripped it back and then did set about leading the handle area:
Got the area looking good:
Phosphate treated the outer skin and was getting ready for priming, but then got the straight edge out to recheck and came to the conclusion there was no way the escutcheon position was satisfactory. Still pushed in at the back by 3-4mm and there’s no way I was about to use a ton more lead and filler to fix that.
So, I had to get inventive. The escutcheon itself is a very strong pressing, and the knock-on effect is that it makes it very difficult to work the surrounding metal. Too much rigidity. Of course, some strategic cutting releases that...
This allowed me to pull the escutcheon and sheet metal up to where it should be relative to a straight edge.
Then some very slow, careful tacking:
I left it at there after a few more tacks. In the next day or two I will complete the welding, grind back, and then re-lead that area. Then finally epoxy it before filler stages. More work than I’d hoped but I had to get it to where I was happy.