REAR PANEL

Pictured below is the rear panel at the bulkhead at the aft end of the cargo area. I know, the lighting is weird. Just the challenge of trying to photograph bare aluminum.

Eventually, all this area will be painted a medium gray.

The side panels, pictured in previous posts, will not be installed.  They represent too large a modification to the airplane and would require FAA paperwork that I just do not want to mess with.  

Meanwhile...I have not been able to complete this project within the time I allotted and flying weather is upon us.  So...for the summer the photos will look like this:

And this...

And this...

Some more...

The interior of N8346J has been made air-worthy for the summer and project work will concentrate on the Wag-a-Bond,  http://www.N7559Q.blogspot.com.

RIGHT SIDE PANEL

It was my original intent to make a small box-like cover to protect the lower aileron pulleys.  However, when I got down to it I discovered there is a lot going on in that little corner.

So I decided to make a larger panel that spans the frame-members on each side of the aileron cables. 

Like so:

The cut-out is for the lower aileron pulley.  I will be fashioning a cover plat for this opening that will include a bump out for the pulley itself.  It will be fastened to the panel with screws and nut plates to facilitate removal for annual inspections. 

I have been practicing working sheet metal with the collection of hammers I have on hand and using the center of a roll of duct tape for a pattern.  The final product will be tear-drop shaped rather than round.  I will concentrate on that cover once I have the side panels installed on both sides. 

REAR PANEL

The rear panel, the one that covers the opening into the tail cone,is complete.  The first step, as outlined earlier, was to make a "rough sketch" template.  Thusly:

As you can see, it is multiple layers and pieces all taped together.  The challenge of multiple compound curves dictated attempting to match them one at a time.

Once I was satisfied with the rough sketch, a smoother version was produced:

Yes, the little stick of tape actually has a function.  This template proved so close that I decided to go ahead and fabricate the panel.

And this is the final result.  It required a small amount of trimming with a file and the Dremmel, but it is a perfect fit. You will note that the holes for the mounting screws have also been drilled.  I located these holes by painting the existing mounting brackets with black paint and then pressing the template against the brackets.  The result was a perfect, and perfectly aligned, outline of the bracket.


 The next step is to build the templates for the panels that will cover the aileron pulleys.

Well, not quite...throw in a seat and tuck the required papers in a visible location, and...

:)

TEMPLATE

Though I don't have a photo, I have completed the "rough draft" of the template for the panel to go over the rear bulkhead. It was a tough project for a couple of reasons.  First, curling this old fat guy up into the back of the cargo area for a couple of hours makes for one stiff old fat guy.  Second, there are no straight lines. Everything is curved.  So the "rough draft" is a collection of pieces of poster board taped together.

Now that I have the "rough draft" I will use it to create another template.  If that one is a good fit I will use it to fabricate the aluminum panel.

If it isn't a good fit, I will modify it so that it is. Depending on the nature and extent of the modifications, I may do another template.

I will keep this up until I have a single, easy to use template that fits perfectly.

FIRST STEPS

I managed to crowd in about two hours of work today.  Job #1 is building the template for fabrication of the panel that covers the aft bulkhead.

This the beginning of that process.  The first objective is to get all the curves correct. The template will be built up in pieces so I don't have too many variables to deal with for each section.

These pieces are now very close to correct.  I need to work a little bit more on the passenger's side (the left side in this photo).  The pilot's side is perfect.  The above is the result of two hours of climbing in and out of the cargo area, which is a bit of a task for an old fat guy. 

The next step will be to work on the curves for the top part of the panel.  Once that is done I will cut a strip to finalize the bottom.

I am doing all the fabrication before stripping off the old paint because I want to keep the airplane flyable as deep into the process as I can.  Once the strip and paint process is started the windows will need to be masked (along with some other things) and the plane will be grounded until the upgrades are complete.

TEAR DOWN

I got the project rolling by tearing out most of the interior.  I was going to post a photo of the torn out material, but a friend dropped by the hangar and thought he might have a use for some of the stuff.

This is the pilot's side wall of the cargo area.  Somebody, many years ago, did me the favor of painting the entire interior of the airplane, under the plastic, a flat black.  It is ugly and will mean hours of work to remove, but there is zero corrosion in this airplane.  Which is somewhat unusual in a 45-year old bird.

The passenger's side door will present a couple of challenges.  Most obvious is the aerial photo window. I think a small round aluminum panel painted flat black on the window side and secured in place with sheet metal screws will serve.

Not quite so obvious is a missing panel.  There is supposed to be a panel that covers the door latch handle mechanism.  It shows clearly in the photo of the pilot's side door...

I doubt very much that I will be able to find that panel anywhere for anything like a reasonable price. It will be a bit tricky to fabricate a copy, but that will be the task.  This door is one interior part of the airplane that was not painted. Fortunately, no corrosion here.

While I am undertaking this task I am going to replace the window and door seals.  They are all getting pretty sorry looking.

While I was thinking things out one of the items I was worried about was the speaker.  I pictured a chincy speaker in a bracket that would force me to either spend a lot time coming up with something more aesthetic, or removing the speaker.  I was pleased to find this rather nice little unit lurking behind the headliner. The beige color is actually just dust.  The entire enclosure is black.

Totally removing the speaker would not have been a great loss. Back when this airplane was built pilots rarely flew with headsets. Which is why so many older pilots are a bit hard of hearing. The cabin of your typical piston engine single is a very noisy place. Everybody uses headsets now so the speaker just kind of hangs up there and talks to itself.  I use mine a little bit. I was taught not to don the headset until after engine start in case somebody outside the airplane had cause to yell some kind of warning. The squawk of the speaker lets me know the radio has come alive.

Speaking of the headliner...it was in much worse condition than I thought.  When I gave it a tug whole sections of it just kind of disintegrated.

The cargo area floor is showing the signs of use and abuse. Again, though ugly, that black paint prevented corrosion. I am thinking that the flaking, also visible in the photo of the speaker, has occurred because whoever applied this paint did not do a thorough surface prep.  Which means I will need to.

I need to order a hatfull of tinnerman nuts.  Cessna loves the things and many of them have been through so many annual inspections that they need replacing.  The inspection covers visible here (there are a total of 13 in the cabin!!) are all secured with screws and tinnerman nuts.

The floor of the cargo area gets carpet, but it still needs to be stripped and at least primed. The far left of the photo is the end of the cargo area and you are looking into the tail cone.

Speaking of the tail cone, here it is now. The object with the large round holes is the first bulkhead, heading aft, after the cargo area.  Previously it was covered by a large plastic panel. I will be fabricating an aluminum panel for this location.

This photo clearly shows the construction technique used by many small (and large) aircraft. It is called "stressed skin" and consists of the bulkheads, visible in the photo, and the skin all riveted together so that the skin is actually a part of the structure.

The straight wires heading aft are the control wires for the elevators and rudder. The "snakey" wires are electrical. The ones on the right (of the photo) power the navigation light and the strobe. The silver box is the control box for the strobe. The wire snaking across the cargo area floor is the antenna wire for the ELT. It will simply lie under the carpet, as it has been doing.

The original plastic cover panel was secured to the bulkhead with sheet metal screws through the tabs that are pretty obvious. I will use the tabs to secure the new aluminum panel. This one will be easy.

Speaking of tabs, and brackets...

Here is a bracket that is intended to secure the plastic side panel.  It needs to come out.  It is sharing a rivet with the aluminum trim that holds the rear window in place. I am not sure how I am going to handle this one, or it's numerous brothers and sisters.

This is another bracket with which I must deal. It shares two rivets with a longeron along the side of the cargo area. So I can't just drill out the rivets.  I will need to be creative.

This mess constitutes the mounting brackets and some of the innards of the overhead console. Aside from the cleaning that needs to be done, the big challenge is how the plastic console mounts. It is held in by sheet metal screws through the bracket at the front (left of the photo) and the "ears" on the metal box towards the rear. The brackets are set up so that the console mounts about 1/2" away from the aluminum ceiling in order to make room for the headliner.

A creative solution is needed there as well.

And here is the passenger's side wing root, and a mystery.  The kind of gray-ish rectangle is a document holder. The only purpose for which would be to hold the various documents the FAA requires be carried in the airplane and readily visible.  This area was previously covered by the headliner. So it would appear that Juliet flew around for some previous period of time without a headliner.

The wires hanging down go to the overhead console. If I choose to keep the console, and I may have to, it may be an airworthiness item, I have to figure out an attractive way to run those wires.


This last photo is the floor pan under the seats. Lots of ugly black paint, but no corrosion. Visible in the photo are three of the four seat rails (two for each seat). Just out of sight on the bottom of the photo is the left side pilot's seat rail.  It is new, having failed the inspection required by an Airworthiness Directive of a few year's ago.

Sometime into this project I realized I had passed that "oh shoot" (or words to that affect) moment when you realize that no matter how difficult or expensive the project becomes, you are committed to the process, there is no turning back.

Contrary to appearances, the airplane is completely airworthy.  I can slide the seats back in, clip in the seat belts (I have not yet removed the shoulder harnesses) and she is ready to fly. I will keep her that way as long as possible as I go about stripping the paint.

Eventually I will need to remove the doors and mask the windows, at which point she will be done flying until the project is complete.  I am really hoping to have this project complete before the ideal flying weather shows up.  Wish me luck.

BEGINNING

I have decided to continue upgrading the interior of my Cessna 150, N8346J, affectionately known as "Juliet".  I am hoping this work will only take a few weeks away from the construction of the Wag-a-Bond http://www.N7559Q.blogspot.com

I attempted to add this project to an earlier blog in which I chronicled previous upgrades to the airplane.  But blogspot won't let me access that blog.

If you would like to see the earlier efforts, and I think you do, go to http://www.46Juliet.blogspot.com

The reason for the continued upgrades is that the previous upgrades have pointed out the shabbiness of the interior elements that were not addressed in the first upgrade. Back in the 1960's Cessna was trying to convince folks that flying an airplane was just like driving a car (it isn't). To that end they tended to use a collection of cheesy plastic trim panels to make the airplane interior look more "car like" without spending a whole of money.  The effort probably didn't hurt Cessna sales, but I would be willing to bet that it didn't help, either.   You will find the word "cheesy" used extensively in this blog.

So!  Some photos showing the current condition:

This view shows the ugly front door posts and some of the door plastic. The door plastic was cleaned and painted in the previous upgrade, but spots of crud are starting to show through.  Also, if you look at the lower instrument on the far right of the instrument panel you can see some light color showing through. This is because the front of the panel is an overlay that stands out a fraction of an inch from the sub-panel.  The sub-panel needs to be painted flat black.

This view also shows the scuzzy visors and some of the discolored headliner.

Here is a view back into the right (passenger's) side of the cargo area. Please note the nice carpeting provided by Shelby Isham at Tnwings.com (the company has a more formal name but nobody ever remembers it). Obviously, the carpet will stay.  The plastic trim was repaired, cleaned and painted in the previous upgrade.  However, it has a number of unused screw holes and has become brittle.  It has to be removed at each annual, and every year it cracks and looses more small pieces.

The headliner is badly discolored and, though you can't see it much from outside, the fasteners are beginning to pull away from the overhead. It won't be long before the headliner begins to sag.

The overhead console, which houses the courtesy light (pretty useless) and the panel light (actually works pretty well) simply got overlooked in the previous upgrade. I was working on that upgrade I tended not to look up as I had decided going in that the headliner was not a part of that project.

This is the left side front door post. Note that the "placards" (required by the FAA) are typed on plain paper and taped to the door post.  The specification placard (the black rectangle below the paper placards) was poorly masked when the door post, at some time in the past, was painted. Not quite so evident, the operating limitation arcs on the Airspeed Indicator (ASI) were hand painted.  It is a pretty decent job of hand painting the white, red and yellow arcs, but, it is obvious they were painted by hand.  I may elect to replace the ASI. It depends on budget.

This is the lower end of the cargo area plastic trim. You can see the cracks. These get worse and more numerous every time the panels need to come out, which is at least once a year.  The orange box is the Emergency Locate Transmitter (ELT) required for all aircraft.  When subjected to excessive acceleration (like in a crash) it starts transmitting on 121.5 mghertz, the universal distress frequency.  These are being phased out because the emergency response agencies no longer monitor 122.5, instead monitoring a satellite frequency (406 mghertz if I recall).  ELT's that transmit on the newer frequency are not yet required, but they soon may be.  So this unit may get replaced now. Another budget consideration. The suppliers are very proud of the new ELT's.

This is a closer look at the cracks.

This is a close-up of the rear of the baggage compartment. You can see where the side trim is cracking and the paint is flaking off.  The other panel seals off the baggage area from the tail cone. The wrinkled edge is actually some kind of gummy substance that was somebody's idea of a good idea.  That needs to be remedied.

Another view of the side trim in the baggage area showing the miscellaneous unused screw holes. You can also see that the plastic has warped and that some areas have cracked and broken through.

This is an area on the pilot's side where the headliner is falling away from the rest of the aircraft. I am sure the wool headliner did not start out that less-than-festive brown color. After all, it has been in place since 1967.

So what's the plan?  In general terms the plan is to strip out all of the plastic and the headliner. They will not be replaced.  In most areas the bare aluminum will be stripped, cleaned and painted.  I am inclined, at the moment, towards a soft gray to match the seats and carpet.  This approach is inspired by similar modifications made by another member of the Cessna 150/152 Club.

Some other things will have to be done.  The trim panels in the cargo area cover and protect some pulleys that are a part of the aileron control system.  New covers, at least for the pulleys, will be fabricated from aluminum.  I haven't decided whether or not to leave the associated cables exposed or fabricate a cover for them, too. I have seen others do it both ways.

A new aluminum panel to isolate the cargo area from the tail cone will be fabricated.

The overhead console will be refurbished. Part of me wants to fabricate a copy in aluminum, using the existing internal parts, and loose the plastic.  We will see.

The painted bare metal, like the door posts, will be stripped (I think), cleaned and painted the soft gray (I am hoping to find a satin finish paint).  The paper "placards" will be replaced either by professionally done placards or decals applied directly to the painted surface.

The cheesy little rear view mirror (don't ask. I don't know what use a rear view mirror is in aircraft) will be removed.

The sun visors will either be cleaned up, or replaced, depending on budget.  I would love to have Rosen visors, but they are pricey.

If budget allows the ASI will be replaced.

I may, or may not, fabricate aluminum inside panels for the doors.  Or I may just paint what is there once the plastic panels are off.  I have seen it done both ways. I do not rue the lose of the armrests. With the new, and thicker, seats (courtesy of Shelby Isham)  the armrests are pretty useless. In a 150 you want all the hip room you can get.

At least the right side of the sub-panel will be painted flat black.

Other upgrades as their necessity/desirability become obvious and as budget allows.

The hoped-for result is a clean, attractive, utilitarian, "aircraft-like" interior.

So let's get started!!!