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Last Modified June 4th 2001
1st
- 6th May If you look through the Europa manual you'll find a remarkable
lack of information about fitting out the interior of the aircraft. I decided to
tackle this problem in my usual way and invent my own methods.
First step was to wallpaper the inside of the aircraft. Everywhere that cloth would eventually go was covered with the paper and stuck together with duct tape. This paper, when removed would form the pattern for the cloth.
Next step was to pour a good glass of wine and think about how the individual pieces would interconnect and where the logical places were for individual sub panels.
The paper was then marked out and then cut along the marks before removing them. The individual panels that I created were as follows...
First
job was to do the side panels as these were the simplest. Double sided tape was
applied to the entire area that the panel would be fitted to and then, using the
edge of the NACA scoop as the reference point, the cloth was adjusted into
place.
The next piece to be applied was the seat back. This was a bit more entertaining and it paid not to remove all of the tape cover in one stretch nything that got near it became very attached!
May 7th - 10th No building, ComputerWorld Expo.
May 11th - 13th To fit the two other pieces to the headrests it proved easier to attach a square piece of cloth and then trim the edges flush with a knife. The joints looked pretty ragged at this point and this is where my sewing ability (or total lack thereof) came in. Having been shown which is the pointy end of a needle by Carol (who is a masterful seamstress and thinks nothing of spending two years hand sewing a quilt), I stitched up the joints. For the more technically literate in the sewing field, I used a ladder stitch which is an over and over stitch running diagonally down the joint. Carol and I debated whether a blanket stitch would be better but I decided against it because I would have made an absolute mess of it!
I
must say that I am more than delighted with the effect. The joints are just
about invisible and the finish most satisfying.
May 14th - 15th The temperfoam squabs are being treated in the same way as the rest of the aircraft. Tape secures the cloth while stitching tidies up the individual pieces. This task is being don in the lounge while watching TV. Carol is finding this quite amusing as we sit beside each other , she with her embroidery and me with my cushion. I did suggest that she was much better qualified at this than I would ever be but all she came back with was a comment that I was doing just fine and it was my turn to make a cup of tea.
May 16th With the able assistance of Patch, Nathan's new kitten, I finished off stitching up the cushions. I didn't bother covering the entire underside of the cushions as no one will know they're not covered except for me.
The
Temperfoam cushion may look thick like this but it slowly compresses to around 1
1/2" thick and molds to the appropriate body shape once weight is applied.
The cushions are incredibly comfortable to sit on for long periods of time and
provide incredible shock resistance which is why this material was used for the
Apollo missions. It's a pity about the cost as they come in at around USD70 each
but we won't tell Carol that!
Those who study my log intently will remember that I used a thermal barrier cloth on the side panels behind the grey cloth. The side panels and thermal cloth are no longer there as of last night as the thermal cloth separated between the fibres under the weight of the grey cloth. I ripped the two side panels out of the aircraft and will now reapply the grey cloth direct to the surface as I have done for the seat bulkhead - which still looks really good.
I
forgot to note that, while I was building the foam seat pans, I cleared a space
for an RMI digital compass. The unit is remotely powered and spits out the
heading in serial format that I will intercept with one of the instrument panel
computers. Also visible in this photo is the seatbelt attachment point which is
also going to double as the mounting screw for the external wing wiring
termination block.
May 17th -18th No building
May 19th- 20th I spent the entire weekend trying alternative methods of getting the cloth to stick to the concave interior. Double sided tape works fine on flat and convex surfaces but it sags off the concave sides. I also had a slight diversion when Carol suggested a different type of backing to the cloth so as to make the sides more padded. In the end I settled for no padding and attaching the side cloth with a 3M spray adhesive that was applied to the cloth before placing into the plane. I had tried to avoid glue and now I know why - it's an absolute pig of a job applying the cloth, I'd hate to do the entire interior with glued cloth as it would be really difficult to keep it off everything. I added two more pieces of cloth to my list...
These were easiest to apply with double sided tape and trimming to size once the cloth was stuck down.
May 21st No building.
May 22nd All of the little jobs that I decided to leave until later are now coming back to bite me as major points in the critical path! I can't put the cloth onto the baggage bay extension until I have fitted the covers over the two inspection holes. Result... I spent some time working on the inspection hole covers.
May 23rd - 25th No building
May 26th I seemed to spend most of this Saturday being a taxi driver! In the rest periods I refitted the starboard forward lining and also glued on the thermal barrier I had selected to go over the firewall. I used CRC Ados F38 high temperature contact adhesive for this following the advice of Gary Spicer who used the same barrier and glue on his RV6 to good effect.
May 27th I finished off the main section of the instrument panel and powered up the instruments in turn to ensure that my wiring was correct.
May 28th No building.
May 28th - 31st Marked out the sections for the remaining instrument panel plates, cut them out of aluminium and then fitted nutplates to the switch panel and radio panel surrounds. I cut out a couple of the holes for the radio panel and discovered I had a conflict between one of the instruments and the frame. Marked out the section for the radio panel plate again.
