Turned a big corner this weekend and started the painting the accent color...

I started with the stinger and tail section under the horiz stab. This area I shot with U-Tech epoxy prime and then a single stage silver Imron to match the polished alum. I know no one will see it on the ramp, but it makes me feel good that everything is pretty.



After that, it was the boot cowls turn. Same grey U-Tech epoxy prime for starters, but then I went with a base clear. A ton more work, but looks so much nicer!





Even though I will be replacing the tips with the RMD's when I do the Sportsman and WingX, I went ahead and shot the existing tips so they matched.





Plan is to paint the horiz stab and the top of the vertical red. The gear will be shot the silver Imron when I pull them later this winter. Wings will get stripped and painted red when I pull them in the early spring.

She's coming along!

It's awesome to see it all coming together! Keep up the good work!

bigrenna,

I'm sure glad you posted these updates. I'm down to the glovebox door knob and reinstalling a radio that lost its mind, then taking pictures and posting on my update thread. And if that wasn't bad enough somehow I managed to get 200 hours of flying the 185 over the last year. I wasn't going to let you look at the final update post for fear you'd do something drastic. I feel better now.

You are doing an unbelievable job of restoring this Wagon, I can't wait to see it in person. Certainly going to be one of the absolute very nicest ones flying. Awesome, awesome, awesome.

Perfectionist, obsessive compulsive, so happy to see a productive outlet for you, this is one hell of a refurbish I can only dream of being able to tap into my alter ego to even to think about attempting such a challenge. Standing ovation.

BR:

Would strongly encourage you when all of this is done to write it up in more detailed fashion along with all of your pics while still fresh in your mind. What a great resource that would be for folks in the future.

Kind of running out of superlatives in this thread, but really an incredible job!!! Thanks so much for sharing it as you go.

Now where did I put my wallet?


Regards, Larry

Looking good. I got the chance to fly a 55 180 with a p ponked 520 and big 3 blade. Woah. That's all. When are you doing your motor? It was a great improvement over the 470

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Really moving along now... Got the Cessna seat stop installed along with all new rollers, the BAS lowers, and the fire extinguisher.



Also got the refinished yokes installed with the PTT and auto pilot switches in.



Before / After

Hey Greg, that control lock is looking a little tired...!

-DP

Cheeky bastard...

Believe me, that crossed my mind. But one must pay homage from whence it came!

Getting down to the nitty gritty here. The anticipation is killing me.

Got the door lock mechanism re-assembled and installed along with the door seals. Also did the Door Stewards (love these) and finished installing all the placards. Also have had some time for detail work like a nice surround for the baggage door chain. Hopefully before the new year!

Stunning, I like. What museum is this going in?

Bigrenna, your work is absolutely fantastic. I wish I had your talents!

Great looking work.....I'd be afraid to fly something that pretty.

One note of caution: I highly recommend using the Cessna wing mounted door stops, even with the Door stewards installed. The Door Stewards will not save your door if it comes open in a wind from the wrong direction. Cessnas rock in a big wind, even with good tiedowns, and that motion can pop a door open. If that happens with any tailwind, those Door Stewards will not prevent damage to your door. Don't ask how I know this. DS was nice enough to give me a new set of stewards....but weren't interested in providing a new door. Not their fault in any case....I should have recognized by looking at the system that they'd torque a door if stressed.

IF you are parked outside and a wind comes up, and if you have a baggage door, cam the pax side door latch over to lock from pilot side, then close pilot door and slide in through the baggage door and cam the pilot side latch over. That will keep em shut.

And, lest you think this is only likely to happen in places like the north slope of Alaska, consider that it happened to me at Oshkosh. My plane didn't have a baggage door.

MTV

mtv wrote:IF you are parked outside and a wind comes up, and if you have a baggage door, cam the pax side door latch over to lock from pilot side, then close pilot door and slide in through the baggage door and cam the pilot side latch over. That will keep em shut.

And, lest you think this is only likely to happen in places like the north slope of Alaska, consider that it happened to me at Oshkosh. My plane didn't have a baggage door.
MTV

+1

I do this pretty much all the time now when parked outside, ironically after a good thunderstorm slammed my door open in the middle of the night at Oshkosh during my first year of ownership. I also have the door stewards.

Beautiful work, bigrenna!

bigrenna wrote:Getting down to the nitty gritty here. The anticipation is killing me.

Got the door lock mechanism re-assembled and installed along with the door seals. Also did the Door Stewards (love these) and finished installing all the placards. Also have had some time for detail work like a nice surround for the baggage door chain. Hopefully before the new year!

Couple of ideas, FWIW:
If you ever expect to remove the doors to load cargo, install a second set of door steward attach points on the aft parts of the doors (to stow the door steward pistons when the door is off the aircraft.). Also, Atlee sells nice stainless steel Cessna door hinge pins with a welded eye. They come in skinny and fat diameters, for the two standard cessna configs.
Looking great!
-DP

mtv wrote:IF you are parked outside and a wind comes up, and if you have a baggage door, cam the pax side door latch over to lock from pilot side, then close pilot door and slide in through the baggage door and cam the pilot side latch over. That will keep em shut.

And, lest you think this is only likely to happen in places like the north slope of Alaska

+++2

And it DOES happen on the North Slope. Felt pretty shitty when the airport manager called me at the pilot house at O'Dark-thirty one morning during a big storm and said, "Your Sled door is banging open and shut."

That was expensive.

And if you have the old style doors that don't cam lock. Crawl in the baggage door and bungee cord the front doors to give some extra security in keeping them closed.

Gump

A better solution to crawling out the baggage compartment is to use the Cessna Window Lock from SiriusWings at http://www.siriuswings.com

It's only $75... you could probably even make it yourself.


Chris

I too had my door blow open. As airChris suggests the siriuswings locks are nice. Reach in through the window, latch the door, close and lock the window with this simple mod. Keyed the window locks and baggage door alike.

In addition to the usual places to show off that awesome 180(OSH...), consider the Greenville, ME seaplane fly-in in September. Very land plane friendly; with many backcountry type aircraft both at the airport, and down at the lake.

Looking awesome man! Can't believe its been over a year already since you started!
Minor deal from my experience.
I had a ton of wiring wrapped in that black stuff you have around your chain.
After a couple years it just crumbled everytime you touched it. Made a horrible mess everywhere with tiny black fibers.
Like I said. Severely minor.
Looking amazing! Think we're as anxious as you to see it finished.
Can you do mine next?

mtv wrote:IF you are parked outside and a wind comes up, and if you have a baggage door, cam the pax side door latch over to lock from pilot side, then close pilot door and slide in through the baggage door and cam the pilot side latch over.

This cirque du soleil maneuver requires a BMI less than 40, or risk a Winnie the Poo.