Just wondering the interior plastics/fiberglass options (are there more?). Got a reply from Selkirk about their fiberglass kit and it appears to be about 8 pounds heavier than the original plastics, which came as a surprise to me, being fiberglass I somehow assumed it to be lighter and not the other way around. I wrote to planeplastics.com but they've not replied yet about the kit weight.

What are your opinions and experiences about this options?. I am a private user with no heavy traffic/loading in mind but for the floatplane every pound will be considered. Leaving no interior at all is out of question as I still want to have a comfy airplane, not to think about noise, vibration and risk of puncturing the skin.

The fiberglass Selkirk panels are a pain in the ass to trim and install. No I didn’t install the interior in my 180 myself. But I did install one of their flap tunnel covers and and their extended baggage in my 170, the initial fit sucked and required a lot of trimming, fitting, removing, repeating... until it kind of sort of worked ok. I also had some of the front quarter panels for my 170, gave up with them after a while trying to make them look decent and ended up selling them to someone else. Also, you won’t be able to use your stock bench seat unless you cut the thing in half, remove an inch of width, and weld it back together. I figured that out after I poked a hole in the side panel of my 180 trying to get a bench seat to fit.... If you can’t tell, I don’t recommend their fiberglass stuff.

My experience was not the same as Robs. My 54 170b was completely done in their fiberglass and the fit was very good. Different plane different experience.
Ron

Selkirk has somewhat of a reputation for their panels requiring a good bit of fitting to work. I installed an extended baggage of theirs in my 170 (1952 model) and it took quite a lot of fitting. I also installed a glare shield from them, for the same airplane. Again, it took some cutting and fitting. If you don't have the patience to do this, don't use Selkirk panels. They will likely take some work. But, when finished, they look good and are very durable. We installed Selkirk interiors in several 185s, and, while the mechanics said they took some fitting, none of them thought that was outrageous amount of extra effort.

Frankly, I don't think most airplane owners realize how much cutting and fitting a LOT of airplane stuff requires. This may be part of why we are so frequently "surprised" by how much various mods cost.

I've heard that plane plastics stuff fits better, but it's pretty similar to the stuff that came stock in Cessnas.....ie: Junk, that cracks fairly early on.

That said, once you get the Selkirk stuff fitted, it is tough. It's not going to crack in five years, or the first time someone hits it with a sharp corner. It's fiberglass, not plastic.

For baggage compartments, I'd look into Airglas who has a carbon fiber extended baggage, but for interior side panels, I'd probably do Selkirk.
MTV

I put in a Selkirk glareshield, flap tunnel cover and rear side panels from the aft door post to the baggage compartment. Some trimming/fitting is required, but I’d rather have too much material instead of too little. In my experience, each piece took about three iterations of check fit and trim. I’d buy Selkirk again.

Does anyone have good photos of the Selkirk interior parts? Namely the door panels?
I’m in the same boat. Looking at Selkirk but there’s not many good photos online.
Do the 170 door panels have built in arm rests?

Selkirk do appear to be tough and durable, at the expense of being heavier. So I assume they only do fiberglass interiors. They do reply quickly and have a nice array of color options. Then you have PlanePlastics, and that's it?.
Just bought my plane and plastics are almost all broken, but they are the original ones so I guess they deserve their retirement after 36 years of service.

I like Selkirk service and options but could spare those extra pounds for my mission.

Once you get the Selkirk fitted, you won't look back. It's like commercial-grade aircraft interior. Whereas Cessna plastics, even ones 10 years old sometimes you only have to look at them and they break.

I got an extended baggage kit and foam panels from Selkirk.

The foam panels were a non-starter...they were crudely cut out with ragged edges, and the paper backing would not release (very old stock). I didn't even use them for a pattern since many of them were a poor fit (shrunken and distorted with about 1/2"-3/4" gaps on the sides, and it was missing a medium sized piece to boot). I salvaged a couple of the larger pieces for a helmet pad job.

For the extended baggage kit. the rear panel was the only one that even came close to appearing to be made for my year. After several calls with a lot of good photos and simple questions to help me figure out just what was going on, I was told in so many other words to not bother calling back again. I threw out the battery box and made my own, ditto in the composite floor, and made all the aluminum stringers out of certified material. But at least the flat rear panel that was rough cut did fit ok after a half hour of cutting new stringer slots (the original slots are still there next to the new ones).

It was an expensive gamble. If I had paid someone to "fit" the pieces, and purchased new foam material, I would have had double or triple into the cost. That's why the policy for "STC? No 337!" is truly counterproductive since it appears my experience is not unique, and every install like mine turns out to be a one-off that is significantly different from the kit parts provided.

I'm not a guy who trying to bad mouth things here. Just being honest, because another person saw mine, asked where I got it, thought it looked pretty good, I didn't fill in the details out of deference, and he was seriously "puzzled" at me after he tried installing his as well on a slightly older year. My advice is to expect a lot of any mixture of mods, re-fab, or a perfect install experience. Your results may vary.

It looks like the Airglas extended baggage is only for Cessna models with the battery moved to the firewall. Any options other than Selkirk for a 182 with the factory battery location?

I installed Selkirk panels about 20 years ago and highly recommend them. They are very durable. I had originally tried fitting them myself but got frusrated and sent them back. I later saw Dave?, the owner, at Johnson Creek and he convinced me to let him install everything forward of the rear baggage at his shop in Coer d' alene. He even fabricated panels for my "patroller" doors. The install took about half a day.

Canalguna wrote:Just wondering the interior plastics/fiberglass options (are there more?). Got a reply from Selkirk about their fiberglass kit and it appears to be about 8 pounds heavier than the original plastics, which came as a surprise to me, being fiberglass I somehow assumed it to be lighter and not the other way around. I wrote to planeplastics.com but they've not replied yet about the kit weight.

What are your opinions and experiences about this options?. I am a private user with no heavy traffic/loading in mind but for the floatplane every pound will be considered. Leaving no interior at all is out of question as I still want to have a comfy airplane, not to think about noise, vibration and risk of puncturing the skin.

We replaced the original stock Cessna interior panels with all-new Selkirk panels when we bought our ‘77 185. They have been very durable, and look as good now as they did 400 hours ago. I can’t speak to issues installing them - ours were done in Spokane by Highlands Upholstery, who did an amazing job for us, including custom seats. This interior has hauled its share of deer, elk, black bear, trout and salmon, camping, hunting and fishing gear, generators, etc. with no issues, cracking or otherwise. We are really pleased with it.

We went from this:



To this:

Say what ou will about Selkirk panel kits (and I haven’t read anything here yet that I disagree with) but, once fitted, they are TOUGH. Much more durable than stock panels or the competition in replacement panels.

I installed a Selkirk glareshield and extended baggage in my 170B and there was a lot of cutting and fitting, but it certainly wasn’t THAT difficult. Take your time and cut a little at a time. Is it a pain? Probably. Is it difficult? Not really.

The outfit I worked for put Selkirk side panels in all our 185s, and trust me, those panels got the hell beat out of them. And they looked great for years.

If you’re not up for some trimming and fitting, hire someone to install them. But the stuff is tough and looks good when installed.

MTV

I'm sold for a durable and tough option. Weightwise I was wondering about choices, as Selkirks are heavier...

Canalguna wrote:I'm sold for a durable and tough option. Weightwise I was wondering about choices, as Selkirks are heavier...

If you’re willing to fabricate your own.....which makes Selkirk stuff seem perfectly fitted.....Get yourself some Kydex and a bunch of Selkirk foam insulation and roll your own.

I helped a fellow do this with a 170, and it came out really nice. And light. But you’re going to be doing a lot of work. If you’re fairly handy, Kydex is very light and easy to mold/shape.

MTV

mtv wrote:

Canalguna wrote:I'm sold for a durable and tough option. Weightwise I was wondering about choices, as Selkirks are heavier...

If you’re willing to fabricate your own.....which makes Selkirk stuff seem perfectly fitted.....Get yourself some Kydex and a bunch of Selkirk foam insulation and roll your own.

I helped a fellow do this with a 170, and it came out really nice. And light. But you’re going to be doing a lot of work. If you’re fairly handy, Kydex is very light and easy to mold/shape.

MTV

Would love to hear more about that process.
I was thinking about making molds and vacuum bagging something in fiberglass or CF to build in an arm rest.

I made Kydex panels to replace the interior panels in my 58 180A. There are different thicknesses to choose from, so you probably want to get samples to decide from. It's been 4 years, but I think I got all the panels from one 4 by 8 sheet. I made rough cardboard templates from the old interior pieces and had the retailer cut the Kydex - but I would just do it myself next time, because you'll be doing lots of cut & fit anyway. The material cuts easily with tinsnips. It forms easily when heated (I only formed a little on the front doors). I used rubber U channel for the edges and friction-fit the pieces in the plane after installing the Selkirk black foam insulation. For the doors, I used automotive push-pin buttons to hold the panels on. The insulation pieces are close to fitting, but require cutting & fitting also. I left the extended baggage with just the black insulation.

Overall, a lot of time for the job, but I fit it the way I wanted it. I used Selkirk pieces only for the flap tunnel cover, the fuel selector cover, trim wheel cover, and control cable cover. I re-used all interior metal trim pieces after re-painting.

7GC wrote:I made Kydex panels to replace the interior panels in my 58 180A. There are different thicknesses to choose from, so you probably want to get samples to decide from. It's been 4 years, but I think I got all the panels from one 4 by 8 sheet. I made rough cardboard templates from the old interior pieces and had the retailer cut the Kydex - but I would just do it myself next time, because you'll be doing lots of cut & fit anyway. The material cuts easily with tinsnips. It forms easily when heated (I only formed a little on the front doors). I used rubber U channel for the edges and friction-fit the pieces in the plane after installing the Selkirk black foam insulation. For the doors, I used automotive push-pin buttons to hold the panels on. The insulation pieces are close to fitting, but require cutting & fitting also. I left the extended baggage with just the black insulation.

Overall, a lot of time for the job, but I fit it the way I wanted it. I used Selkirk pieces only for the flap tunnel cover, the fuel selector cover, trim wheel cover, and control cable cover. I re-used all interior metal trim pieces after re-painting.

Do you have any pictures of how it turned out? I’ve been wanting to make some interior panels out of kydex to use aft of the door posts in my 180A (so I can use a bench seat again, won’t fit with Selkirk panels). Also where’d you source the kydex? Doesn’t seem like the easiest stuff to find locally.

Rob: Interstate Plastics carries a good selection of Kydex. Say they ship.

Good website and located around the country. Good staff in Sacramento, seem to be fair pricing.

Two that may be near you?

Sacramento, CA
330 Commerce Circle
Sacramento,CA 95815
(916) 422-3110
(916) 422-1608 Fax

Austin, TX
3714 Bluestein Dr. Suite 790
Austin, TX 78721-3652
(512) 386-7422
(512) 386-7433 Fax
1-800-957-5278

Bill

Thanks Bill, I checked with Interstate plastics in Sacramento over a year ago, maybe longer, and they didn’t have any kydex then. Good to see they have it right after I leave the area! I’ll have to check their location up in Austin.