Wow, it's turning out terrific. Well done.

mmartin1872 wrote: We wanted a paint scheme that looked almost stock, ie straight lines and "hockey sticks", but just a little different. .....

Looks good--not stock, but stock-ish. I like straight lines on airplanes, esp vintage one. I've seen earlier Cessnas (including straight-tails) with a swoopy paint scheme like the Y2K 172s, and they looked horrible.

hotrod180 wrote:

mmartin1872 wrote: We wanted a paint scheme that looked almost stock, ie straight lines and "hockey sticks", but just a little different. .....

Looks good--not stock, but stock-ish. I like straight lines on airplanes, esp vintage one. I've seen earlier Cessnas (including straight-tails) with a swoopy paint scheme like the Y2K 172s, and they looked horrible.

That was my thoughts also. . We wanted a paint scheme that was close to stock so that it suited the year of aircraft. . what paint schemes stuck around for 40 plus years?. Straight lines. . There is a reason for it. . Curves look good on the bubbly airplanes but these old machines look right with straight lines.

Nice, turned out great [emoji106]

Starting to fit the insulation and flooring

Oh man that looks good!!!

Very nice. Where did you buy the Aerodot?

daedaluscan wrote:Very nice. Where did you buy the Aerodot?

Bought it off the guy who does all our interiors. . He had cut it for a 185 we were fixing up and didn't use it. .

Are you doing Selkirk on the side walls? 1/4" or 1/2"? Putting panels back on or leaving it utility?

1/2" foam no interior for the time being. . Might put interior panels in next year depending on hoe the foam holds up.

Can't work on the plane today because the hangar is in the airshow box.

Getting the plane back together. . Just need to connect the ammeter up. . Looking at the wiring diagram I'm a little confused. . For my sn of airplane it shows the ammeter going from the starter solenoid to the instrument light side of the circuit breaker. . But that would give the instrument lights power all the time that the master is on even if the circuit breaker is popped. . I'm thinking this is an error in the diagram. . And it should be going to the bus. . I'm going to puzzle over this tonight.

Looking in my series 100 shop manual (page 17-101), I see what you're talking about. Look closely though-- it says "to instrument lights circuit breaker" but it doesn't show the connection. It's not clear but they must mean to the line side of that breaker, not the load side-- apparently that was just a convenient place to connect to the buss.

The 1957 & 58's apparently had a generator warning light instead of an ammeter, so no ammeter shown, but check the 1959 wiring diagram-- it shows the circuit for the "optional ammeter" coming from the same place as on the 1956 diagram (hot side of the starter solenoid), going through the ammeter, and connecting directly to the buss.

I scanned the 1959 diagram, but I couldn't get it to upload to my photo album on this site so I could post it here. (darn computers!)

If you look a couple pages further you can see the instrument light circuit. . And wire 36 is going from the ammeter to the light side of the breaker

mmartin1872 wrote:If you look a couple pages further you can see the instrument light circuit. . And wire 36 is going from the ammeter to the light side of the breaker

I'm wondering if it was set up this way si that only 15 amps could go into the bus without the engine running. . And they figured if the ammeter fried the instrument lights would work like a fuse. . I'm just not sure. .

mmartin1872 wrote:If you look a couple pages further you can see the instrument light circuit. . And wire 36 is going from the ammeter to the light side of the breaker

Yup, you're right. Shows the 1953-56 180 wired the same. 58 & 59 apparently ammeter was optional. 59 & later both models show as wired direct to the buss. Don't know how my 53 model is set up but if I was rewiring I think I'd go that route.

Restarted on the back burner project this past couple of weekends. . Poor man's 180.
Float fittings are getting welded on. Making the cargo area bigger.
Cessna flap tracks. And possibly some wing extensions.




Long journey ahead.

More info on the "poor man's 180" please.

Was originally a stinson that I got approved in the homebuilt category. Wings need rebuilding fuselage needs recovering and modification. . I have the o470 mount. . And I can basically do what I want to it, in order to make some improvements on the original stinson design. Float plane doors, etc.

Sounds awesome!
I've seen some 470-powered Super Stinsons, they seem to really get with it.
Being able to make some other mods without screwing around with STC's will be a welcome bonus.
Is this an experimental or is it in the "owner-maintenance" category you guys have up there?