Began cutting the closed cell foam.  Measure twice….

All the avionics are finished and are wired. The avionics are set it up to take advantage of all the new Garmin capabilities. 330, SL30, and 430w all talk to each other and the Garmin 796 as well as the MVP-50. I also upgraded the STEC 30 with GPSS so it should be a pretty cool ride.

Also finally got the panels finished. Was a long process, but in the end they really do look nice. Started installing the sub-panel.

Humming right along… All side and skylights are in! I went with tinted plexi which is pretty cool. Looks even cooler with the powdercoated window surrounds. (the pic above only has the rear in.)

Officially rounded the bend and are now on the upswing…. Long two days, but the interior painting is FINISHED!

Picked up the paint for the interior… Going with Imron 3.5HG… the stuff is the bomb and is really tough. Its an industrial paint and can take the abuse.

plan is to make the Skywagon the same as the 170

I def not a headliner type… didn’t even think about installing it in my wagon. I love how much more headroom I get, and since I wont be working the airplane, I’m not that worried about buggering up the foam. I am going to be doing the same exact thing I did in my 170 with the same grey Imron and contrasting 1/4″ foam. It was way more quiet than the stock 170 w/ headliner and fiberglass insulation. Wasn’t that cold either…

Downstream if I change my mind, I can always install it since I am leaving most of the headliner attach points.

RE: the overhead light and light spill. I put UMA bezel lights in the panel on every instrument as well as a light under the glare shield, so I don’t really need the overhead for a panel flood. I am running red dimable LEDs up there, so the spill is kind of nice. It floods the cabin with a subtle red light for overall illumination if I want it.

Skylights are installed and the interior is mostly prepped…  Painting soon!

Rough cut the skylite holes yesterday. I used the STC from Cubcrafters. Fairly straight fwd install. Going with only two rather than the 5. Im using very dark tinted plexi to keep the bake factor down. Im diggin em

I think stripping an airplane is like most of life… If you have to ask, its not for you. For me, I don’t regret any of the work thus far, or any to come. Its very doable, but no joke and not to be taken lightly.

I still have to pull the wings and strip them. But that will be phase II after the summer season. Will be adding wing X, Sportsman, Monarch caps, and new bladders at that time.

If you strip, get ready to open a can of worms. You never know what you will find… and hold on to your wallet.

Got the Atlee Dodge jump seats installed today.  They look great and are awesome…  So glad I went with these over the stock bench seats. Sending them down to Ron at Aviation Creations tomorrow along with the fronts and 3rd row to get upholstered. Going to do the same leather as the C170.

I ended up tweaking the panel design a bit and I think it is a bit more aesthetically pleasing now. Test fit the mockup today and we are golden. Also finished prepping (soooo glad thats over.) So clean you can eat off it. Interior paint is just around the corner!

Really good progress today… damn near almost ready for painting the interior. Prep prep prep prep…… So sick of anal prepping. But we are almost over the hump.

Pulled it out in the sun today and got a bunch of sanding done inside. Cant wait to start getting it back together.

Also finally finished all the lion’s share of the media blasting. Must have been a weeks worth of blasting. UGH. Dropped of TONS of parts to the powder coater.  Here are two of the three boxes…

Got my yokes back from the re-finisher… nice to see some stuff shaping up.

Its called “Aerofloor DOT” purchased from AIP Source.

Super thin and light weight. Comes in different colors. I went with grey. Sells by the yard and is 54″ wide which is plenty (Skywagon cabin is about 38″ wide at the floor.) I ordered 4 yards which will be enough.

Here are images of the load surface, back, and its thickness.

Panel blank was finished yesterday and I popped it in…  Some trimming needed and a bit of shuffling, but it’s on the right track!

Finally got the test panel finished today.  Rather than cut it in metal, we used a light plastic for the first try to see how it all fits.  Heading down to the hanger for a test. Goal was to have a nice simple panel. The MVP-50 (upper right) was able to eliminate tons of stuff so it will be very clean and light.

Bit more elbow grease needed before the interior can get paint. Exterior fuze is stripped and some experimenting was done with Nuvite to get a bead on what direction to take the airplane.

Panel is almost finished and pretty much all the goodies have been ordered. Hopefully she will be flying soon!

Stripping the exterior started today. Hope to loose at least another 15 lbs with the paint gone. Its gonna look nice polished!