Interior Customization

IMHO, it's the little things that really set off an airplane's interior.
MU-2 Mike has done things like gold-plating his chrome parts, and I've seen
plenty of wood-grained panels in custom planes that look terrific.

Having recently had our interior completely redone in leather, we were very
satisfied with the results. Still, although beautifully crafted, our
interior lacked that little extra "something" that really sets it apart from
the herd.

Having had some experience hand-tooling leather -- and having an ample
supply of leather scraps left over from our recent leather seat
installation -- I started casting around for something to cover with dead
cow.

The yokes were (and are) an obvious "target". However, I only had a few
hours to devote to the project. So, my eyes fell on the throttle quadrant,
specifically the "T-shifter" throttle control in our '74 Pathfinder.

Your right hand spends a lot of time on this particular control, and the
tacky Piper plastic always bothered me. I really thought the tactile feel
of leather would be especially nice when beating the air with those 235
horses! Realizing that it would have to be a very snug fit, and sturdy as
iron, I started cutting out little paper patterns to try and get a perfect
fit.

Once accomplished, it was then a matter of cutting out the leather, and
hand-fitting it to the throttle. After a couple of adjustments, I began
laying out the thread holes.

This may be surprising, but as anyone who works with leather knows, it's
tough stuff. Pushing even a giant leather needle through two layers of the
stuff is really hard work, and it's easy to lose your symmetrical spacing.
Thus, the solution is to pre-punch the holes in advance.

Since this would be a pretty small cover, the stitching would be an
important part of the design. If you make it look TOO perfect, it'll end up
looking like a glued-on piece of vinyl! So, the holes had to be
deliberate, fairly prominent, and the stitch used would have to be somewhat
decorative.

There is always a problem with fitting round "ends" that results from having
too many (or few) stitch holes versus the number of holes in the "flat"
parts. Getting the exact number of holes punched in both sides is often
easier said than done, and requires careful planning.

Then you punch 'em -- one at a time. I used a jeweler's screwdriver, and
hammer, and a block of wood. Measure and pre-mark the holes with a pen, and
then just start punching away...

The stitching takes a little practice to get the "look" you want. Mary
could tell you what the stitch is properly called -- I just call it a
"knot-stitch". It's strong, kind of decorative, and easy to do. Getting
the tension even all the way around is the hardest part.

Well, almost. Actually the hardest part is doing the last 20 or so
stitches, laying on the floor looking at the bottom of the throttle. My
neck and shoulder muscles get knotted up pretty easily, so that took a
while -- but the end results turned out pretty good, IMHO. See the
finished product at http://www.alexisparkinn.com/new_interior.htm .

It's pictured in the four pix at the bottom of the gallery.

Personally, I think it looks great, but would look better with a darker
leather, but the light gray matches my seats and upholstery. The throttle
has a really nice "feel" to it now -- certainly better than the cheap
plastic knob -- and Atlas flies at LEAST five knots faster because of it!

Best of all NO ONE has one, to my knowledge. (I think that's a good thing?
:-)

When I have half a day, I'll start on the yokes. THAT'S going to be tough,
cuz I don't want them to look like the commercially available ones that
leave the top of the yokes uncovered. I want them to fit like a glove, and
cover the whole thing... I'm figuring at least four hours per yoke, maybe
more... (Which means it may never happen...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"