The International Cessna^® 170 Association

G'Day All,

Its annual time for HVS. So far all is well. I am going to paint the interior trim and dash as well as doing a complete rewire including new intercom and CD player and of course replacing the fuses with CB's.

The paint on the door sill (? lower structure of door opening)is badly scratched from seatbelt buckles, shoes, luggage etc. As mentioned I want to paint this area but I don't want to see new paint scratched up again. I am contemplating making a stainless wear strip to cover this area. Since this is obviously a structural area I am concerned about screwing into it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Noel

A fellow member recently painted all of his interior trim, including door post and all other metal surfaces that remain visible after the rest of the interior is installed. However, instead of painting the lower door sill (fuselage lower door jamb), he had it polished. That one lower portion of the sill gets a lot of abuse/contact from seat belts, footwear and etc. I dont care what what type of paint, or how well it is prepped and applied, it will get scratched up eventually. An alternative to polishing would be to "paint" on some Randolphs Wing Walk Compound #X-1567. This is the same stuff you see on the wing walk areas of low wing aircraft. It is durable, but because of it's rough texture is difficult to clean. You would need to use brush of some kind to clean it because dirt from shoe bottoms will happen.
I like the polished look and ease of maintaining it better than any other option.

Any type of added cover in this area might interfere with the door closing or sealing.

This is the door jamb Del is referring to in the post above. Even though it has been poloshed, it will eventually take on a nice dull finish but will protect the painted sill just below it from most wear.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Well I can see I'll need to plan for the "Rat Plane" trophy on my return from Duluth.

Bruce-
It won't even be a contest this year, it's all your's unless there's a sleeper out there keeping quiet.

You can blame George and his left hand landing light for the lack of competition.

hilltop170 wrote:Bruce-
It won't even be a contest this year, it's all your's unless there's a sleeper out there keeping quiet.

You can blame George and his left hand landing light for the lack of competition.

Oh there ARE sleepers out there Richard.

OK we'll blame it on George.

Del,
That polished sill is an excellent idea. Thank you for sharing.

Richard,
Thanks for taking the time to post that picture. It really really clarifies what Del is talking about. It looks really good, as does the rest of the plane so far.

Bruce,
Unfortunately I won't be able to attend Duluth this year, though if I did I would be a shoe in for the long distance award.

Thanks Again,

Noel