Flightline Interior Installation... Help!

I?m trying to install a Flightline interior in my RV9-A and having nothing but problems. The seats and carpeting went in fine and I?m really happy with Flightline (Abby?s) work / quality but I?m really having problems trying to install the cloth interior pieces. Her instructions say to spray the back side of the cloth pieces (not the aluminum skin where the piece will eventually go) with 3M 77 adhesive and then press the piece into place. Well, most of the pieces must be slid into place, under pitot lines, cables, wires, etc. and when the adhesive coated cloth comes into contact with the airplane skin, that?s it, it acts like contact cement, not able to slid the cloth at all. A friend suggested I try 3M 74 Orange adhesive that he used and was able to slide the cloth pieces a little, but that pretty much acts the same for me, no sliding. There is no way I can get the interior pieces installed without being able to slide the material around a bit before the adhesive starts setting up.

I?m pretty bummed out about this and can?t understand why I?m having so much trouble, how have others been able to install this type of interior? I know a lot of builders have installed Flighline interiors. Is there some other adhesive I should use? I?m at a loss; any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

First, the obvious- try to remove as many of the wires, cables etc. from the way. Then, make a dry trial fit. Often, you can get away with putting adhesive on half or so of the part, stick it in place, then manuver the rest into place and stick it down, either with spray adhesive or contact cement like Plio-bond.

On a related note, I found that 3M90 (high strength) works better over the long run than 3M77. 90 is usually on the shelf next to the 77 at most hardware stores.

Have you called Abby to ask her advice? I'd recommend that; she's installed a lot of interiors (including mine.)

Can you place a piece of waxed paper behind your trim , slide it in position then pull the paper out.
Bruce

Don't let it dry.

I sprayed the glue and then move the piece into place as quick as I could.
Sometime I would have to lift up the corner of the piece and give it another shot of glue. The fitting was the hardest up forward of course.

I did have some pieces start to come loose and ended up using "shoe goo" to fix those spots.

I love the interior, because anything that has Velcro hooks on it can be place anywhere and it sticks.

Kent

Didn't use Glue

I just finished up installing my RV-8 interior panels from Flightline. I made panel templates first and sent them to Abby. Having wrestled with just the cardboard templates I opted to install them with Velcro strips. No glue was needed.

Even that was a challenge. It required a lot of bending, twisting, pushing and pulling, along with a sprinkle of a few colorful words, to get them placed.

They look great, Flightline does nice work.

-Mike Draper
RV-8
N468RV
finish

3M

I can echo some of what has been said
I used 3M super77 for some insulation panels and all it took was a little Texas heat for them to start separating.
If you are going to use glue switch to 3M 08090 thats what the auto pros use.
DA
RV-6A slowQB