[walter]

Just curious. What do You look at when reviewing someone's plane to see
how meticulous they were during the build/finish process. Just from an outward
appearance sake. For example do you look at the fiberglass work, do you
look at the rivets, do you look at the elevator trim tab, do you look at the
cowl mating, etc. Personnaly I look at the plexi wing tip light covers and their
mating to the wing tip. Just how meticulous are we? What drives us?
I don't consider paint, unless the builder painted it themselves. What do
you consider important from an esthetics point of view? So much of what
we do is personnal, yet it show's the builders talents. You might also include
panel design, interior layout etc.

For example, my last trip to OSH I was looking at someone's plane and noticed
that he had manufactured covers for the RV7 tipup access holes on the
backside of the rollbar. Very nice.

Pictures would be nice.

Just curious on a boring night before a good flight this weekend.

 

[G-force]

I am involved in the marine industry so I see very similar parallels to what you are refering to in boats. Fit, finish, attention to detail, going the extra mile, making wiring looms and plumbings runs clean and straight, evenly spaced adels or zip ties... after years of working and looking at $50-750k boats, you quickaly get an eye for something done right, and something done "it works, but aint pretty." The same "eye" can be cast on custom cars. But to answer your question, I look for items that show where care and extra time were taken to take that task from "acceptable and works" to "hey that pretty nice" or hopefully "thats perfect". I guess I would say the rigging and wiring and plumbing is what I look at. There is a wide gap between "it works" and "perfect." I think the question that plagues me more often is how people can stop at "it works", especialy when they have big money and big time into projects. Really, in most cases, the difference of say spacing out adel clamps evenly, won't take much more time. Or when bundling up a run of wires...it doesnt take much more time to keep them all parallel and straight...I like to be able to look at a single wire (when its not hidden inside a loom) and follow it all the way down the line. Finishing of edges is another place you can easly tell who took the extra time, as you mentioned about the wing tip covers. I've seen perfect fits...and some with 1/4 gaps filled with silicone.

 

[G-force]

For example, here is a picture of what most boats (and many homebuilt planes I have seen) look like. Second pic is how any boat that is rigged in my shop looks when it leaves.

 

[RV8N]

One of the first indications I look at is the exterior skin. Obviously I look for smiles in the skin and raised rivets. The next thing I look at is how well they deburred the edges of the sheet metal. Lots of people won't spend much time on this and the edges are still real square and rough. Also the corners are still square.

I prefer to see well deburred and radiused edges and corners. Its just an attention to detail thing.

After looking at the above things on the exterior, I move inside and look at shop heads, wiring (if installed), and other trim items.

Karl

 

[Rick6a]

Is this a test?

I tend to look at the fit and finish of the empennage fairing... a small number of fasteners holding it in place generally equates to an increasingly better fit.....the area around the rudder horn and how well the builder blended it into the fiberglass rudder bottom.....how well the rear canopy skirt conforms to the fuselage when the (slider) canopy is closed.....how the builder elected to secure the cowl hinge pins especially near the front.....oil access door hardware treatment......overall spinner to cowl gap.....antenna placement.......exterior skin butt gap and lap joint consistency.....

 

[N162RV]

Wiring

This is a pet peeve of mine. I can't stand to look in a cockpit and see wires, fuel lines and brake lines running all over without rime or reason. Like G-Force, I like to see things at right angles, fastened correctly and spaced evenly. When working on any part of the plane I alway ask myself, What would someone think when they see my work? My plane would never win any contest but I am never ashamed to pull my cowl in front of anyone.

 

[buz]

I just like to fly and then nobody knows what my fit/finish is.

 

[osxuser]

I start at the tail, since that is the first thing built. Then go to the finish kit items. Like to see good quality work at the beginning and end of the project.