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Classic Aero Designs Customer Pictures

It's been a while since we've posted on this thread, but here's one for RV-8 fans. This one comes from Chris Ives in CA. Beautiful paint scheme, and our Sportsman seats in leather. Thanks Chris!

Chris Ives RV-8

More Details in our customer gallery ?

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These all look great. Luke I did have a question, which I think I know the answer to, but... Here goes.

If I was buy a portion of the interior package. Let's say the seats and carpeting with the thought that I might buy the side panels later when more money is available. Is that I reasonable idea or would the color matching not be good between the two purchases? I'm not sure if you try to match when you make the interiors or how that works in your production process.
 
Hi Ray,

Good question. It's actually very common for customers to order some items initially, and then add more to their interior later on. With the exception of some or our cloths, we've had all the same material colors available for the last 12 year or so, and we intend to keep them for the foreseeable future.

We stock all of our materials ourselves, and die lots are very consistent from one to the next. Of course there is always a small potential for slight variations, but for the most part it hasn't been an issue over the years.
 
We've added a new RV-7 to our customer gallery. This one is from Frank Owens in Canada. Aviator seats, headrest option, Sportsman II side panels, carpet, etc. One different twist is that frank wanted sheep skin for the pleated areas of the seats. His plane looks great. Thanks Frank!

Frank Owens RV-7

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I want this exact same interior for my RV 9 A , can you please quote ?
thanks
 
Luke,
Any plans for side panels, arm rest for the -14?

Hi Kevin,

Yes, we are working on side panels for the RV-14, and plan to have a complete interior system. We recently started shipping full carpets for the 14 (they will be on our website once we have made sure everything is working out with the first round of carpets).

I apologize for the time it is taking us to get these products done. Part of the delay is that we are increasing our in house manufacturing capabilities at the same time. This includes specialized equipment that we are designing and building ourselves.

On the plus side, this should increase the speed of future product development, and reduce the cost to develop those products.

Just let us know if you have any other questions about any of our current or future products.

Best regards,
 
I just paid my deposit for the interior on my RV-7. Looking forward to it! I'll send over pics when it's delivered/installed in June.
 
I just paid my deposit for the interior on my RV-7. Looking forward to it! I'll send over pics when it's delivered/installed in June.

Thanks Karl. We really appreciate your order, and we're looking forward to seeing the finished product in your plane.
 
Many of our customers install our interiors when they refurbish an existing RV, and that is the case with the latest addition to our customer galleries. Thank you to Adrian from the UK. Your RV-7 looks great!

Adrian Hatton RV-7

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Gee I like that centre consul and throttle set up, top job:) That's the one thing I dislike about the side by side RV's is the Cessna type controls. Some very flash interiors here:)
 
This is just an initial fitting, but it's the first time both sets of seats have been installed. I kept telling myself I was nuts to go through all the work of mocking up the interior when it will have to come apart again for more work... but sometimes it's a great shot of inspiration to see what the completed cockpit will look like. This doesn't include the stick boots... but it's still pretty cool to see.
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Nice Martin! Like your own P-51 (with a few modern conveniences). Looking forward to seeing it when it's done.
 
The latest addition to our Customer Galleries is from Patrick in Texas. The simple and clean grey interior really compliments the exterior colors. The blue accents in the interior also tie in with the exterior paint scheme. I like the nice lines of the paint scheme and the color choices. Nice job Patrick, and thanks for the pictures!

Click on the link to see more about Patrick's plane.

Patrick Richardson RV-7A

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I received a quote from you guys for seats for my 9 a in sheepskin. I am most likely going to be getting them but I have yet to see pictures of the full sheepskin seats in any planes. Do you have any photos that you could post here of them in a plane?
 
I received a quote from you guys for seats for my 9 a in sheepskin. I am most likely going to be getting them but I have yet to see pictures of the full sheepskin seats in any planes. Do you have any photos that you could post here of them in a plane?

Hi David,

Here are some pictures.

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We've only ever done complete sheepskin on about 2 RVs over the last 15 years (well over 2000 interiors at last count). They were both RV-8s. I also included a picture of an RV-7 that we did a partial sheepskin cover for. You may notice a difference in the sheepskins. The first two pictures are "curly" sheepskin. The last two pictures are more of a straight hair style that we like a little better.

I don't have any pictures of the full sheepskin covers in the plane, but I did include a picture of the partial sheepskin in the RV-7.
 
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Thanks Luke. I wonder why more people don't go for sheepskin. I would think they would be at the top of the comfort scale.
 
I love being unique! I am one of the RV-8s with the sheepskin and I love it. I have a little back issue and decided early on that the seats were going to be a "splurge". On a long x-country, there's nothing more comfortable that sitting on sheepskin. My hangar mate also has sheepskin in his -8 but it was from Oregon Aero. I believe that the seats featured in Luke's first set of photos are mine.
 
If you go with sheepskin, make sure the cut outs are little deeper for the stick because the sheepskin is bulkier and will slightly interfere with stick movement.
 
I love being unique! I am one of the RV-8s with the sheepskin and I love it. I have a little back issue and decided early on that the seats were going to be a "splurge". On a long x-country, there's nothing more comfortable that sitting on sheepskin. My hangar mate also has sheepskin in his -8 but it was from Oregon Aero. I believe that the seats featured in Luke's first set of photos are mine.

That's great to hear. I love the pics of the brown leather interior a few posts up, but not crazy about sitting on hot leather. Plus my wife hates it so it is definitely a no go. Sheepskin it is!!
 
Beautiful Interior!

Thanks Luke for your comments on our plane. We love the interior - beautiful craftsmanship and attention to detail. There were many compliments about the interior when the plane was on display at OSH this year.

Now if only we could talk you into getting back in the RV-10 interior business to do the 10 we are building!
 
Thanks Luke for your comments on our plane. We love the interior - beautiful craftsmanship and attention to detail. There were many compliments about the interior when the plane was on display at OSH this year.

Now if only we could talk you into getting back in the RV-10 interior business to do the 10 we are building!

No problem Krea. It was a pleasure working with you. Thanks for letting us be a part of it.
 
Here's the latest addition to our Customer Galleries.
That's a beautiful interior. May I ask what something like that would cost? The reason I ask is because I need an interior for my Lancair. I want something basic (read: inexpensive).
 
That's a beautiful interior. May I ask what something like that would cost? The reason I ask is because I need an interior for my Lancair. I want something basic (read: inexpensive).

Hi John,

I'm sorry for the slow reply. I'll explain the reason for that in a second. I should start by saying that we don't offer any products for the Lancair line of aircraft, so pricing information from us may not be that helpful for you.

In addition, giving the cost for the interior in a particular aircraft isn't that meaningful either if you don't have exactly the same aircraft, and the same taste as the customer who ordered that interior.

With this in mind, I decided to hold off on responding until I could provide something that would be more helpful for anyone wanting to get an idea on the costs of various configurations.

A while back, we had to rebuild our website, and in the process, we lost the functionality of the "Build an Interior" section. Today, I went back through it, and got it up and running again. You can see it here:

Classic Aero Product Categories

Once you select an aircraft model, then select "Build An Interior". You can use this tool to determine the cost of various interior configurations. You'll quickly see that the cost can vary a lot depending on the options you choose. For most models of RVs, we have options from very basic to fairly elaborate. Hope this helps.
 
How much space is there between an installed pair of Aviator seats in an Rv-7? Looking at an easily-removable armrest/console and don't want to make it too wide...
 
How much space is there between an installed pair of Aviator seats in an Rv-7? Looking at an easily-removable armrest/console and don't want to make it too wide...

Hey Bob,

It's basically the same as the stock seats. The Vans frames are 16" wide if I remember correctly. Ours are 15.25" wide, and by the time you add the upholstery around them (1/4" foam plus material on each side) the overall width is about 16". Hope that helps.
 
Here are some pictures of an interior we did a while back. It's from Tom Savrda in Florida. You may have already seen it on VAF. We added it to our customer gallery, and included some more details about the plane.

Tom won grand champion at Sun N Fun, and a "Lindy" at Oshkosh this year. Those with keen eyes will notice the special touches Tom added. Lot's of amazing craftsmanship, and a beautiful paint job. Nice job Tom, and thanks for the pictures.

Click on the link to see more about Tom's plane.

Tom Savrda RV-7

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