Interior Kit and Other Arrivals
I received quite a few parts recently – the big ones being the interior upholstery kit and the undercarriage kit. I ordered the upholstery kit mid-September 2019 and it arrived March 2020, so for anyone else planning to buy one, plan for 6 months lead time. It’s made to order, so I understand that it would take a while. 2-3 months of that was just transit time – first from Johannesburg to Los Angeles via sea freight, a week to clear customs, then another week for ground freight.
I picked a two-tone gray color scheme. I know it’s not exciting, but having seen many used planes over the years, I think neutral colors hold up best. The 1973 Cessna 172 club plane that I fly now came from the factory with an avocado green interior, with cream accents. I’m sure it was quite the hot color combo in 1973, but today… not so much!
I’m quite pleased with the quality of this interior kit. The kit includes everything really – seats (front and rear), side walls, carpeting, map pockets, center console armrest, even floor mats. The quality and workmanship is quite good. The upholstery kit arrived in the latest style of shipping crate, which has TAF’s new branding as “Sling Aircraft”.
Here’s a few pics of the interior kit pieces in a photo gallery – probably best viewed directly on my blog site.
Front seats 
Door map pockets 
Front floor mats, with reinforced boot panel 
Side panels 
Joystick boot
I also recently received a special-order part from Garmin. My pitch servo hits against the servo control stops at full deflection of the joystick, but it’s not supposed to. I don’t know why I have this problem; other S4 builders haven’t mentioned this. After consulting Garmin tech support, they recommended that I order a long crank arm, part # 115-01738-01. $12 for the part, but you can’t order it direct through Garmin. I wound up ordering through Aircraft Spruce, who special-ordered the part on my behalf. The $12 part incurred $27 in shipping fees. I hate when shipping fees cost more than the part itself! I’ll have to remove the servo to install this new crank arm, so I’ll be able to post a better comparison picture once I do that.
