The hazards of a bored mind while waiting for the tail feathers of my -8...

Waiting for the empennage (or tail feathers) of my RV-8 to arrive just plain sucks and the mind wanders quite a bit about what I will do with this or that. What kind of engine will power Huck's Girl? It's gotta be something that makes her climb like a homesick angel. Avionics...that's a whole different conversation by itself. Cockpit layout? Well I think back to my Human Factors class at Embry Riddle, I start to ponder ergonomics and think about which hand will manipulate the comms, the autopilot, etc. That will dictate the placement of avionics on the instrument panel. For example, my comm and nav radios will reside on the left side of the instrument panel. For the non-pilots, that's so I don't have to take my right hand off the stick to change freq[uencie]s. Where will the circuit breakers go? How about the electric flaps switch...does it go on the instrument panel, the throttle quadrant, or the control stick?

And then there's the mind exploding thoughts of what kind of paint scheme will she wear? I have absolutely no idea. Although, I don't think my -8 will be painted to mimic or pay homage to a WW2 fighter plane. As cool as those paint schemes are, there are many of them out there and it could be argued that it's overdone. I keep coming back to garnet, black and white. If you have to ask why, well... Go Gamecocks! I also am a fan of pin up girl nose art. I have an image in my mind for that caricature, but I'll save that for later. It's likely that the USAF emblem will find a spot on the tail. Oh, don't forget the obligatory "Pilot: Maj Christopher G. Sawyer" on the canopy rail.

But I get ahead of myself.