After three days on display at Sun ‘N Fun, we’ve had a chance to sample the opinions voiced by visitors to the Crossover Classic. Most of the comments seem to dwell on the issue of the paint job–the current paint job, that is. People are tactful and polite, so the questions are always carefully posed. Maybe they don’t want to offend.

Anyway, a common question will come as an oblique reference. For example, people will say “Is this the paint scheme you’ll be using?” Or “Do you like the original paint scheme?” There is universal relief when they’re told that the airplane’s next stop is Boss Aircraft Refinishers of Salisbury, North Carolina, where a new paint job awaits. 

The current paint issues–vast areas of cracking, flaking, and major-league fading–have to do with the lacquer-based paints used by Cessna in the early 1970s. In short, lacquer paint jobs don’t age well. But the new Sherwin-Williams paint that we’ll be using at Boss Aircraft Refinishers will be  much more durable of course.

Some have remarked on the difference between the current N-number on the airplane and the N-number being shown on the paint scheme rendition. Why the discrepancy? Because we’ll be renaming the airplane to N182CX when it is painted. The “CX” is our way of conveying the “Crossover” concept. And yes, I  tried to obtain N-numbers from the FAA that ended in “CC” or “XC,” but no cigar. Those were all taken. So N182CX it will be.

There’s a lot of gawking at the panel and interior, completed by Advantage Avionics and Air Mod, respectively. But the Saircorp/Flight Boss Ltd. center console came in for its share of interest. Several visitors wrote down the company name, and a few took the time to go to the company’s website on their smartphones. Looks like a few sales might well be in the offing.

Sometimes, people checking out a sweepstakes airplane do quirky things. I can’t tell you how many times people have squeezed the leather seats, or rubbed their hands over the new carpeting. The leather was provided by the Garrett Leather Company of  Buffalo, New York (www.garrettleather.com) and the carpeting came thanks to Aircraft Interior Products of Wichita, Kansas (www.aipsource.com)

And now for a little reportage. As I write this, I’m in the back of the AOPA tent at Sun ‘N Fun, and the convective weather preditions for today are coming true. The skies have lowered, darkened ominously, and surface winds have been gusting well past 35 knots. On my “Radarscope” iPhone app, I can see that steeply-contoured precipitation returns are overhead. The winds are so strong that the sides of the tent are blowing back and forth, so much so that a stack of bottled water has fallen over, landing right behind me.