INSTRUMENT PANEL

HAIR PULLING FOR REAL ! ! !

There's been a lot of give and take about the benefits of using old fashioned "steam gauges", versus the newer EIS systems.  The EIS offers some benefits, but I guess I'm just old fashioned.........I love to look at gauges, and for years have wanted to build a hot rod with a massive panel full of gauges for everything.  Well, the hot rods I built never got their panels, so Vamoose became the victim.  1st had to decide which gauges I wanted, and had a lot of fun with the wish books.  Then figure how to lay them out.  Standard Mk III panel didn't even make a start - no room, so cut it out as shown in "Starting the Cabin."  Standard aviation layout wouldn't work either, so I tried to figure which were most critical, and so on.

1st, cut a trial panel out of poster cardboard, and a "radio stack" out of foam rubber.  Thought hard about moving the whole panel back to where I could reach it, but couldn't figure a simple way to fill the gap.  I also wanted to balance the radios, to ease bracing problems, cause I wanted to make the whole panel quick removable, and also to move the radios out to where I could reach them while belted in.  With the radios in this position, my feet hit the back of them.  No good.  In this pic, the glare, the soggy shirt and sweatband are a result of trying to work outside in Palm Springs on a 115 F. summer day.  Absolute Misery ! ! !

I don't even try it any more.  Vamoose sits and cooks, and Big Lar gets the hell out of Dodge at every opportunity........otherwise hide in the house with the A/C on full blast.  5 months of misery.  This setup looked like a winner in cardboard, so cut a 2nd one out of FRP wallboard, and went ahead and mounted the gauges.  This was REAL fun, cause it all of a sudden started looking purposeful. I originally mounted the tach between the ASI and altimeter, but had to switch tach and ASI because of foot room, and 1 was just a hair shorter.  Now, with full left rudder, my right toes just brush the backs of the radio stack and instruments.  I installed the radios on their balance points, and left a gap between radio and transponder.  Also built a gap into the housing above the radio.

Hopefully, these steps will help circulate air around those precious radios, and help hold temps down in the summertime.  Insulation on top will help.  With the radios ( read radios as "radio stack") slid out, tilted, and angled, they are a perfect easy reach while belted in.  Vamoose will see a lot of tower controlled airspace, since I'm right next to the L.A. complex, and I don't want to be fumbling or straining to reach.  They are also in direct line of sight for the pilot.  Passenger doesn't need to see them.    Since the panel is to be sort-of-quick release, wiring and plumbing took some thought.  Most fittings are different - the 2 that are similar are reversed, so they can't be cross plugged by mistake.

The fiberglass panel was then re-cut out of .063 aluminum, and faced with wood-grain formica at a local shop.  I did my share of varnishing on boats, and wanted no part of it here.  All the holes were cut with standard hole saws, and drum sanded to final size.   Wiring the thing was tough.  It not only had to work, it had to be tight, solid, work-on-able, ( is that a word ?? ) vibration proof ( ?? ), but had to look good, and stay that way.  Bottom of the panel was a little too wobbly, and got a 1/2" aluminum angle brace.  Trial and error led me to the 12 Cessna panel shock mounts to support the whole thing.

Had to soak up vibration, but not sag so much as to tear the mounts apart.  Lining those things up drove me 1/2 of the rest of the way crazy.  All switches have indicator lights to show when on.  Starter also has a light to show when there's actually power to the starter motor, to  warn of a stuck relay.  Originally tried to put hinges on the lower corners, to make it a tip-out for easy maintenance, but the arc when opening it caused the back of the radios to hit the inside of the nose cone.  I've since found that it's very simple to just put a pad on the rudder cables, and lay the panel face down on them.  I know this is a lot of panel for a little plane, whose main mission is to fly low and slow out in the boonies, but Vamoose will also be used for a fair amount of "formal" flying, and besides..................IT SURE LOOKS SEXY ! ! !   I love it ! ! ! .

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