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Interior Trim Panel Tutorial

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(Original thread started on 10-04-10 by Ron Rollo)

This week I started on the lower kick panels which is part of the interior panel set. At first glance it appears to be an easy panel to build but I soon found out that there was a little more to it. Two quick notes:

 

I will be posting all of my interior panels on this thread. Second, The panels that I will be making will look really close to the real thing but I will be using different building techniques compared to the real L45.

 

Lower Kick Panels:

First, I used cardboard to make a template of the panel. This way I could trim a little at a time until I got that perfect fit. On this panel, I plan to add a courtesy floor light, a pocket that will simulate the cover that hides the huge wire harness that comes from the CB panel and a 3 inch air vent, that will not be operative:

Ron 219

 

I found that I would need to add some small aluminum brackets to the bottom of the lower panels part of the MIP to help hold the kick panel correctly. They are held in place with rivets. Once the panel is in place, you will not be able to see these even if you are caught looking up somewhere you really shouldn't be:

Ron 220

 

Here is one of the sides cut out and fitted into place. Notice that you can not see the aluminum brackets? Only the rivet is visible:

Ron 221

 

And here is an overview photo of both kick panels temporarily in place:

Ron 222

 

I created three parts to this panel. The piece to the left is the part that will join this kick panel to the next. It also helps support the carpet at the floor. The half moon looking part is going to be the base of the simulated wire pocket:

Ron 223

 

This is how all three of these pieces will fit together:

Ron 224

 

I finished the Kick Panels today and they turned out better than I could have hoped. What I especially like about them is the way that they "snap" into place and don't move without putting any screws in them.

 

Here are a few photos of the panels as I am completing them. I used rivets to hold the two parts together. I had to glue the edge of the material down first in order to hide the heads of the rivets. I also countersunk the holes so that they could not be seen:

Ron 225

 

The simulated wire pockets were a little tricky. I had to use a spacer to make the void. Once they were mounted to the kick panels, I packed them with scrap cloth:

Ron 226

 

The back side of the panel already has the hole in place for the ankle air vent that I hope to have finished next week with the help of Eric and his CNC: (Mine is grounded)

Ron 227

 

The front side of the completed panel. By the way, I mentioned in my first post in this thread that I was going to put lights in the bottom aft corners. Shane straightened me out and it turns out what I thought were lights were actually heal wear marks:

Ron 228

 

This photo shows all the tabs, carpet and shims that will keep the panel right where it needs to be:

Ron 229

 

And here is the kick panel in it's new home:

Ron 230

 

I added four six inch pieces of carpet to the forward bulkhead (F3) to hide some of the green paint. The outboard pieces also help hold the kick panels:

Ron 231

 

An overview of the kick panels in place. I will update this thread with the ankle air vents hopefully next week!

Ron 232

 

This is an update on the lower kick panels and the completed ankle air outlets. (Eric cut the main parts with his CNC since mine is currently down.)

 

Here is a picture of all the parts that will go into these vents. You can find a few of these parts in the plumbing department at your local hardware store for a few bucks, but I had to modify them. Other parts were made with the CNC and the black round part is whats left of a 22 gauge wire spool!

Ron 233

 

I have it all together in this photo test fitting it:

Ron 234

 

They are both painted by this point. I wanted to show you a profile view of how all the parts work together. It is a simple design: (It is not a WEMAC)

Ron 235

 

Mounting was simple because I had the holes pre cut in the kick panels:

Ron 236

 

Here are a few pictures of the finished product!

Ron 237

 

Ron 238

 

Later on down the road, I will hook up an air supply to them along with the many other air vents I plan to have. Just another small and minor detail in the simulator!

 

(Posted by Alan Norris on 10-15-11)

Couple of questions:

1. What material did you use to cover the panel?

2. I see that the panel itself is made from Masonite -- what thickness did you use?

3. The panel appears to be flat in that it doesn't follow the contour of the frames – correct?

4. Is there a drawing of this panel? If not how does one figure out what size and shape to make it?

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 10-15-11)

Hey Alan, I went to the fabric shop (Wal Mart) and picked out something that looked like it was close to what we see in photos.

 

Yes it is flat just like it is in the real airplane. Now some of the other side panels are not as easy as this one was. They have curves going all sorts of ways.

 

I think I have a DXF of this panel that I will send you later today in email. Keep in mind that it will probably only be good to give you an idea of what the shape should look like. I would be surprised if it fits perfectly in your project, or anyone's because of slight variations.

 

Part Two:

Over the past few days, I have been working on another interior panel that is actually related to the Glare shield cover. I decided to knock this one out for two reasons, it was relatively easy and it is out of the way from other work I am doing and it WILL NOT be coming back out of the sim.

 

Here is our best photo of the area that I am talking about:

Ron 239

 

And here is a photo of the area in the sim that is getting the new panel:

Ron 240

 

First I had to make a poster board JIG to capture the exact shape of the panel I wanted to make. I cheated a little (okay, a lot) by using the lower windscreen jigs used to make the shell kits:

Ron 241

 

Here it is in the sim checking the fit after a few minor adjustments:

Ron 242

 

Then it was just a matter of transferring the shape to 1/16th inch thick Masonite and painting it:

Ron 243

 

I painted the bottom side green because it will be facing the avionic bay. You'll see that in a second:

Ron 244

 

Here it is in place. By the way, I had to remove the bolts that squeeze the ends of the lower windscreens for a second. Then I drilled a 1/4 inch hole from the under side. Actually, I started two small pilot holes, took the panel out and finished the holes with a piece of scrap under it so that I didn't blow that backside out if you know what I mean. I also did this prior to painting:

Ron 245

 

I am looking forward now to brain storming the center trim cover:

Ron 246

 

Last but not least, here is a photo of the overhead of the avionic bay. Now it is pretty much sealed off from the flight deck:

Ron 247

 

For you guys with a Project45 shell, I plan to send the paper jig to Eric so that he can copy it as a template and from there he can forward it to the next guy. Just keep in mind it may not be a perfect fit for your project but it will certainly help get you started.

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 04-15-12)

Part Three:

This is not exactly an interior panel but it is going in the panel family anyway! This is the outside rear wall covering. Shane and I were talking about this and at first, I was out looking for a wallpaper or some sort of contact paper. I soon realized that there was not much of a selection in wood grain prints, especially as dark and rich as we need it to be. Shane suggested that we use door skins, the same ones that we use to make the windscreen templates.

 

This is what I started with:

Ron 248

 

The first step was to make the panels using my MDF jigs. If you have a shell, you can use the outline of the rear wall to mark your design. I went a step further by making an end cap type of piece that shows where the airframe would be if I had a cabin area. It is 2.75 inches wide just like the other major airframe pieces in the shell.

 

Here is a photo of the right side ready for stain. After 24 hours of dry time, I coated the panels with Gloss Polyurethane to give them a "simulated shinny look":

Ron 249

 

I went with Red Mahogany stain. If I had to do it over again, I would use something a little lighter, but still as rich:

Ron 250

 

Here is a photo of the left and right end caps after they have been sanded and primed. Now I will tell you that I do not have jigs to make these pieces. I used F9, (the rear wall) and F8 to give me 80% of the shape I was looking for. From there, I had to use a ruler and a piece of Poly strip to make the other cut lines:

Ron 251

 

I used a spray adhesive to glue the panel to the rear wall:

Ron 252

 

To my surprise, the spray adhesive works very well. I was also able to pull it back and readjust it a tad without too much fuss. Here I have the right panel up in place:

Ron 253

 

I placed the left panel and the two end caps in place with no issues. This is what it looks like complete:

Ron 254

 

I am still looking for something to cover the edge, or I may just paint it black. The flight deck opening (door hole) will have aluminum channels on each side. I just purchased my light gray interior material to cover the inside part of the rear wall. So look for that in the next week or so.

 

I found a little time to complete the inside rear wall. I am using a light gray pleather material for the inside. I was under the impression that the interior panel color was white. But thanks to Shane and his real panels, they are actually gray. However, the center post cover is white.

 

I also ordered and received the required hardware for my rear curtain rail. Here are a few pictures of what I came up with:

Ron 255

 

I put a 1/8th inch radius on the inside edge of the MDF to curve it off a little. After I glued the gray material to the inside rear wall, I put a .75" piece of aluminum channel on the edge to give it a finished look. (Not exactly like what you would find in the Lear45)

Ron 256

 

Here you can see the curtain track running across the top of the opening and the aluminum channel:

Ron 257

 

I had to manipulate and modify the curtain track from it's original state. I had to cut it every inch and drill the holes in order for it to follow the curve of the shell:

Ron 258

 

I had to remove the green Poly strips, install the gray material and then reinstall the green strips on top of the gray material. This will insure that it does not come loose over time:

Ron 259

 

So one more aspect of the build is complete! This job was pretty much straight forward. The next interior panel, whatever that may by will not be as easy.

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 05-10-13)

Today I decided to paint my glare shield that I picked up from Shane last fall 2012.  You can find more information on the fiberglass interior trim panels including the glare shield Shane developed HERE. It is amazing what a $3.77 can of flat black paint will do:

Ron 260

 

Ron 261

 

I am still planning to cover these parts with pleather down the road. Here are a few photos of the painted glare shield in the shell:

Ron 262

 

Ron 263

 

Ron 264

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 10-19-14)

Hey guys, while on vacation I met up with Shane in Gatlinburg Tennessee to pick up the interior fiberglass panels that he made from his molds which came from real Lear45 interior parts and they look great!  Keep in mind that we spent some time discussing how much work he needed to put into them because I was not sure how much modifying I was going to do to get a satisfactory fit in my sim. So I opted to get the parts pretty much straight from the molds. I will refer to them as "raw parts".

 

Here is a photo of the raw parts as I picked them up from Shane:

Ron 265

 

I think the plan is going to be for Shane to offer the fiberglass parts to the members here at Hangar45 in raw from because there is just so much work that is going to go into them and in an effort to keep the cost down as well. (Shane will announce when he is ready to move forward with that.) In the meantime, I am going to be conducting a detailed tutorial as I move forward with the raw fiberglass pieces AND many of the accessories and details that are attached to these fiberglass parts. I will also make available most all of these accessories to the members so if you see something neat that you have to have, just let me know. This is going to be a long process and could take up to a year so don't expect overnight results but I will try to be steady and consistent with the updates.

 

I did some research on the five pieces that I will be working with. To clarify, I have a center windscreen post, two overhead panels and two upper side panels. I have determined that the center windscreen post will be the first piece that I will complete and install followed by the two upper side pieces and then I will more than likely build the lower side book shelves. Last but not least the upper overhead panels, they will be the most challenging.

 

So here we go!

Ron 266

 

The center windscreen post in raw form. I will have to do some overall trimming to get it to fit perfectly but should not be an issue.

 

The first thing that I wanted to address is the overhead compass. It is a 2.25" gauge and uses a special mount inside the center post. More info here: http://www.chiefaircraft.com/pcn-pai700.html

Ron 267

 

For now, I am going to design and make a dummy face plate until I get around to making a working compass.

 

I found a photo online of the compass and scaled it to 1 to 1. If you want the file, just email me. I will be designing a bezel for this dummy gauge in the next few days.  I cut out a printed copy of the 1 to 1 gauge and taped it exactly in the place where it will be mounted on the center post:

Ron 268

 

Now the idea is to cut a hole using this template. Also note that the two adjusting screws will also be used as a template to drill two holes to access these adjusting screws.

 

Over the past two weeks I have been working on the interior panels, primarily the center windscreen post cover. Two really quick thoughts that I have, first, thanks again to Shane for taking the time to make plugs and molds of these parts. Although all these pieces are going to need to be modified to achieve that perfect fit, they give us an incredible head start. I would be struggling without them! My second thought is that I will only be making a set of this for myself, however, I am going to document every aspect of the process for everyone else to either follow or get some ideas for yourself. Meanwhile, Shane is continuing to work on future sets of interior panels for others.

 

Back to the action:

The idea is to cut a hole in the fiberglass for the compass. A jigsaw is really not a good idea in this area. Worse case is you would have to break out the fiberglass and fix the mistakes. Instead, I drilled a couple dozen small holes all the way around the large hole.  Then with a Drimel tool, I can remove the bulk of the material:

Ron 269

 

With a larger grinding wheel, I can insure that I am removing only what I want to remove and nothing more:

Ron 270

 

I did not take any photos showing the fit of this piece in the sim prior to modifying it but what I can tell you is that if we were using real Lear45 windscreens, this piece might be a perfect fit. The real windscreens are at least an inch thick. The Lexan that we are using is only 1/16th inch thick. This leaves a significant gap between the windscreen and the center post cover. I had to add 1.25" of material to the center post. This is a photo starting that process and showing the compass hole roughed in:

Ron 271

 

One of the hard parts was getting the piece to fit in well enough to know what it was I needed to do. At the end that rest against the base of the glareshield, I had to slowly shave some of the extra material off while at the same time insuring that I had the angle correct:

Ron 272

 

After about four trips going back and forth I was able to finalize that angle:

Ron 273

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 10-20-14)

It took me a few minutes to come to grips that I needed to add additional material to both sides of the center post. Then I discovered another issues! I also had to change the projected diameter to be within six inches! If I were to simply add over an inch of material to both sides, the center post would be more than 7.5" wide, which means it would be too wide and taking up some of the actual windscreen on both sides. So on top of making it deeper to take up the gap, I had to change the curvature to be sharper to fall within six inches wide.

 

I used blue painters tape and a flat table to start the process:

Ron 274

 

If your not good with fiberglass, don't worry, you will be by the time your done!

Ron 275

 

I added a second layer of fiberglass to build up the insides because I new I was going to be shaving the outsides to bring in the two sides so that the overall width would fall within six inches. I used a "L" angle to help keep the fiberglass where I wanted it.  This is a good look at the extra fiberglass and how I added length and thickness:

Ron 276

 

Because the blue painters tape was on the outside of the center post, it helped shape the fiberglass which saved me tons of time. I then used my orbital sander and continued the shaping process. This photo shows just how much I had to add. But I still need to tighten it's curve, kind of like slimming it's waste line:

Ron 277

 

One way to do this is to use strips of sand paper. This is 60 grit paper that is sticky on the back side. I found a nice flat area of garage floor and put two strips side by side. The first thing that I did was sanded the center post so that the edges up against the windscreens would be flush and flat.  Next, I sanded the sides to get under six inches: (great workout by the way!)

Ron 278

 

My calipers came in handy in two ways. First, I was able to precisely measure the width from one end to the other. Second, the calipers have sharp edges and as I would drag them down the center post to measure, I was also shaving! Look close and you will see some fiberglass shavings:

Ron 279

 

Once I got the exact width dialed in, I went back with my orbital sander and worked the curvature back in. By the way, if you do not have an orbital sander, get one. I used 60 grit disc for all of my rough sanding.

 

There are only two visible screws that hold the center post cover in place. By looking at real photos, I found the placement and then put a countersink on them:

Ron 280

 

Using a glazing putty, I filled in the larger pin holes:

Ron 281

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 10-21-14)

I then sanded it down and painted it with a sand-able gray primer. Although this piece looks good, I still have smaller pin holes that need to be filled in:

Ron 282

 

If you look at the above photo compared to the photo below, you will notice that I ended up changing the shape in the area just behind the compass:

Ron 283

 

So at this point, I have the center post cover at about 99% dialed in. I still want to add a tad of glass to one side, finish sanding and filling in the pin holes. I also need to make a mounting bracket to hang this thing!  I have been working on the center windscreen post over the past few days and I have some updates that I want to share. At this point I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

 

To start with, I designed a wooden bracket that will hold the center post in place with two screws on each side:

Ron 284

 

I notched the top side so that it has a channel that the center upper frame will sit in.  Here is the wooden bracket sitting in the center post as I am test fitting it:

Ron 285

(Please note that it took me a few test fits to get the right fit)

 

Here I have the bracket in the center post trying to find the right place to mount the bracket to the upper center post frame:

Ron 286

 

The wooden bracket is in it's new home: (Four screws are not necessary but what the heck)

Ron 287

 

Finally I have the center windscreen post mounted in place!

Ron 288

 

First Officer's view of the new addition:

Ron 289

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 10-22-14)

Now that I have the main shape and fit complete, I can move on to some of the fine details of the center windscreen post. First I want to cover the brackets that hold the calculated "V" card in place. I found that only a few Lear45's have this but I though it would be cool to replicate. I designed and made a few brackets including a template to find and mark the holes:

Ron 290

 

I had to go back and forth looking at reference photos to try to find the right placement of these little brackets. I got close enough that no one will know:

Ron 291

 

After I marked the holes, I simply drilled holes for the three screws that will come in from the inside to hold the brackets in place:

Ron 292

 

The next thing that I wanted to make was the "seat height three ball set". (I am not sure of the proper name)

 

What this little item is for is to help the pilots adjust the seat location so that the pilot's eye point is in the optimum point in the cockpit. This gizmo will help you find the right height and the right position forward and aft. The hard part for me was finding that point without any aid, but again, I think I am close enough to make it a functional tool in the cockpit.

 

So here is what I came up with to make mine from scratch:

Ron 293

A plastic model airplane and plastic beads?

 

Yeah, I though that the plastic "tree" that holds all the plastic parts would be a good way to get the "cross" part that I needed. So I trashed the model and kept the trash. The beads are self explanatory.

 

But if you want to use the real balls that I believe are used in the Lear45:

Ron 294

Shane found these at Lowe's. They are caps that go on lamps shades. (Go figure)

 

This is a photo of a good piece of plastic waste and a few plastic beads with the small hole filled in at one end:

Ron 295

 

Some of the final touches are the trim and the paint.  I think that "Iced Gray" will be super close to what I want (or have imagined) in my sim.  I found this at Home Depot:

Ron 296

 

I think that "Iced Gray" will be super close to what I want (or have imagined) in my sim.  I found this at Home Depot.

 

As for the trim, I actually went to a real aircraft manufacturing company here in Jacksonville Florida that makes interior trims. I found that it was expensive and nothing seemed to work for what I had in mind. This simple door seal that I found at Home Depot will work with a little modification:

Ron 297

I am cutting what I don't need off in this photo.

 

A close up photo of the good piece that I will use:

Ron 298

 

I just placed an order for the deviation cards and holder, one of the cheapest things I have ever purchased for the sim! You guys can find it here:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/in/compasses_zzdeviation.html

Thanks Shane!

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 10-23-14)

I opted to attach the gauge directly to the center post. The biggest reason is because I have not yet found a tool/piece of material/or real part that is long enough to reach all the way to the center post frame. If in the future I do find a better solution, I can simply remove the threaded pin and oversize the hole so that the gauge passes completely through to the center post frame.

 

I had to drill the hole into the center post cover at a perfect horizontal angle to the floor. I also had to make sure it was slightly under sized so that when I forced the threaded pin into the hole, it would hold it in place until I secured it first with superglue and then fiberglass:

Ron 299

 

After I fiberglassed it from the inside, I did a little more finishing work on the outside:

Ron 300

 

Here it the gauge mounting pin after primer:

Ron 301

 

Well my "compass deviation holder" arrived today and it is about half the size as the one we need in our sims. I blame this on the United States Postal Service! They are always screwing things up.

 

As for my statement:

"I just placed an order for the deviation cards and holder, one of the cheapest things I have ever purchased for the sim!"

 

Too good to be true. Turns out a little waste of money. Looks like I am going to have to make one from scratch after all unless we can find the right size.

 

(Posted by Shane Barnes on 12-12-14)

I revert to my favorite saying, "nothings ever easy". I thought that was the correct card holder when I told you about that. . it looked identical to the one I had. . but I never measured it and checked the size. I guess it is the mini me version of the full size card holder. I should have known by now that nothing is standard when it comes to aircraft parts! The card holder that came off the real Lear 45 center column measures 1.3 inches x 2.4 inches in case anybody finds one.

 

(Posted by Will Sasse on 12-12-14)

Ron, Compass deviation cards can be easily made from your favorite spreadsheet and sized accordingly. Most airplanes I fly have "no name" deviation cards. Use what you got as a template.

 

Also, I would presume for our sim work that zero deviation is needed, ie for 180 fly 180 etc... (Unless you want to make flying by mag compass more difficult than it reply is, it's an I exact science at best!)

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 12-12-14)

Hey Will, yes, I was totally prepared to make one from scratch until Shane baited me on this $3 purchase! When I got the package today I was excited that it was here and that part of the project was taken care of with little effort. But as I was holding it in my hand it seemed a little small........

 

I held it up to the center post and saw that my fears were correct. It is about 50% smaller than what we need in the Lear45:

Ron 302

As you can see from the photo, it is no where near full size as we know it.

 

This actually works out for me because I was concerned that the one that is found in the Lear45 is taller than what will comfortably fit in my sim because of the custom fitting that I had to do. I will make mine at 1.125" X 2.25"

 

I was working on the "tri ball seat alignment tool" again over the past few days and long story short, I blew through plan A, plan B and plan C. I am now on plan D. I opted to use brass and aluminum hobby tubing to finish up the job:

Ron 303

 

This hobby tubing is very inexpensive and I found it at Hobby Lobby. It comes in variety packs of three different sizes. What is really cool about it is that you can put the tubes into one another. Think of it as telescopic. Small example of that below:

Ron 304

 

I cut a small piece of tubing off and glued it into the white balls.  Whats cool about this method is that if I need to push the two white balls closer towards each other, I can do it to fine tune the eye point:

Ron 305

 

Here it is complete, just waiting on the paint to dry. Another neat thing about the way I have built this is that when I screw it onto the center post, I can turn the tri balls separately from the shaft attached to the center post due to the telescopic element:

Ron 306

 

Here it is installed on the center post!

Ron 307

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 12-13-14)

Continuation of the Tri Ball Seat position gauge.

The idea is to hide the white ball behind thew black ball.  If you can not see the white ball, your eyes are in the correct position.  This is the sight picture your looking for:

Ron 308

 

As it turns out, I had to push the two white balls closer together to align with the perfect eye point.

 

And here it is from the outside looking in:

Ron 309

 

What I found interesting until I found a side profile photo is that this little gizmo is a lot longer than I imagined.

 

A few days ago I completed the Center Windscreen Post. Here is the final part:

Ron 310

 

I painted it the "Iced Gray" and added the door seal strip to the edges:

Ron 311

 

The fit and finishing looks better than the real Lear45!

Ron 312

 

It took a lot of work to get the center cover to fit within the space I had to work with but it all paid off!

 

Another nice look at the center cover from the Capt's POV:

Ron 313

 

Last but not least the straight on shot!

Ron 314

 

Now that I have this piece completed, I am now free to really get to work on the main side pieces.

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 01-01-15)

This is the official start of the upper side pieces. Again, a big thanks to Shane Barnes for making these pieces to give me a head start in this area. The work he has done will save me countless hours!

 

So here we go. This is a photo of the starboard side in raw form from Shane:

Ron 315

 

The first thing that I wanted to do is trim the extreme lower end and extreme upper end. In these areas, there is a one inch lip that has to be trimmed and will act as an attachment point for the other two panels above and below. These two edges are locked in and will not change as the process unfolds:

Ron 316

 

Here is the upper edge:

Ron 317

 

I used a bench belt sander to aggressively remove 99% of the fiberglass material that I did not want.

Ron 318

 

Here it is with the lower and upper attachment points cleaned up. This was the easy part. It will get a little more challenging from here:

Ron 319

 

The next area that I wanted to concentrate on was the circuit breaker panel openings. This is another part of the upper side panels that is locked in and will not change. They are 10" X 16" and the openings should be just a tad bigger than that to accept the panels:

Ron 320

 

One thing to keep an eye out for is to make sure that the opening for the circuit breaker panels are not warped or twisted. One side is almost perfect while the other side is a little twisted. This is a big deal if left uncheck but not a big deal to correct it.

To be continued in a few days.....

 

(Posted by Justin Fletcher on 01-02-15)

Ron, that center column looks factory installed. Will all the interior panels from Shane require additional fiberglass work?

 

(Posted by Shane Barnes on 01-03-15)

More work will be required to make the panels fit correctly. One factor we have to contend with is the thickness of the original windscreen in the L45 (somewhere between 1 to 2 inches thick) . . versus the thickness of the Plexi or Lexan that we are using ( 1/16" to 1/8"). I believe we are left with about a 1.5 to 2 inch gap between my replica panels and the location of the Plexi windscreen. Ron can provide a more accurate assessment of the additional work needed since he has the panels in hand now. Once finished, Ron will have a better fitting replica interior using the replica panels and additional work to make them fit than I do using the real panels . . I have gaps!

 

(Posted by Ron Rollo on 02-06-15)

Hey Justin, unfortunately every panel will require some work to one degree or another. But as I have said a few times prior, the panels that Shane offers give us a heck of a head start in the process.

 

It is a bit time consuming as well. As an example, I probably have 15 hours or more in just the center windscreen cover. But like everything else, in the end it pays off! Once it is done, it's done. Also keep in mind that I can't let little flaws slide so what takes me 15 hours might take another guy 8 hours, with the same results to the naked eye. (I'm seeking help for this condition that I suffer from!)

 

Quick update on the finishing touches on the Center Post.

 

Last night I made a Compass Deviation Card and Card Holder after the disappointing card and card holder I got in the mail that was undersized.  Shane told me that the real one uses Velcro to hold it in place:

Ron 321

 

Ron 322

 

I copied the deviated values from an old photo to this card so don't use this card to navigate with!  Notice the date and aircraft number?  This photo shows you the difference in size between the one that arrived in the mail and the one I made to proper scale:

Ron 323

 

Now I can say I am done with this part of the build.

Updates in coming soon!

 

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