MIP rebuild

I was never completely satisfied with the way my masonite panel turned out. After coming across some surplus (and free) .125" aluminum I decided to rebuild. In the last few days I have most of the left side panels roughed out and pilot holes drilled.

http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/atta...1&d=1256090657
http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/atta...1&d=1256090657

With a little sanding and some paint I think these will look nicer and provide a much more stable platform for switches and instruments.

Has anyone done panels in this manner? How did you build the supporting structure that holds the panels in place? I am thinking of building a skeleton from bar stock with tapped holes for fastening the panels in place but am worried about getting it strong enough.

Just a suggestion for the frame. There are a couple of acft. pit vendors that produce and sell the frames. Take a look at theirs for some idea's. Bar stock might be overkill. Great work on your MIP though.

Good idea Rodney, thanks.

I can see you've been busy... Very nice panel. If you're using an LCD screen for you're gauges you may want to put a protective fabric behind your aluminum. A black felt might work best? If your doing the plastic cup bezels as Alex Jay/I'll be doing. Then you will need something for them to stick to. A masonite doughnut around the back of the gauge hole. You can screw the 'gauge screws' into and glue the bezel onto as well.

From the outside to your LCD..
- Aluminum Panel
- Masonite Gauge Doughnuts (or a complete Masonite back to your aluminum front)
- Felt

If you're doing the 206 make a note of the instrument cluster on the left side of the MIP it's a bit lower then in the 172. The older 206's have what look like 'Car' gauges on the co-pilot/passenger side. I'm thinking it's better to build a more modern 206 then something out of the 70's (for me anyway). I found also that the Turbo's offer the bush pilot a bit more then I had thought. In that you have a shorter take off roll. Important on rivers and other bodies of water where aircraft activities are somewhat restricted. So you may not well use the higher ceiling you still have more power to get up faster.

It's not impossible to find a 206H that is non turbo but it's hard to find them that are amphibious. So I could end up in a turbo (cockpit) to start off with anyway. Then figure out how to alter the aircraft.cfg and sounds to match.

For the Turbo Version. There is the TIT and CHT gauge in the instrument cluster (TIT = Turbine Inlet Temp) and (CHT = Cylinder Head Temp). That and the RPM and IAS perhaps have higher thresholds? Those are about the only differences I can see on the inside of the cockpit. The performance and sounds are perhaps the more important aspects to a modified aircraft? These can of course come later too so long as the layout is the same for both the Turbo and NON-Turbo versions.

The artwork for my panel is nearly completed I can send a copy over to you via email if you like. It doesn't have dimensional info on it but there is a scale. It's taken from the C206 parts manual but has been cleaned up and upgraded to as close as I can get to the 'H' model as I can without getting inside one to take pics. Layouts are pretty personal anyway based on the experience of the pilot he will place the things he/she uses most at closest hand so you can go by several examples as I have done and come up with such plan...

Cheers on your new panel it looks pretty cool so far. I'm still going with masonite on mine aluminum is even harder for me to get then sheet metal which I had contemplated at the outset.. hehe