MIP Paint / Color and Material Preferences???

Hey Gang!

Well, after several months of remodeling a little playroom in my basement, I am ready to start back on my 172 build. Thanks to Reid, I have a .dwg of the MIP for the 172 and as luck would have it, my next-door neighbor works in Stainless steel fabrication and has direct access to a CNC and can make the panel out of just about any medium I need at little cost to me. (BONUS!!!)

Here's my dilema and thus my referral to higher powers (aka YOU fine folks)...

1) What would be YOUR medium of choice? (Stainless, Aluminum, Wood, etc?) I'm personally leaning towards stainless but am a little concerned about painting over the material...

2) Color preferences for the MIP??? My initial thought was to try and have it painted in black. Never having done any type of laser etching and not having a direct outlet or source to have the switch / panel labels etched... have been trying to decide the best course of action. Another thought was to try to possibly use the 'bedliner' material over the MIP to give it some sturdiness as well as help protect the panel from scratches, etc... Any thoughts???

3) Labeling / Etching.... Any suggestions as to the best route and then maybe the most cost-effective method of labeling the panel(s)???

Again, I thank you ALL in advance for your help and wisdom! Any and all input is welcome and most certainly appreciated!

Dale

Can't tell you the best route, as I am chasing cost effectiveness more. My solution for labelling was to buy a sheet of preprinted label stickers. (eBay is your friend). These will go over my panel when I get it painted. That will probably be my last step, as I am going for good function first. The sticker sheets I got are for complete replacarding of a real plane.

Desktopaviator.com has a set you can dl for free. Check their site. I chose preprinted because they were already die cut.

Reid

Reid,

THANKS AGAIN! You are "Johnny on the Spot" with the information. I had never heard of the desktopaviator site and while looking at their download, I noticed it was from another company called Planeplastics.com and they have the full set of decals for the 172 and many others. This little find also led me to the discovery of a nice Pedastal Cover for the 172 for around $200.00USD. This now opened another door I hadn't even considered... Rudder trim or NO rudder trim for the sim??? Any input or thoughts on this? (or should I be posting another thread completely? :) )

As for the MIP... I am still leaning stainless and see what I can do about powdercoating a nice black matte and then finish with Decal pack.

Again thanks for the timely response and great info! You never disappoint!!!

Dale

No problem Dale. I bought a pedestal cover from EBay. It has a rudder trim slot. My sim is representive, not exact. One problem I am having is sourcing the smaller trim wheel to fit it. Check eBay though for real Cessna parts. I have gotten a cheap glareshield, engine controls, parking brake, pedestal cover, trim wheel etc. that way.

When I say representive it is mostly a 172, but it has a prop control, and a Johnson bar for flaps. Gives me a little more flexibility for flying.

Good luck, although I question what finish you would put on stainless.

Reid

Thanks again for the info and suggestions. The lack of rudder trim wheels, etc... was the biggest issue I could see having difficulty with and not having a significant engineering background... well... I'm somewhat at the mercy of the retailers at this point.... Guess, I will need to become an engineer if I am going to be able to outfit my panel with functional instruments on a shoestring :) In a nutshell, I too will probably ditch the rudder trim idea and stick with elevator.

As for the panel... I misspoke, am leaning towards aluminum as it will take the application of powder-coating / paint where as the stainless will obviously prove problematic in this area.

Have also read your blog on the "go glass... go glass" but I just really love the steam guages; stepper / servo replicas. So a fortune I will be spending ...lol Here we go...

Personally for me (my opinion).....

MIP Colour: Car primer spray, it is almost bang on the original colour and the finish is nice, and I found car primer in £1 shops so its very cheap.

Sim material: MDF wins by miles because its easy to cnc, sand, smooth, paint and its very versatile. The MIP can be made out of it including the trim wheel, sides, lid, glareshield, stand and enclosure etc. What is there not to like about mdf? I use 12mm for everything because the whole sim, stand and other bits can be cnc'ed from 1 whole sheet of mdf!

Model Choice: I prefer the 152/150 over the 172! Why? The 152 uses less gauges which means less avionics which means less spend and a cheaper sim! Also the 152 is under a meter wide and the 172 isnt! Also I find that Unless you have £100 to spend on an ABS glareshield, a home built 172 glare can be challenging to build (unless you use pipe ducting...which looks like pipe ducting). I have found that I can cnc a 152 glare from 12mm mdf and it looks great, I have tried cnc'ing a 172 glare before and I found that it doesnt look great!

I also prefer LCD screens over gauges, as I cant afford real gauges, but an LCD screen with PM on high graphics will fool you into thinking the gauges are real especially if you make some 79mm lenses for your gauges.

As for labels, I make my own from my sign making machine, I cut all the letters from vinyl and apply using application tape which means that once applied all the lettering is background free!

There are some great GA sims on this forum and in the photo gallery, and some awsom members that will always offer advice (inc myself).

All the best bud.

Alex

Alex,

Thanks for the additional input! I have toyed or have thought about mdf as well but had concerns over holes / screws stripping if I disassemble / re-assemble multiple times , which I am SURE to do because of mis-measurements, etc... Had also thought about mounting the aluminum MIP to MDF just to give it some 'structure'...(i.e. building the frame out of mdf and using the aluminium and perhaps the plastic pedestal cover over the top to help with the cosmetics portion. I too am limited in the budgetary area and would most likely begin with LCD's to project the gauges initially. The issue that I struggle with with this approach is that I would like the rotary-encoder / function of being able to set my VOR and Gyro Compass as you would with a real gauge. I would assume, from my reading / research, the best way would be to use a rotary and a Leo Bodnar card and start running wires and interface with FSUIPC... Trying to figure out how to push an LCD flush to the back of the MIP without getting in the way of the the rotary and vice-versa... MORE reading and research to come :o)