Glareshield rack arrives...

[Michael Carter]

Nick from APHS sent this out to me (along with the trip reminder for my yoke). This is from Delta Airlines N478DA.

It's a little dirty, but will clean up nicely. I'm going to refinish it and I still have to check all of the lamps. The fluorescent fixture for the center of the panel is installed, but the ballast was cut away. Now I'm searching for a replacement. I hope I don't have to end up buying one of the available desk lamps or machine lamps only to k-ball the innards out of it.

The really neat thing about this rack is how it attaches to the top of the instrument panel.

The 1/4 turn long screws at the top of each indivivual panel pass through the upper framework for the MIP and then pass into recepticals in the glareshield rack. Pretty neat.

I had no idea it extended so far over the edge of the instrument panel. Where you see it now is where it goes.

The engine instrument panel in the center is out for a coat of paint.

[Bob Reed]

WOW!! That is looking GREAT!!

[Trevor Hale]

I am so excited to see you start flying the thing.

Looks great, and will look even better when it's flying again.

Trev

[Michael Carter]

It might be quite awhile before it's ready to fly. Guages are expensive!

No luck on a ballast yet, but I did find out who the contractors were that supplied them. In fact, I found out the possible part number(s) of those that may have been used.

The down side is that they are 400Hz power.

Last night I ordered a 12" T4 fluorescent micro-fixture that I'm going to retro-fit under the glareshield. It's only 3/4" by 1-3/8" in size so I should have plenty of room after the original fixtures are removed. Cheap too at under $30US.

I hate to do that because I wanted to keep it all original, but working with real aircraft parts sometimes means making consessions.

[Trevor Hale]

You got that right,

And if you can keep the majority of it looking like it's real thats what is important.

Plus there are many things on the market that with a little paint and some imagination, you can make look as if it is the real part.

Great Job.