All very interesting and totally necessary in planes. But way to over the top for any usefull inspiration to me.
Bumpstick, kool pic. of the B17 nose gunner's "office". I've never been inside one of these planes, but have always been interested.
Can anyone tell me what the technical name is for the diamond stitched interior insulation is called and/or where something like that could be purchased?? Great pictures!!!
MUST HAVE! I've got a Hudson Super Jet that's rusting away. With the powerplant and interior gone, I'm thinking it's the perfect candidate for a custom. I've been brainstorming how to play up the aircraft theme. So far, I'm thinking bomber seats, rip stop nylon (parachute material) for headliner, and a satin gray and army green paint job, and yoke for steering wheel. Why not rip out the dash while I'm at it? Having earned my pilot's license several years ago, I'm eager to fly low!
Or you could do like todays planes. They have 3 tv tubes and they display everything. I imagine, pre 70's planes (little ones) have 12 Volts. Our C-172 did but our '83 C-210 had 24v. All stuff now days have 24v.
Before he left Misery for TexASS, Voneyeball gave me an aircraft panel with all kinds of cool gauges in it. I'm gonna figure out how to use em on my A project.
True,true. But most of the backlighting is 5 volts or less. Lets see......50's Ford instrument panel voltage reducers...... There,I took care of that part,Root. Start brainstormin'!
P51? Looks like a Texan T6. P51's only had one set of gauges upfront, their backseat is either a fuel tank or a makeshift seat.
Great stuff, inspirational. Its not just about the guages themselves, but the ergonomics of the workspace. There is somethings about a cockpit that coveys a sense of purpose, as well as demanding that you interact with the machine. As far as using aviation guages in a car, too hard. I have loomed and installed guages in aircraft and the complexity is considerably greater than an automobile. I'd be swapping car gauge guts into aircraft units, but getting the overall layout is the important part.
This thread is awesome!! you can often get aircraft gauges cheap on ebay, you can find them in both 24 volt and 12 volt setups. I work around airplanes every day so i love this stuff. before i changed the panel material to leather, after everything is functional,the master switch works,the fuel boost switch does what it says,and the anti collision lights switch is for those wingtip markers i have as side markers at the back. the red switch with the safety cover is for my fuel pump primer, having the safety relay causes problems with gas getting to the carb if it sits. thats not an autozone one,thats an old military one. I made the panel out of aluminum and upholstered it in leather. it's 1/8 thick plate
nice... heres a beechcraft staggerwing (my favorite civilian aicraft) instrument panel. warbird panels are cool, but very utilitarian. high end early clusters were sometimes quite ornate. heres the rest of the plane for those who dont know... warbids are like flying hotrods, these LOOK like flying customs to me.
heres some of my goodies, I might sell that narco ommninavigator to someone really cheap,if they do an older rod with an aircraft theme. it's a rare piece and it's just sitting on a shelf doing nothing. it would look nice integrated into a dash somehow, maby secret radio controls for a stereo?
Here's a few more pictures. In a few weeks I'll be back home and have a chance to take a whole bunch more. These were just ones I had already. Spitfire Harvard (Texan) Tigermoth Sabre
Here's several I took of the B-24 "The Dragon & His Tail", at an airshow in Knoville, TN a few years ago. I know this is a post devoted to instrument panels, but I thought these other close-ups might give some build inspiration too. Why I didn't cough up the $250 for to take a ride on this aircraft at the time is still a mystery to me. If I have a second chance, I won't pass it up! My Dad served on a B-24 in WWII.
Let's see if the ol' eyes can see where you're at in flight..235KIAS, 2500',slight left turn,1000 FPM descent, 350 deg. heading, gear is up, someone pulled 6 G's+ (gasp)! And keep your damn feet off the rudders! Agree,looks like a T-6 greenhouse canopy. Hope you had fun. [/quote]
OK. I have my private license and so far have only flown Cessna 172's and they have plenty of gauges and indicators to keep a guy busy for a while. I can't imagine figuring out all the crap in a modern Jumbo jet!!! Yikes! Back to the topic at hand, I dig the idea of utilitarian clusters of gauges if the rest of the car fits the theme. I say go for it and if someone doesn't like it, they don't have to drive it.
Bill, we were doing 240 KIAS at 220' off the deck down the runway at a local airport. I'm keeping my feet on the rudders as I damn well please, I was flying it. It's not everyday you get to fly NL251MX. Plus I got to log an hour of mustang time.
Wow, I've never seen a mustang like that. Is that a trainer type? That's a cool addition to the logbook.
You had your hands full! Lag on the rate of descent is deceiving. The rudder thing was meant in fun, had so many pas. in the back seat use them for a footrest. My fini flight was in a single seat F-16, nowhere near as much fun as a Mustang!! [/quote]
No harm Bill. I took it as such. It's just with that huge prop spinning out front you need at least your feet on the rudder when trying to snap pics. I think I took over 140 on that hour flight. And I think that the rate of descent lag can be up to 7 sec. if I remember correct.
here's another piece, I made my choke control for my dual SU's out of a piece from an unnamed prototype aircraft that is being developed right now. the panel was changed and i was able to get this.
I finished wiring my panel so i got an illumination picture, ended up making my own illumination lamp holders to get the angle right, if you put aircraft stuff in,avoid those dam post lights that come on the panel,they always want to short out, I had to disconnect mine for this picture, no logical reason to short,they just do