Instrument Panel Fabrication & Installation

The selection of avionics and instruments, their placement in the panel, coupled with the fabrication of the instrument panel itself has been one of the toughest tasks in the construction process so far. The instruments and avionics that we have decided to use are as listed below.

Here is the initial trial fitting of the instrument panel.

Here we have laid out our chosen instrumentation and avionics on the panel blank. Unfortunately, this layout will not work due to interference of the 1/2" structural tubing running diagonal behind the panel. At top left is the Dynon FlightDEK D-180. Below that is a tray mounted Control Vision EXP-Bus2. Top center is a Garmin 396 GPS in a AirGizmo panel dock. Below the GPS is a Garmin SL40 com transceiver with integrated intercom, and then at bottom center is a King KT-78 transponder. Eventually, we may decide to install something in the empty area in front of the co-pilot, on the right hand side of the panel.

In this photo, one can see the structural tubing that is preventing our favored placement of instruments and avionics.

This is similar to the avionics stack that we will be installing in the panel, centered in front of the pilot. The original panel blank that came supplied with the kit was 1/4" too short to accommodate this radio stack, and I had to fabricate a panel that was a little bit taller.

This is the Dynon FlightDEK-D-180 EFIS / EMS combination that will be installed in the top-center of the panel. Below it will be the tray mounted Control Vision EXP-Bus2.

It took quite a bit of drilling, cutting filing, to get the cut-outs to look acceptable to me. 

Did I mention that it took a lot of filing?!

Here is the panel with all of the filing finally complete. The round hole in the upper left is for the ignition switch, and the smaller holes below it and then on the right side are for headphone jacks.

Here the panel is shown while trial fitting the GPS panel dock, and the EXP-Bus.

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