Fili

I thought I read somewhere there is a website where you can download different guages, or complete insturment panels for almost any plane you could think of. But due to the loss of my short term memory, I can't for the life of me remember where that would be. I tried a few search engines, but to no avail. Can anyone help me?

heliraptor

Hi

Possibly the flight sim sites, I've never heard of another site for our purposes though but the thought is nice.

Try simaviation.com or do a search for 'CFS2 panels' CFS2 being the most popular flight sim.

Lee

JL1

My Feedback: (93)

If you have one of the flight simulators you can copy the panels from the screen to word pad or some other MS application.

JL1

My Feedback: (93)

If you have one of the flight simulators you can copy the panels from the screen to word pad or some other MS application.

GAP-RCU

http://www.epanelbuilder.com./

Fili

No silly, I dont want one built, I just want the paper backgrounds for the alt, speed, rpm's..etc...
I can build my own dash. But I do thank you!

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

Maybe here: http://gra.midco.net/mlgould/

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Try Dynamic balsa for printed instruments.. Also do a Google search. There are other manufacturers..

Fili

Well....I was going to do the Dbalsa cockpit kit, then after finding out the SP retracts arent yet available, and the CJMs are not worth the bucks,I'm gonna go spring air (I know, I know) so, the front gear retract back into the front pilot area, thus eliminating the cockpit option. So I fashioned my own cockpit with the floor much higher that it should be. All things considered I'm happy with the results. I was just hoping I could at least put realistic guages and dials to offset the non scale flooring. So thanks for the info Guys, I'll Let you know if I find what I need. (I'll also post pics as soon as I can)

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

This dash is scratch built with the Dynamic balsa printed instruments and styrene plastic. I think it looks ok and wasn't difficult to make. It just took a little time and planning.. good luck.

YAT-28E

Bob,

Looks nice. I need to scratch one for a T-28

Where did you get the bezels? (spelling)

Swedish_Pilot

Anyone who knows where to find a scale cockpit kit (upper part) for a Great Planes Mustang (about scale 1:8?)?

the-plumber

Are you aware that J'Tec make instrument panel kits in a variety of sizes ?

Kit, that is, meaning instrument faces and clear plastic lenses.

All you would need to make are the square surrounds and fake the mounting screws.

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Yat, I made the Bezels. I cut out each hole in the Panel with brass tubing. Then I cut each bezel from thin styrene into a square Once they are square you cut the corners to give them their shape. The Instrument surrounds are styrene tubing cut and glued in the holes. You can sand them all down to get them even. Once everything is glued to the front you simulate the screws with drops of white glue. The clear (glass) that goes over all the instrument faces is made from one piece of clear styrene sheet.. Hope this helps..

rpike

My Feedback: (1)

I have been trying to find photos and/or good scale drawings of guage faces for a while to no avail. I'm making scale dashboards for the Bates, Ziroli, Etc, and wish to provide guages of the right size with the dashes. I'm casting them out of urethane resin and they are quite acceptable to me. So far I've made an 80" Hellcat dash( Bates/Holman) and a 82" dash for the P-40 Bates. I'm just about to pour the mold for the gunsight for the 82" P-40 and will start working on the 94" Bates/Ziroli P-40 dash in the next few weeks. I will also make the throttle quadrants and some other goodies. the only thing I can find so far, is contemporary guages, not WWII vintage. It would be nice to provide photographic gauges with the dashes if I can. that way, you won't have to try to make Jtec or something else do. I can't figure out how to post a pic of my dashes on here, or I would.
If any one can help please do.
rpike.

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

rpike, your dashes look good from what I can tell. Here is what Dave Platt did about gages in his Video. He photographed the instruments, had them scaled them down and reproduced them in graphic form. I'm thinking if you can get a decent front on shot of each dash (maybe from a book or magazine) you can have a graphics company reproduce it in the sizes you need. Once you have one correct you can simply reproduce more for sucessive dashes. Hows that idea sound; I know it'll cost but it may end up being the only way and worth the $$$...?

mR JoLLy

The actual 3D construction of the instruments is one issue, and I can't help with that side of the problem. The other is the actual dial images. I made my own in MS PowerPoint and then converted them to graphics. These would certainly scale down to 1/6 without any problem. This was a few hours work to complete a full cluster. While my whole panel is 2D the printed dials are good enough for me. I have included a dial image as well. Is something like this good enough?

JoLLy

bhouin

My Feedback: (106)

mR JoLLy,

Those look great. Any others that you care to share?

I am working on some of my own for the P-47 that I am building. I have been working in corel to allow me to resize them with out issue. I need to get back on it shortly.

the-plumber

I used PhotoShop to fiddle up this I/P, for a 33% Extra 230 (yes, that's 'sposed to be Miz Patty).

Used some instrument faces from a J'Tec 1/3 scale pack, and had to do the others by hand.

Zoomed in close in PhotoShop the home-made jobbies aren't what you'd call museum quality, but in real-world (1/3) scale to the Mk. I Eyeball, they look good enough to fly.

Bored correct size holes in the thin ply with a Forstner bit, and used the J'Tec lenses with the rims painted black from the inside.

Spent way too much time (about a week) making the silly thing, but that included figuring out PhotoShop.

1:1 version on the right.

Ram-bro

My Feedback: (101)

rpike, those are some good looking instrument panels,are you thinkin about making those to sell or just strictly for your entertainment? If you are making them to sale, consider making one for a wildcat.

mR JoLLy

Bhouin. I will zip them all up and provide a link when I get home from work.

Hey Plumber you are using far better software for the job. PowerPoint was certainly a challenge in some areas.

Link coming later.

JoLLy

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Your instruments look good. The challenge is often finding a good image of the instrument from a straight on view. Once you have that you can save it and massage it to suit your needs. It's pretty easy to turn the 2D images into 3D ones. Omit the needle and add your own using thing white styrene rod glued on to the dial. Arrange all the instruments to match the cut outs on your Panel cut outs. Add some Bezels using thing styrene to the front of the Panel and a few details like knobs. Clear plastic over the intruments (on the back of the panel over the instruments) will give the required reflective effect of glass. Thats pretty much all there is to it.. !

mR JoLLy

OK here are the dials as promised. If folks want them without pointers on post a request.

All my hard work is one click away - [link=http://www.hbc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/bin/Dials.zip]here it is[/link]!

JoLLy

PS they will be here for a week or so. after that e-mail me from my profile page and I will mail them on to you. 190Kb zip file.

Bill Jennings

My Feedback: (85)

Thank you Mr Jolly, very kind of you.
Regards.
Bill Jennings.

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Jolly, I downloaded your dials but couldn't view any images. Any ideas why? thanks.