ORIGINAL: Avaiojet
The non-color match is unfortunate.
I've had the GP Skybolt in the box for a year. I'm not sure I want to take a look.
Orangepeal, you did a great job on the panel. Neat and clean! Feel like making another?
Charles
Thanks. I'd be happy to make you one. The gauges come from Hobby Lobby. I had planned on getting the general aviation 1/5 scale set, but I waited too long to pull the trigger and they sold out, so I ended up getting the WWII British set. Any of them would be fine. Get what you want and PM me for my address. Just search 1/5 gauge on Hobby Lobby's website. It's pretty simple really. Cut out the dash decal that came in the kit and use it as a template to cut the dash out of 1/8" ply. I used birch. Then layout your gauges on it where you want them, mark the sides and remove them, then find the centers and drill the dash. I didn't have the necessary bits soI got close and then used a step drill and it worked fine. Then just sand off your marks and finish it (I used a thinned epoxy finish over some minwax oak) and then glue in the gauges from the back. Seriously, it took me longer to hinge all 4 ailerons (which I did today) then it took me to make that dash. (Of course, I managed to drop my exacto knife with a brand new #11 blade point down into my thigh this morning shortly after I started. It went right through my PJ's about halfway up the blade. So that slowed me down. Heck, I almost passed out!). Trust me, if you can put the kit together without injuring yourself, you can make the dash! But I had fun making mine and don't mind doing it again.
As far as the cowl goes, I realized that it matches the red on the checkerboard underside of the wings exactly, but not the darker red on the fuse which it butts up against. I thinkI'll just plan to live with it.