727 Instrument Panel Work

[Michael Carter]

The second 4" Collins bezel arrived today for the ADI. It still looks squashed, but I think I'm going to take a screen shot of the ADI, print it out and cut out the top of the ADI frame and glue it to the top of the monitor frame underneath the bezel. The ball will be all the way to the edge of the screen and the frame will be on the monitor edge.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/boeing722/panel2.jpg

I also had to do something about the 4" airspeed indicator hole. I changed it to a 3.5" instrument hole so the instrument would be centered in the cutout.
Now I need to make the bezel for it. This hides the monitor frame on the top and left of the instrument.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/boeing722/panel3.jpg

And finally, I finished up the altimeter bezel. The altimeter also suffers from being at the top of the screen and is not quite big enough for the bezel. I may do the same with the altimeter as I'm going to do with the ADI. Except that I'll loose the needle at the top of the gauge.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/boeing722/panel1.jpg

Compromise...I hate it, but it's a neccesary evil with this MIP.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/boeing722/panel4.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/boeing722/panel5.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h146/boeing722/panel6.jpg

[Trevor Hale]

Mike I feel I need to ask this, and if you don't want to answer, thats fine. I understand your requirement to continue to use the original parts and I am really excited for you, however is there not a way that you could (modify) the eyebrow (glare shield) in the left corner of the mip that would allow you to raise the monitor up another 2 inches?

Yes you would have the top left corner of the monitor sticking up out of the borw a tad, but then your instruments could be made to fill the sizes better wouldn't that be better?

Trev

[737NUT]

Mike I feel I need to ask this, and if you don't want to answer, thats fine. I understand your requirement to continue to use the original parts and I am really excited for you, however is there not a way that you could (modify) the eyebrow (glare shield) in the left corner of the mip that would allow you to raise the monitor up another 2 inches?

Yes you would have the top left corner of the monitor sticking up out of the borw a tad, but then your instruments could be made to fill the sizes better wouldn't that be better?

Trev

It's not the glareshield that is causing it, it's the korry's in the pnl he is trying to retain. I ran into the same problem trying to use the stock 737-200 MIP and lcd's. There is very minimal clearance between the instruments and korry switches/annunciators. He might gain a little by removing the lcd from it's frame but is it worth it? Other alternative is custom designed panel to gain a little more room between the parts but then you lose the real feel.

[magicaldr]

Have you considered the approach used in the engravity stuff? They use some form of dark glass so they can place the monitor further back to allow for switches according to the site. (yes I been daydreaming that the wife wont notice a few panels just appearing in the house again)

No idea how they do it, but it might help you use a larger screen by placing it further back thus solving some of your problems? Sure you already thought of it.

[Michael Carter]

It's not the glareshield that is causing it, it's the korry's in the pnl he is trying to retain. I ran into the same problem trying to use the stock 737-200 MIP and lcd's. There is very minimal clearance between the instruments and korry switches/annunciators. He might gain a little by removing the lcd from it's frame but is it worth it? Other alternative is custom designed panel to gain a little more room between the parts but then you lose the real feel.


You're right, it's not the glareshield causing it. The monitor frame is literally (and tightly) wedged under the Korry indicators. There is no space to move the monitor at all. I'm lucky it fit the way it did. One more mm and this wouldn't have worked. The frame on this monitor is VERY thin. I doubt I would have gained more than 4mm top and bottom by removing it from the case. That was a deciding factor in buying this particular monitor.

Magicaldr, if you've never seen one in person, Korry indicators are about 3+" long after they exit the back of the panel. I think moving it that far back creates more problems than it solves for an analog type panel.

In addition, the APD is about 4.5" deep with the monitor wedged under it as well.

Like I said, I've got a few tricks to try to fix the ADI.

[sas550]

Hi BSW!

If you have the original steam gauges it's possible to use them together with synchros, steppers and servos.

A former neighbour of mine has built a SAAB AJS 37 Viggen pit with all the original (modified though) parts working using iocards.

He even has the stickshaker and G force simulation working.

I have flown it several times and it's astonishing how real the feel is.

I'm not even close to his skills when it comes to working with servos and stuff but here's a link to his site: http://www.novelair.com

I'm sure he'd be happy to answer any questions in his forum.

[Michael Carter]

I had given some thought to that in the past.

This winter I may tinker around with an instrument or two.

[magicaldr]

Thought you would have thought of it already :)

Having some overlap on my panel from the standby altimeter / RPM (again monitor not quite big enough) I never really notice it when flying. I hope you didn't mind my suggestion. Showing my lack of knowhow, as you guessed I have not seen a korry indicator in the flesh so had no idea they were that deep :)

[JBaymore]

OK... going the OTHER route, BSW...... how about creating a set of "Korry"s that WILL let the monitor fit so the larger and more obvious instruments display better? Fabricate something that will allow the monitor to fit, and maybe make the copmpromise on the look of the Korry-s..... liekly a less "in your face" compromise.

best,

...........john

[spitfire9]

I've been thinking about the problem of using rotarys and korries on a panel that is backed by an lcd.

I've also seen those touchscreen kits on Ebay for 19" monitors.

Perhaps one could fashion a korry switch that simply,, when pressed ,,could push against the touchscreen and activate whatever it was supposed to ???

[Michael Carter]

I don't see why that wouldn't work. In fact it's a very good idea.

I was thinking last night that since I can't move the monitor, why not move the gauges?

It's not my first choice for a fix, and I am going to try my other solution first before hacking up my panel, but it would be entirely possible to move both the ADI and the HSI down an inch on the MIP.

It requires cutting the divider between both instruments and re-assembling it lower, and cutting the HSI hole down an inch, and then filling the top of the ADI hole.

This isn't my first choice, but it is a real possibility.

[spitfire9]

The aircraft panels I have (original) from the CV580 have a row of korries down the center, next to the Chelton screen.

I was thinking about using Fspanel studio to build mouse click Korries that closely resemble the real ones. Then cutting the square holes in the panel ,over the mouse click FS korries.
Then maybe just a clear plastic square with some felt or something around the bottom edge ,inset in the panel. When pressed the felt will push gently on the touchscreen. This would be a simple way to activate the Fs gauge korries and on top of that,, no wiring would be needed to light the korry up !

Am I talking though my hat ?? Or do you think that would work ?

Another thing I was wondering about is ,, where to get a 19" touchscreen monitor?? if there is such a thing,, they would probably be terribly expensive ?
So,, I was wondering if anybody has used those touchscreen kits for 19" monitors. I noticed they are a screen overlayed on the lcd.
Would this cause any noticable blurring or anything that would reduce the lcd picture quality ?
I would also like to know exactly how thick the addon screen is ? Would the Gauges then look too far back behind the panel ?

I have one of those small 8" touchscreens and have some experience with them. There is a website called Touch-Buddy that has an great forum on anything to do with touchscreens. They also have freeware software that allows you to build your own touchscreen software that would be great for instructor stations etc as well as community members submitted Fs profiles.

Here is a link. http://www.touch-buddy.com/forums/index.php