TBM-900 Oxygen Switch Panel

Typically located on the cockpit's ceiling, the TBM-900 Oxygen Switch Panel has just been added to our product range ... 

TBM-900 Overhead Panel

A quick couple of photos that give some perspective as to the physical size of our fully-backlit TBM-900 Overhead Panel ...

 

TBM-900 Main Instrument Panel (DXF)

We're not in a position to be able to offer a full TBM-900 main instrument panel, although because we needed to draw up an initial design around which we could organise the panels that we do make, we thought that these drawings might provide a useful starting point for someone beginning to build a simulator, instead of the files simply hiding away in our file system ...

The DXF (along with a PDF file) can be downloaded directly from our website on the following page (you'll need to scroll through to find it): https://www.ruscool.co.nz/Panel-Cutouts-Dimensions/

Below is a quick image of the model from which the DXF is derived.

The measurements are not based on a real TBM-900 aircraft, so they will not be accurate for this, but the dimensions can be modified within your own drawing software to suit the width/height of your cockpit's construction.

The design was based around the use of 3mm aluminum, and the holes and cutouts for the following Ruscool Electronics parts are included (shown fitted below, with the exception of the 15" MFD):

    - Master Caution Button
    - Master Warning Button
    - De-Icing Panel
    - Park Brake Panel
    - Gear Panel
    - ECS Panel
    - CB Lighting Panel
    - Static Source Selector Panel
    - Crew Music Panel
    - 15" MFD Unit

The DXF for the main instrument panel only shows the hole cutouts and mounting screw positions of the aforementioned panels (not their outer dimensions), although the drawings for these can be downloaded from the same page as the MIP design.

There are, of course, still several other items needed for a full TBM cockpit that you'll want to include, but which we don't sell ourselves - such as the GMC710, the GCU475, and the G1000 units. These parts will need to be added to your design separately, and suppliers who manufacture these items will likely be able to provide you with the necessary dimensions so that you can incorporate them.

Additional TBM-900 panels

Over the past few months we've designed several new TBM-900 panels to go with our existing range ...

Circuit Breaker Lighting Panel

 

 
This panel includes one of our replica Korry buttons, which in the above photos is shown without any lighting. In the photo below, the lower half of the Korry has been illuminated. Our replica Korry pushbuttons have been designed to fit into the same footprint as a real Korry 389 button, as shown in a previous post about our B350 Reversionary Panels, so they can be swapped out if required.

 

 

Crew Music Panel

 

 

As with the majority of our panels, there is no interfacing or controller supplied. There are so many possible solutions - when it comes to both hardware and software - that we leave this up to our customers. Our panels are supplied fully assembled, however, with any switches, sockets, etc. mounted either directly onto the front panel or onto a mounting plate that's fitted onto the rear.

 

 

Main Circuit Breaker Panel - Lower Section

This panel, with the exception of the coloured vinyl decals and the dummy circuit breakers themselves, is fully backlit by a circuit board that's recessed into the main panel itself. 

Whilst we only fit dummy circuit breakers to it, the panel has been designed so that these can be readily replaced by real circuit breakers if required. There are several PDFs on our website that contain not only the panel dimensions and required panel cutout, but also the spacing and layout of the circuit breakers, so that the fit of any real breakers can be checked/verified prior to purchasing.

 

 

Main Circuit Breaker Panel - Upper Section 

You'll notice that there's a hole in the missile switch cover, which was a slight modification that we made so that it acts like a gate that allows you to switch it between NORM and EMER but still have that position maintained. Without this hole, the closed cover would push the toggle switch back into the EMER position each time. The only slight issue is that in order to do this, it was necessary to remove the spring that sat inside the switch cover, although because panel sits mostly flat, the cover will tend to fall closed by itself anyway ... !

And this is what the fully-assembled panel looks like from the rear ...

 

 

Static Source Selector Panel

There's not too much to say about this one really, although the image below offers a good example of how we typically mount components to our panels.

TBM-900 Panels

We now have a range of TBM-900 panels available through our updated website ...

TBM-900 De-Icing Panel

At the moment, the LEDs are separate to the fitted LED circuit board, although we'll be updating this shortly so that all of the connections are contained on the PCB itself. This will just tidy things up a little.

The toggle switches used on this panel have a longer than normal actuator, which allowed us to better replicate the switch holes seen on the real panels.

TBM-900 Landing Gear Panel

We've previously written a short blog post about this panel here ...

TBM-900 ECS Panel

We fit one of our own replica Korry switches to these panels, but the hole is also the correct size for a Korry 389 series switch.

 

 

TBM-900 Overhead Panel

This panel is by far the largest panel that we've ever made and we actually had to have the body of it manufactured off-site. And shipping them to our customers also requires some aluminum bracing in order to keep it well-protected in transit!

TBM-900 Landing Gear Panel

This is our first completed TBM-900 panel, which is fully backlit and comes supplied with all of the hardware shown in the photos below. 

In order to show the separation of the indicator backlighting, only one 

of the position indicators has been illuminated in these photos.

The following photo shows the panel backlighting on 

but all of the indicators (and the transition light) off.

And with everything off in daylight ...

We'll be releasing several other TBM-900 panels shortly, and we currently have a very patient customer awaiting the first set. They're all 95% complete but we're currently awaiting the delivery of some special switches before we show any photos of them ... ! 

Dummy HF COMM Control Panel

This dummy HF COMM Control Panel faceplate was made for a customer who didn't actually require an operational radio but wanted something that at least looked the part, and so this was what we came up with. 

As much as we can, we like to make provisions so that dummy items can be made functional at some stage in the future if this is required. For this reason, it was constructed using the same measurements that we would use if building a working radio - although there's obviously no circuit board or display fitted to this example. 

And because we don't know how it might be used in the future, we ensured that the paint is bleed-proof should backlighting ever be needed, and the three buttonheads are similarly constructed and can all be individually removed for re-use.

We've previously found that dummy items are just as susceptible to people trying to operate them as functional parts, so we made sure to fit some encoders behind the two knobs - this means that they can be freely turned without causing any physical damage. Dummy buttons are also likely to be pressed, meaning that it's a good idea to secure them in place to prevent frustrated pilots from pushing them through the panel in their efforts to force some reaction!

This particular radio was destined for a Cessna Citation simulator, but we've also seen photos of them being used in TBM-900's, which happens to be the next product range that we're currently working on ...