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Friday, December 23, 2016

Simkits version of our Bell 206 MIP

We were recently contacted by a customer who wanted to use some gauges from the Simkits range in one of our Bell 206 main instrument panels.

Here is the result:



The height of the panel is slightly less than one of our standard versions because there is no concern here about the MIP having to cover the entire front of an LCD monitor.


Because of the way this will eventually be mounted, we were also able to mount the fuel valve switch (along with its panel) and the GPS/NAV toggle switch directly onto the front surface of the instrument panel. Normally these are spaced off a little bit so as to allow the componentry to sit flush against a monitor and not poke holes in it! No such concerns here though, all of which helps to keep the price down of course.


This panel, whilst not actively advertised on our website, can of course be purchased. The price (without the annunciator panel that's shown fitted in these photographs) is US$257-00.

Custom Airbus Parts

We don't offer too many Airbus parts because there are already some fantastic products available elsewhere, although we do like helping to provide parts and panels that can't be easily found or which need to be built around specific dimensions and/or requirements.

The panels shown here were built for a simulator that incorporated various aspects of both an A350 and A380. We supplied a basic configuration file based around our own 64INS and 64OUT I/O Boards, which were interfaced to the Jeehall Airbus software.

Landing Gear Panel


Note: we actually had to re-make this front panel because it 
didn't survive the 19,000km journey to our customer!




TERR on ND Panel






Glareshield Panels










Blank Pedestal Panel



ISFD Bezel

Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Super King B200 panels

As the result of a specific request from a good customer of ours, we have recently designed some new backlit panels that are based around the Flight1 Super King Air B200 'Blackhawk Super XP52'.

Currently the only completed panels are the four sub-panels, although work is ongoing with regards the Fuel and the Fuel Circuit Breaker panels too, and these will be finished shortly.

First up is the Captain's Right Panel ...



And some close-ups to show the engraving detail.


This panel has been designed around the fitting of one of our Landing Gear Levers at a later stage, which would normally be held in place by the two screws you can see here.


Next are a couple of shots of the Captain's Left Panel


The backlighting circuit boards that we fit to these panels are contained wholly within the thickness of the panel, meaning that the only item protruding out the back is the small two-way header for the power supply. Other than that, it's a flat surface.


The F/O's Left Panel



The backlighting we've used on these panels is 5V and of the warm-white variety, so as to mimic incandescent bulbs somewhat.


And finally the F/O's Right Panel.


Monday, December 05, 2016

A replica 15 Inch MFD

Based on a GDU1500, below are a few photos of a replica Garmin 15 Inch MFD unit that we recently finished for a customer who's building a Cessna Citation simulator ...





The buttons are actually backlit in a cool-white, although it's difficult to see that in these photos.

Here's a picture showing the rear of the unit. It has its own USB controller and we also supplied a small program that allows for whichever keypresses are required by the MFD software to be assigned to the correct buttons. 


And without the logo ...

A wired set of Cessna Citation panels

We normally supply our populated panels with all of the hardware fitted onto a backing plate that's already fitted to the main panel, but they aren't typically wired. On this occasion however, we had the opportunity to do some of the wiring here in our workshop. Not all of it could be completed prior to shipping of course, as various items need to be fed into the main instrument that everything will eventually be fitted to - but we could do a lot of it, which also meant that we were able to test and verify all of the initial interfacing we'd organised for it.

Okay then, the Left Switch Panel ...

Each Starter Button has been programmed to illuminate when activated. Here they're unlit.

This isn't actually the standard wiring for one of our Left Switch Panel's, as this particular 
module needs to communicate with another existing piece of hardware that 
our customer already has installed in their build.
Now, the Right Switch Panel ...




Next, the Landing Gear Panel with the gear lever fitted ...



The Push/Pull switch shown here is the Park Brake
The Lighting Panel ...


With the dimmer wired to the Panel Lighting potentiometer

Friday, December 02, 2016

Some examples of custom work ...

Over the years we've made a lot of custom components, a small sample of which are shown below. Most of these items will only ever be one-off pieces ...

Customised King Air B200 Captain Left Panel
Customised King Air B200 Captain Right Panel. The Gear Lever
Panel was another item that we made separately.
A set of AS350 buttonheads
A custom Audio Panel
The rear of the customised Audio Panel, utilising one
of our modified PCBs for the purpose.
This panel was part of a large custom job that incorporated our 64INS and 64OUTS 
boards, gear lever with transition lighting, backlit panels, a customised
interchangeable flaps system, as well as various parts that our customer 
had already purchased elsewhere (Flight Illusion radios, iPad, etc.)


This is how the rear of the aluminium panel looked with all of our wiring completed
Another free-standing main instrument panel ...
An operational KAP140 incorporating LCD screen. 
The dummy blank panel above it helps to disguise the real size of the LCD.
This was a custom, fully-enclosed, stand-alone MIP that again incorporated
many of our own components in combination with those from other vendors,
which our customer had already purchased before sending them to us for installation.
A custom B200 MIP

Autopilot System
Custom Autopilot Knobs
EFIS System
A custom bezel designed around hardware our customer was already using.