I've returned from OSH! Very productive, busy trip this year. I'll update you on that topic in a subsequent post...but here I am again trying to get caught up on progress from before OSH. I wanted to post a few pics of the initial fitting of my carbon fiber panel insert from Aerosport Products and give you an idea what it looks like.
First, let me give you my thoughts on this product...as always, just my two cents for what its worth. Product quality out of the box is excellent. You already know from previous posts that I think the price is a little high, but even with that, I am a happy customer so that is saying something. I really think this panel insert is a very attractive product and will finish off my panel perfectly to give it that "production quality" look that I am shooting for.
My only complaint would be the fact that you have to cut out notches for the side canopy rails and also for the welded support piece on the canopy itself. Not too difficult when you get to this stage in the build, you should be what I would call a "skilled craftsman" so a very manageable task. But...and there is a "but"...you are cutting on a $800+ piece of airplane so a screwup would be costly. If you plan to leave it as exposed carbon fiber that is--if you plan to paint, you could fix errors pretty easy. I believe it would be easy to include these cutouts in the mold however to eliminate the builder from having to do any cutting at all. Just my thoughts...
One other thing, not so much a complaint as an observation that caught me off guard. The screenshot on the website shows two EFIS's side by side on the non-symmetrical panel I bought. Those are NOT two 10" SkyViews...two 10" will not fit on this panel, so plan for either two 7" or a different route entirely. The downside to doing this nice panel insert is that it reduces your usable panel space considerably so keep that in mind. There is a price for it looking pretty! :) With modern glass panels, this shouldn't be a problem however since so much functionality is now integrated into the EFIS.
I was heavily leaning toward two 10" SkyViews as just mentioned. Once I realized that was not an option, I considered a 7" SkyView and then pondered adding a different mfg-er entirely. Garmin has really been catering to the homebuilt crowd lately and I really like the G3X platform they offer. This would give me mfg-er redundancy and not have all my eggs in one basket so to speak. It also would make it nice to pick and choose features from Dynon and Garmin that I like. They are both great companies and offer different features. And...as you can see...the G3X with its portrait orientation fits quite nicely next to the SkyView.
Stein's eyeball vent laid in place to see how it looks...gonna fit perfect. You can also see that I am going with the Aveo rockrack switch system...they also fit perfectly. This is gonna be sweet!
The aluminum support bracket that comes with it lines up perfectly with the angle piece I fabricated previously for the standard panel.
Doing your cutouts for the side rails...be CAREFUL! Remember the angle that the side rails have...don't cut too much...do little by little...sneak up on it. The carbon fiber cuts easy with a die grinder and cutoff wheel...nothing special for the carbon fiber. Careful with the dust though...wear protective gear.
A couple shots of what it looks like in place with my cardboard cutouts of my proposed panel layout. Much more to come on this...I was just playing around at this point. Did I mention this is going to be SWEET?! ;)
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