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What do you use to design your panel? Hangar Zulu?

moespeeds

Well Known Member
Friend
Just messing around with panel ideas, and looking for some panel design software. I stumbled on Hangar Zulu, but I can't seem to get it to work reliably.

It doesn't remember my login credentials, so I gotta do the password reset thing every time I log in, and no matter what I do it will not properly save my panel designs. If I log out, when I go back in my panels are just blank. Works great when it works, but I'm glad I didn't give them any money yet!

Anything else out there to fool with panel layouts?

***EDIT***

For the paper and cardboard crowd, I know it works great but I can't play with panel designs while sitting at work at my desk!
 
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I use old school "paper-doll" instruments. Sit in the airplane and move them around until you like the lay-out. It's cheap and it works.
 
Everything looks good to me. I got right in (didn't even have to log in and it had remembered me).

Haven't been on site for months

It's probably something on your computer or browser.


I'm running Win10 and chrome browser to access site.
 
I use old school "paper-doll" instruments. Sit in the airplane and move them around until you like the lay-out. It's cheap and it works.

That’s pretty much how I do it as well, although I usually make a fully-size panel template and do it on a table. I have used computer-based design programs before, and then discovered that when I got to the airplane, there panel mounting screws or nut plates in the way, or a brace behind the panel, or…… So trust, but verify before cutting anything!
 
Initially I used PowerPoint for the concepts, then Catia and the models provided by Van's for the detailed layout.
 
Ditto. The technique is one of the few where we get all three of these characteristics - good, fast and cheap.

Plus it's simple enough that even I can understand it.

Dave
 
Almost forgot... for the behind-the-panel stuff I 3d-printed mockup units and played with them till I was happy. (and then I've still moved a couple things)
 
Mock-ups are your friend

Even at work with multi-million dollar systems, we use physical mock-ups. Hard to beat paper and/or cardboard. Computers are great, but scale is near impossible to rightfully visualize (even in full-on VR). To get around that, we normally start with a computer design but then print it out full scale. No need to get even that fancy. All the major panel-component producers offer full-scale images of their products you can print. Set things up how you think you’ll like them, then run through all your check lists and some standard missions. Reset as needed.
 
3 steps

I did it in three steps:
1. Hangarzulu to give an idea of the overall appearance.
2. CAD 2D (Turbocad) using the Vans panel template for accurate scale.
3. Full size cardboard template with paper cutouts, sitting inside the cockpit making plane noises.

Hangarzulu has worked just fine on my old windows 7 PC with chrome.
 
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