Another reason to do the Fastback Mod on an -8

I was sold on the Showplanes Fastback Mod for looks and hopefully elimination of the draft under the canopy skirt for the backseater. Extra room in the aft baggage is nice, and if you want to mount antennas along the spine, you can. Also I'm looking forward to the visibility without a canopy bow. Good enough.

But I was having difficulties getting my desired panel to fit because the space side to side just wasn't enough. Then I looked at those little side panels, and wondered if I could trade some of that for a wider central panel? After speaking to Builder Support, I'm going to try. It seems that the reason that central removable panel is so small is to allow it to be removed between the canopy rails and beneath the canopy bow. The FB mod includes narrower canopy rails and eliminates the canopy bow, so I think this will work.

The original panel is 24" wide. I'm trying to add an inch on each side for a total of 26". That completely fixes the room challenge for my avionics. We're going to mock up a panel just to ensure removal is possible as some components extend nearly a foot behind the panel. I'll let you know how it goes. But, of all the things I wanted from an FB mod, a wider instrument panel may be an unexpected bonus.

This guy did a great job of documenting his fastback build. I think he did a full size panel. It’s been awhile since I read this. http://papalimabravo.com/category/construction/fuselage/showplanes-fastback

I love the fastback look and so will you. It took me longer than the estimated 30 hours to complete. YMMV

30 hours to do the entire FB modification?!?!?!?

I wouldn't know how you'd know. There's a never-never land between the two plans and sometimes I didn't know where to look for answers. Mine is a project, but just about at the QB stage, so we had a bit of disassembly to do first.

I'm hoping for a first flight summer of '23. I'll keep an eye out for you!

Another reason........ You may also avoid a cracked canopy in the future.

inst pannel

Butch Milani here , and yes 26 in will work. You can mod vans attach panel and get more if needed. Just an ol man that has done a few. 541 326 7851 for more info.