rvmills
Well Known Member
A little over a year ago I was fortunate enough to purchase Tom Hallendorf's Super Six. Tom did a fabulous job building it, and it was featured in the December 1998 Sport Aviation mag. Boyd B and "Rocketboy" Bob were owners #2 and #3, and did some mods, with Bob painting it and beginning a panel upgrade. I thought I'd post some "then and now" pix, show the mods, and say a few thank-yous.
Here's how the airplane looked (outside and panel), circa 1998 (pix from the mag):
Here's how it looked when I bought it last year (outside and panel):
Bob's panel upgrade incorporated the D100, and had provisions for a TT AP and a backup ASI (the two 2.25" cutouts to each side of the Dynon). The airplane flies like a dream, and I bought it with the intention of continuing the panel upgrade (moving the switches on the right to a more ergonomic position, adding the AP and maybe an MGL ASI/ALT combo, and painting the modular panel overlays). When Dynon announced their AP, I took a dive in another direction, and decided to add a D10A, a Dynon AP and an AP-74, and a Garmin stack below the 396 to replace the old Terra radio and transponder (GMA340, SL-40, GTX327). I added a throttle bracket to move the engine controls off the panel, changed the old Ram Air and Cabin heat knobs from full sized throttle controls to smaller control knobs, changed out the old CBs to pullable breakers, added a Dynon AOA pitot, added a couple CH stick grips, and even added a Vince Frazier tailwheel (a very throrough condition inspection went along with the project, as I clicked over a year of ownership during the upgrade). Future plans are to add a Dynon EMS 120 to the right side to replace the VM-1000, which when networked into the DSAB will give me a PFD/HSI/EMS capability in the left seat, and a PFD/EMS capability in the right seat (for when my boys get older and want to fly from the right or left...and when the budget and my wife's good-will recover from this phase of the project!)
Here is the panel as it turned out:
The mission is day/night VFR and fun X-C machine, so I feel comfortable with an all-Dynon panel and no steam backups (I get enough IFR on the job, and this thang was built for speed and fun...that's why I bought it!). A Monroy traffic watch and DIY annunciator panel round out the panel, and Vern Little's AOA repeater sits on the glareshield, next to the SPOT. Stein's LED strip lights are under the panel, and his map lights are to each side. The panel is powder coated, color is Apple Platinum Gray (a light, flat gray...the color of the original Apple 2SE computer, for what that's worth ). Letters were laser-etched through tape and rattle-can sprayed black to finish. I waffled between this color scheme and B-707 gray with white letters, but decided on the lighter shade, as it seemed to open up the cockpit a lot, and nearly matched the original interior color. It's very easy on the eyes while flying.
I do owe several thank-yous, many to members here (some who didn't even know they helped!)
John Kaiser, a local Reno guy, did the panel overlays and a lion's share of the wiring...probably prevented me from strangling myself with wires many times over. He's got a CNC machine and does a great job with panel cutting (and did plastic practice panels to get it just right).
Walt Murphy (local A&P) and Dan Ross (VAF's guccidude1) mentored me throughout, and even the jokes about my progress were pretty tolerable (Dan is babysitting me through servo installation now!).
Thanks to VAF'ers Bill R (for great advice on Dynons and other stuff), Vern Little (for the AOA gouge and your posts on electrical stuff), Stein for a nice conversation on panels, the cool lights and the switch covers! Unbeknownst to them, Brian (Brantel) and Paul (Ironflight) were big helps too (Brian, I've been following along with you on your ongoing panel development and really like your layouts, and Paul, watching you dig through wires in pix made it a little easier to dive in!) Oh, and Rick G, stole your idea on the glareshield edge pad too (thanks!).
It's been a big undertaking for a non-builder (not yet anyway), but it's been a real education, with plenty of cuts and contortions along the way...so I've developed a real respect for those of you that have built and are building!!
Thanks for all the support, and here's one last pic of "Rocket Six" providing an RV grin!
Cheers,
Bob
Here's how the airplane looked (outside and panel), circa 1998 (pix from the mag):
Here's how it looked when I bought it last year (outside and panel):
Bob's panel upgrade incorporated the D100, and had provisions for a TT AP and a backup ASI (the two 2.25" cutouts to each side of the Dynon). The airplane flies like a dream, and I bought it with the intention of continuing the panel upgrade (moving the switches on the right to a more ergonomic position, adding the AP and maybe an MGL ASI/ALT combo, and painting the modular panel overlays). When Dynon announced their AP, I took a dive in another direction, and decided to add a D10A, a Dynon AP and an AP-74, and a Garmin stack below the 396 to replace the old Terra radio and transponder (GMA340, SL-40, GTX327). I added a throttle bracket to move the engine controls off the panel, changed the old Ram Air and Cabin heat knobs from full sized throttle controls to smaller control knobs, changed out the old CBs to pullable breakers, added a Dynon AOA pitot, added a couple CH stick grips, and even added a Vince Frazier tailwheel (a very throrough condition inspection went along with the project, as I clicked over a year of ownership during the upgrade). Future plans are to add a Dynon EMS 120 to the right side to replace the VM-1000, which when networked into the DSAB will give me a PFD/HSI/EMS capability in the left seat, and a PFD/EMS capability in the right seat (for when my boys get older and want to fly from the right or left...and when the budget and my wife's good-will recover from this phase of the project!)
Here is the panel as it turned out:
The mission is day/night VFR and fun X-C machine, so I feel comfortable with an all-Dynon panel and no steam backups (I get enough IFR on the job, and this thang was built for speed and fun...that's why I bought it!). A Monroy traffic watch and DIY annunciator panel round out the panel, and Vern Little's AOA repeater sits on the glareshield, next to the SPOT. Stein's LED strip lights are under the panel, and his map lights are to each side. The panel is powder coated, color is Apple Platinum Gray (a light, flat gray...the color of the original Apple 2SE computer, for what that's worth ). Letters were laser-etched through tape and rattle-can sprayed black to finish. I waffled between this color scheme and B-707 gray with white letters, but decided on the lighter shade, as it seemed to open up the cockpit a lot, and nearly matched the original interior color. It's very easy on the eyes while flying.
I do owe several thank-yous, many to members here (some who didn't even know they helped!)
John Kaiser, a local Reno guy, did the panel overlays and a lion's share of the wiring...probably prevented me from strangling myself with wires many times over. He's got a CNC machine and does a great job with panel cutting (and did plastic practice panels to get it just right).
Walt Murphy (local A&P) and Dan Ross (VAF's guccidude1) mentored me throughout, and even the jokes about my progress were pretty tolerable (Dan is babysitting me through servo installation now!).
Thanks to VAF'ers Bill R (for great advice on Dynons and other stuff), Vern Little (for the AOA gouge and your posts on electrical stuff), Stein for a nice conversation on panels, the cool lights and the switch covers! Unbeknownst to them, Brian (Brantel) and Paul (Ironflight) were big helps too (Brian, I've been following along with you on your ongoing panel development and really like your layouts, and Paul, watching you dig through wires in pix made it a little easier to dive in!) Oh, and Rick G, stole your idea on the glareshield edge pad too (thanks!).
It's been a big undertaking for a non-builder (not yet anyway), but it's been a real education, with plenty of cuts and contortions along the way...so I've developed a real respect for those of you that have built and are building!!
Thanks for all the support, and here's one last pic of "Rocket Six" providing an RV grin!
Cheers,
Bob