Original 41 BC-12-65 instrument panels

[Hank Jarrett]

Everything in the photos weighs exactly 2#. The battery is NOT in the battery box yet! The battery with it's master fuse and harness all by itself weighs 8# 5oz. All up, 10# 5 oz. Battery is heavy but not bad for 15 AH. I have a MUCH smaller and lighter battery I can put in that only weighs about a pound, but doubt I will use it.

Hank

[Hank Jarrett]

I WILL probably pull the big battery out a lot of the time and keep it on the bench float charger. I can fly a couple of hours on the handheld and GPS internal batteries and who needs lights? The internal batteries come to full charge from the Cigar lighter plug in the car on the drive to the airport.

Hank

[astjp2]

I have an emergency light battery that is 7ah, I can fly for 2.5 days or about 30 hours before it needs charged or swapped out.

[Hank Jarrett]

What I need to do is a load test on all the things I have in the plane. If I remember I sized it originally so I could get to AirVenture on one charge. Sounds like I could make several round trips on 15AH!
;-)

[astjp2]

My radio only use 250ma in receive mode, 2 amps on transmit, the PM1000 intercom doesn't use much either...GPS has its own battery so I just run on it.

[Hank Jarrett]

Same with mine except my radio used 1 Amp on transmit and my GPS has a weak battery that only lasts an hour or so (I will probably be putting a new battery in it in the future). The intercom has had the same 9v Transistor radio battery for years. The "electrical system" is a BACKUP that can provide power to the radio, GPS and Intercom if any of them lose power or I am going on a long trip. For local flying around the neighborhood I have always just carried a spare battery for the radio (actually I keep 2 batteries in my headset bag). The only real reason for a 15AH battery was it was the one that fit almost perfect in the battery box. It IS kind of heavy, but for local flying I can't even tell the difference if it is aboard or not. A lot of the reason for building the whole system is, "WHY NOT?! I'm stuck at home and wanted something I could do on the dining room table anyway.

Hank

[Hank Jarrett]

Well bad weather and Covid have me working on my panel again. I found a 1941 photo of the Mag switch hole and the one I made for my panel was NOT right. I got lucky and the hole I made was much smaller than the correct one so I brought the panel insert home and did it up right. I also made a lever like was used in 1941 and am mounting a key in it so it looks original when plugged into the mag switch behind the panel. Took a LOT of time to get the placard right behind the panel insert hole and will be even longer getting the actual mag switch aligned so the key in the lever works smoothly. I also painted the lever the wrong color (small sub panel color instead of matching the main panel color). %##(&%#! Not a bad job to correct. Just a repaint of the lever. I can now make replacement levers for the 41 (big demand there!) and the A-7 switches sitting on the panel with a grimes mag switch. I never liked the reliability of the A-7 but our planes just don't look right with the modern switch.

[Hank Jarrett]

I cast another Mag lever last night as well as worked on my first replacement VNE for a pre war placard. The pre war 131 MPH placards were cast from a copper/bronze/gold looking metal and had raised lettering surrounded by black. REALLY look nice. I have been told the late pre war planes also used the same placard but with 140 MPH. If anyone has one please let me know. I would really like to get some photos. The 131 MPH one came out really nice but needed a lot of cleaning up and my eyes aren't as good as they used to be. I think I have about 10 or 12 hours into this one and it still needs to have the gold color put on the lettering and inked background done. They CAN be made, but I think they may be a bit more labor intensive than anyone would be willing to spring for. The first photo is a close up of the one I made. The second is 3 of the ones from fairly early (pre 1946 BC12-D) and shows an early original stamped placard that replaced the cast ones on top. It is pressed from silver metal and the letters are slightly raised. The middle one is an original 41 cast 131 placard where the letters are raised and the background was inked in, followed by gently sanding through the ink to get the gold letters against the black. This one is from an original 1941 Deluxe panel. The bottom one is a replica of the middle one I made and blacked in the background so the letters could be seen (but not very well). I am going to check with some jewelry makers about doing the letters and inking the background properly. More low use skills to learn!

[Hank Jarrett]

I have also been making other replica parts and found out how they "skinned" the 1941 outside door handles with thin burnished aluminum. I showed a photo some time back of a skin I made that was WAY too weak for anything but show. These two are last weeks try. Wish I could tell you which one in the photos is the original and which is the replica, but I can't tell! The square shaft is not in the replica yet but the shaft doesn't show in the photos. What is funny (in a strange way) is I started making this handle because I have looked for an original for years and could never find one. Two different people popped up a week or so ago with them! I just had to see how well I could copy a handle so I decided to finish it this last week. Probably about 30 hours to make a silly handle! Covid is giving me a chance to learn a LOT of neat techniques...but I would rather go fly!!!! I have GOT to get my IA out to finish my annual!

[TC747paul]

This is the plastic panel that came with the plane and the prewar planned for restoration. it does have the 131mph plaque on it but is going to need alot of work

[Hank Jarrett]

PM sent. Looks like the first panel has one of he original cast VNE placards. Be real careful with that!

Hank

[Hank Jarrett]

Got some new resin that is a lot stronger and made an inside handle for Paul Cooper's T. Sure wish I could find where they sell the square hole drill bits! Doing that by hand was a bugger! Next time I do one I need to cut it BEFORE the resin cures all the way. The one on hte left is the replica and hte one on teh right is original 1941.

[3Dreaming]

Got some new resin that is a lot stronger and made an inside handle for Paul Cooper's T. Sure wish I could find where they sell the square hole drill bits! Doing that by hand was a bugger! Next time I do one I need to cut it BEFORE the resin cures all the way. The one on hte left is the replica and hte one on teh right is original 1941.

Make a little square piece out of balsa or foam and attach it to a piece of card stock. After you have poured the resin insert the square piece. It will be easier to remove compared to drilling the resin.

[Peterroy]

Nice job Hank.

[Hank Jarrett]

Great idea! This resin is REALLY thin when first poured and will soak into the wood but it would at least be easier to chisel out than the solid resin with the wood fibers in it. This stuff is cross linked acrylic and seems as strong as cast aluminum, and HARDER to shave down! It also can be polished and will turn crystal clear. Some that hardened in a plastic cup looks just like water but is hard as stone. I am thinking of trying to make a mold of the face frame of a big compass so an available compass could be mounted in one of the top of the windshield cans. You probably couldn't tell from outside of the plane it didn't have an original compass!

Just what I need, ANOTHER project!

Hank