Engraved cockpit parts

[mulwyk]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

If I just had one of those nifty bubble compasses, I'd sure want a logo for it. I'm stuck with this ugly little flat face compass. (Sigh)

But, I'm gonna need all the other cockpit placards, so...Go Hank!

[Buell Powell]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

Hank,
I would like one too-
Thanks,
Buell

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

Before I found my big bubble face compass I made a miniature dome to fit a standard Airpath. It wasn't an ideal solution, but most people didn't realize it was a small compass till they looked close at it. Many just thought the Taylorcraft had that size when they looked at the old pictures. Just make sure all of the parts are aluminum or plastic!

There is another option. If you want to machine or cast a pylon and can find a dome the right size (I was looking at some track light domes at a lighting shop) you can turn off the ears of a panel mount large compass. They are much cheaper than a dome face compass. It isn't the original, but even fewer will know the difference. If you machine the front cover you will need to have the compass rebuilt before you can fly (remember, you aren't allowed to adjust or work on a compass and only a certified mechanic can even swing it!)

Remember that this only works if your T is in the experimental category!

I didn't have to do anything to the little Airpath except make a mount for it. Wish I had taken a picture of it on the plane. If I remember I will hold it up to the big compass and take a picture on my plane. Of course we are having a BEAUTIFUL day for the first time in months and my wife needs her Jeep's oil changed, the cooling fan relay fixed, the turn signal troubleshot and fixed and the TAXES DONE!!! I would rather SHOVEL SNOW than do taxes!

Hank
Think if I make a break for my car and run to the airport she can catch me? Nah, that won't work, she knows where I would go and the hangar door locks from the outside. But then, SHE doesn't have a security key to get to the hangars!

I'm OUT OF HERE!

[midniteflyer52]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

Hi Hank,

I'd like a compass logo also.

Thanks,

Glen Brodeur
Putnam, CT

[Len Petterson]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

Swedish Figthers flying in US what type and why.
The old swed is asking.
Len

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

A company in Newport News (just outside of Hampton) had a couple of Drakens they used on a contract with the Navy. They would fly a cruise missile profile at the ships so they could practice defenses.
Having been at the business end of a Styx off the coast of Lebanon a long time ago I can tell you having a practice session with a Draken that flies over the bridge at near sonic speed makes the defenses a lot easier when the real thing is coming!
We got lucky, possession of the Styx batteries changed several times. We were lit up by the search RADAR several times and a couple by the actual fire control systems. They got a couple of warnings to knock it off before we sent them a little "gift" and removed the threat.
Hank

Beirut by the fire light was SO romantic. Shame I was with 5,000 other guys.

[wmfife]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

...Almost hate to change this thread back to being about Taylorcraft but just thinking about the compass placard -
The manual describes the original compass as a "B-890 Streamline Compass", and if not mistaken the contractor was Airguide? Can't recall but saw that name somewhere.
Well mine isn't an Airguide but is just as good - a Carwil. Looks like this:
(Just not quite this good yet. But I only paid $100 for it and paying a shop to re-seal & fill it it doesn't look like a big problem so am keeping it.)
But since it WASN'T one of those originally on Taylorcraft contract- is it "legal", or appropriate to over-write it with a Taylorcraft tag? Not that it wouldnt be great to have the option. But the original looks kinda neat too.

Also -Hank, I have two VSI's and BOTH are 6K not 2. Why would take too long to explain but goes back to my first-ever dual, in a SW Piper and rough air was making the 2K one almost unreadable. Plus I was chasing the needle and it was a problem at the time. I got over it but the instrument didn't.

I have one (not installed) identical to yours, a Pioneer 0-6K with "up" and "down" above the zero and "Climb" on the face, date stamped says Jan 1959 but don't know whether that's overhaul - any case it needs to be now. Not as pretty as yours.

Other one actually came out of a C-85 T-Craft and says "IVSI" on the face. My thought was this: IF the instrument isn't overly sensitive to rough air BUT instantly indicated changes in vertical movement wouldn't that be the ideal non-gyro partial-panel attitude component alongside the T&B? I know of at least one tribe member who got himself out of a ground-fog below-minimum situation this way. Only problem is this one (besides weighing 2 oz more) doesn't look as "period-original" as the other.

~

Also, I have an Aeromarine tach that requires an angle-drive I am still looking for. It reads clockwise from the 12 o'clock, uses 100% of the face (for a Lycoming), is marked in 50 rpm increments AND is from the same period. The tach in mine now is the original (attachment isn't cooperating like the first; see the one below on the left; Aero is the other one and is the actual one I have).
In the event I am able to get the Aeromarine one up and working and install it in my panel, the original one may become available to anyone wanting to make their '41 that way.

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

Bill,
The compass looks like it is the same as what is inside my compass dome except for the lugs for bolting it into the panel. Could you turn the lugs off and put it in a dome? Mine is only held into the dome by am single machine screw through the back, (front?) of the dome (OK, the end that faces the prop).
I have seen several of the dome compasses with different things engraved into the logo tab that covers the compass compensator. All you need to do is take the screw out and switch the one you have for a Taylorcraft logo. There was an Airpath compass company but I would need to pull mine out of the dome to see who made mine. Carwil was also a good compass company. Lots of different companies made instruments to fit the same mounts. Getting one for $100 is a GREAT deal!
I know I have been pretty quiet about the logos, but I DO have them in hand now. There were some problems with the engraving and he increased the price on me. Evidently he had more problems making the follow-on ones than the first prototype. I can’t in good conscience ask the people who ordered them to pay more for them than we agreed, but I also can’t swallow the increase on so many myself. I think the only way that would be fare is to give the new price and if you want one, great. If the cost is too high, no hard feelings and I will sell the extras as people want them. The quality is great, but the price is between $15 and $20 instead of the original $10 (I’ll try and figure it out tonight). Any future engraving I do with him will be with a signed agreement on the price in advance.
The VSI on mine turned out great. Originally Keystone was supposed to “convert” my 6K to a 2K but they messed up and just overhauled it. It turned out that the “Fighter Factory” had sent in their 2K to be switched for a 6K and they got it back overhauled too. I have a feeling our paperwork got mixed somewhere because Fighter Factory is on the same airport I am and we just swapped VSIs! They did say that a 6K was worth more than a 2K, but NOT TO ME! It was a fine deal for both of us. Their WW-II fighter gets the right VSI and so does my Taylorcraft. Both are yellow tagged and look brand new. Since the Fighter Factory guys say the 6K is rarer than the 2K maybe you can work a swap with Keystone too.
As to using it for instrument flight, I was told that the difference between a “normal” 41 and the “Full IFR” version back in 41 was the addition of a wet compass (can’t believe a compass was an option) and addition of a VSI and T&B! If it was still 1941 you would have a FULL PANEL!

Hank

[Larry Lyons]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

Hank, no problem here. Just let me know what I owe you. Believe me your work will save me a bunch of effort!
Larry

[wmfife]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

This is the can I was planning to mount my bubbleface in but with an old Pioneer compass. -Trust me it looks better with the Carwil. This way I wouldn't have to turn /file off the ears and deface the original; it drops right in & the holes line up perfectly. When I get this digital cam fixed I can show it off a little better than this. It's quite a neat setup.

If this installation is used the entire can bracket and compass ring would be painted to match the main panel (the local chains were sold out of "Taupe" & the paint mfr. that offered it told me the color had been discontinued so went on the web, found some still on shelves at a hardware store just outside town- and stocked up) and tubing (based on B&W factory shots) ...but the compass' black outer casing would still be visible from below. No, it isn't like the factory pics but I know Best In Category wasn't always judged that way in past years. Just sayin' - (and Deluxe originally meant the best available of everything - not that the original wasn't just as good but a bird in the hand - )

When I bought the old Pioneer compass (yes, I have a small B-16 collection-) he threw in the mount for free and all I have to do is find a way to hang it from the post. May have to bend & drill a strip of aluminum. (Field Approval-?) It has two holes drilled at fore-and-aft pos. in the top and two more on the sides. (-Wonder if I'm up to it?)

(Ed): I believe from seeing some on earlier threads that the compasses Taylorcraft used were longer than the Carwil, so the factory case mount likely wouldn't hold mine in with that one screw at the back. ...Educated guess, though I could be wrong. (-Maybe I mistook the mount casing for the compass body-?) If so did those come sans ear lugs?

[wmfife]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

Hank: Regarding the IVSI would it be possible for them to change a 6K to a 3K by moving the actuator fulcrum back by 50%? And changing the face?
I don't have mine apart but this makes it look easy:

C:\Users\Owner\Downloads\IVSI Diagram Carp Industries.mht

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

I was told originally they would convert mine but they had some of the other ones offered a trade instead (they say the 0-6K ones are worth more and are harder to get but not to me).
Seems to me you could modify one either by changing the orifice or the fulcrum but the best way would be to find a swap.
Hank

[ricky]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

Hello hank,are you going to oshkosh would like to by some of those platt card
from you.
Rick

[Craig Bailey]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

I was told originally they would convert mine but they had some of the other ones offered a trade instead (they say the 0-6K ones are worth more and are harder to get but not to me).
Seems to me you could modify one either by changing the orifice or the fulcrum but the best way would be to find a swap.
Hank

As you get the other placards engraved let us know. I am looking for all the placards for my 1946 BC12D.

Thanks so much

[Pearson]

Re: Engraved cockpit parts

A company in Newport News (just outside of Hampton) had a couple of Drakens they used on a contract with the Navy. They would fly a cruise missile profile at the ships so they could practice defenses.

That was Flight International. They were based at what is now Williamsburg Int'l Airport. We called it Patrick Henry Field back then. At one time they had so many Learjets that Lear would call them asking for advice on maint issues. I worked for them doing those cruise missle profiles and others for several years.