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Show us your panel!

Here is my RV-4 panel.

Thanks to a couple of great Houston area RVers David Grover and Nick Nafsinger. It's an amazing panel to fly behind.
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Beautiful!

Rick- Possibly the nicest -4 panel I ever seen! David and Nick are very talented individuals, and to have both of them on your team is a winning combination. This is a panel I've got to see in person!
 
Come on down

Give me a call at 832-372-7588. We can go to lunch a Brazoria (LBX), or fly to my place at Songbird Ranch (91TS, 20 miles south of Hobby). Thanks for the compliment. It makes the effort worthwhile.
 
songbird that panel looks like it is filled up and very nice. I'm a bit understudied on all the avionics and i can't quite read some of the model designators. Can you take another picture or tell me what they are? thank you
 
songbird that panel looks like it is filled up and very nice. I'm a bit understudied on all the avionics and i can't quite read some of the model designators. Can you take another picture or tell me what they are? thank you
I have the following: Dynon EFIS 100, EMS 120, HS 34, AP 74, Garmin 430W, Garmin 496, At-76 Txp. It's a dream to fly behind. It does require a "buttonology" effort, but it's worth it.
 
Songbird I am down in Pearland, about to be starting my -4 build and would love to check out your plane sometime and maybe get some tips!
 
Here is my first attempt at my panel. I am not sure whether to keep the Grand Rapids EIS 4000 engine monitor on the panel or mount it remotely behind the panel. Any comments appreciated.

rv4_panel_1.jpg
 
As long as you have room for it, I would leave it there, My panel is so full if I add anything else I'll have to move it, but I'll still want to keep it visible.
 
Here is my first attempt at my panel. I am not sure whether to keep the Grand Rapids EIS 4000 engine monitor on the panel or mount it remotely behind the panel. Any comments appreciated.

rv4_panel_1.jpg

Thomas, for what it is worth my own view is that you should have the steam driven ASI up nearer to your line of sight if you ever land in difficult gusty places. You can see how I did it here.

Normally I use the AFS, but on approach my eyes always move back to the ASI because I have a difficult cross wind gusty strip, and the ASI is more reactive to the gusts. You might get a sense of how it is useful to keep the corner of your eye on it on approach if you look at the second video down here. On this occasion it was very calm.

The engine stuff, navigation, radio and transponder are all secondary to flying the plane.
 
Two ideas I have. I fly VFR, short trips on small fields, some acro etc, and I just want real gauges for flight instruments (although I see lots of benefits with glass). Comments?


This is the first version
rv4_panel_v01.jpg



And one with XTreme EFIS EMS.
rv4_panel_v02.jpg
 
Two ideas I have. I fly VFR, short trips on small fields, some acro etc, and I just want real gauges for flight instruments (although I see lots of benefits with glass). Comments?

Well.. with all the digital instruments you have, why not just put in glass. It seems to me you ? of the way there anyway. :)
 
Two ideas I have. I fly VFR, short trips on small fields, some acro etc, and I just want real gauges for flight instruments (although I see lots of benefits with glass). Comments?

Well.. with all the digital instruments you have, why not just put in glass. It seems to me you ? of the way there anyway. :)

I know :) I have been scratching my head alot about this. If someone could make a glass box with radio, transponder, EMS, all the things you do not need to monitor except every now and then, I would buy it promptly :) But I want large analog gauges (round dials) for ASI, VSI, Alt and RPM, I do not need a huge glass horizon with some numbers scattered around.

MGL is developing black boxes (radios and transponders) with no buttons or dials, to be interfaced with glass, so it is coming, but it probably will take some years ?
 
old / new panel on PH-EIL (aka N921MS)

We used the original panel and switches however ´glass perled´ and than powder coated it.

Old:
wvvpmw.jpg


Too, we took some of the steam gauges out, put a new Dynon D-6, a TruTrack Digiflight VS II (CWS flip switch top left of panel), a mode-S transponder and 2 moving map GPS and a cheap OAT in, re-grouped the engine instruments L/H side and as well did some new labels and here you are (the GPS in the middle will be powered from behind the panel and the cable will go; just playing around with some GPS´es still) ...

New:
r0oaop.jpg



Very functional and I like it, Heinz
P.S. ... thought it might make sense to keep the chance for re-establishing the six pack or just the Turn & Bank and the VSI with a smaller GPS in the middle for later ...
 
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MY NEW PANEL

For your enjoyment

Here we go, finally posting a picture of the complete panel.

Being flying behind it for 2 months and love it.

Skyview SV-D700 with Pitch & Roll autopilot.

( Picture taken with my cellphone (not the best ) enroute from CYMX to CYRQ, 3000', 142 KTS TAS..and smooth as glass...

Bruno
[email protected]

p.s:This link give you another look of the panel and the A/C..
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/341/img00310201111271029.jpg/

This one shows you the Skyview picture of the flight..



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
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Uploaded with ImageShack.us

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Bruno & Brian,

I LOVE yor panels!! It is amazing the capability we can now fit in the limited space of an RV-4. It just makes them more WONDERFUL!! :D

Enjoy,
 
Teasing

Well Brian

When you mentioned that you were teasing, you sure were..

Man, I love this panel...I didn't know I could fit 2 Skyview in there, never actually measure it..

Look like I'm gonna be building another panel not too far in the future again..

My wife hates you by the way:D:D

Don't forget to post the final results

Cheers

Bruno
 
I take no credit other than signing the checks, all the work and craftsmanship is being done by Kent Gorton, he does excellent work as you can see! Symmetry was achieved by careful planning on his part
 
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-19 degrees ICY TEMPS in Oregon - Un-official and Un-authorized flight testing

I returned home from a trip back east yesterday. This is a snapshot near Burns Oregon - Flight over a slight broken ceiling at 14K plus for two hours with temps ranging from -19 to -10

We could call this the un-official and fully un-authorized RV-4 flight testing at 15K. With only some moderate carb icing at times and strong headwinds, the aircraft and engine were otherwise flawless. Van certainly designed a great flying machine.
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We finally got the instruments put in the panel so I can finally post a pic. This panel turned out way better than expected. As you can see it is inset about 4" with the sides angled back to the usual location. This gives me @ 6'-1" more than enough leg room. Justin also designed all the side panels and the unique carb heat location. I'll post the other pics on the project page
B066281E-EE39-4D00-8130-C1C04388EB3C_zpsgl9vtmj4.jpg
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Well, here's my completed panel (sans labeling)...the total Dynon suite plus a GTN-650. Everything appears to work and no smoke released.

IMG_9579.jpg


Now, behind the panel is a somewhat organized rats nest of wire. It's as organized as I could make it, so here it is:

IMG_9580.jpg
 
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There are so many photos in this thread that are dead links, like all the ImageShake ones. Or is it because I have some settings on my browser that need to change? Very unfortunate as I am learning a ton from these pics, not just about the panels but how people are routing their controls, locating their fuel selector, flap switches etc. Can somebody tell me how to find these pictures?
 
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d201d27c-d0a2-4661-ad20-5b453532b2f5_zps08e32664.png


First picture upload, hope it works!?!

Just moving around pieces of paper for now, maybe this layout is a good idea? Was thinking abuot having carb heat and oil cooler shutter below compass and vent and a row of switches and fuses in the free lower space.

Any advice?
 
There are so many photos in this thread that are dead links, like all the ImageShake ones. Or is it because I have some settings on my browser that need to change? Very unfortunate as I am learning a ton from these pics, not just about the panels but how people are routing their controls, locating their fuel selector, flap switches etc. Can somebody tell me how to find these pictures?

It's not you. They are not posted on this site, and whomever is hosting them eventually deletes them, then we have a broken link. It's a shame, given how cheap and easy it is to get cloud hosting these days.

The only way to possibly get them, would be to PM the original poster and ask.

I understand why VAF won't host them. Not only does it take space, but the bandwidth then comes from their server. Too bad they can't arrange with a cloud service, then neither would happen.
 
We finally got the instruments put in the panel so I can finally post a pic. This panel turned out way better than expected. As you can see it is inset about 4" with the sides angled back to the usual location. This gives me @ 6'-1" more than enough leg room. Justin also designed all the side panels and the unique carb heat location. I'll post the other pics on the project page
B066281E-EE39-4D00-8130-C1C04388EB3C_zpsgl9vtmj4.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]

Best RV4 panel I have ever seen!! what a difference a few inches makes very clever and looks awesome
 
More conventional

While the recessed panel above is the most unique and space conscience I've ever seen, I'm still pretty proud of mine.

Bill from Up North Aviation cut a stock RV-4 Van's panel to fit my existing flange and the gauges I put back into the panel.

 
I posted this also in the steam panel pics in the general forum, but it really belongs here. My RV4 steam panel, and a cool gust lock. The panel was done in 1996 with brand new everything, and 20 years later it still looks and works like new. The gust lock is spring loaded, so it folds under the panel when not in use.

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Steam punk panel

Century HSI, King GPS/COM and NAV/COM and audio, STEC 30 autopilot, with all controls on the stick - a modified F-16 side hand control.
DSC_0058-800x600.jpg
 
I figured I would post a new pic of my panel featuring my nexus 7 mounting location. Im using a ram mount. I did not want to drill
any holes so I made a C shaped clamp from wood that fits close around the side frame. The clamp is actually attached with double
sticky tape on 3 sides. The Ram ball is then mounted to the clamp. The Nexus is just double sticky taped to
the other ram ball. It worked really well.

410980171.jpg
 
Panel



Ipad mini mounted on top of the glove box and the Garmin Aera 500 is mounted via a Ram ball mount affixed to the screws on the left vent eyeball. Didn't have to drill any holes!
 
My RV-4 Panel

This the result of a complete rewiring of the airplane. The owner / builder used the Dynon Skyview system and the VP-X Sport system. I installed the D2 Pocket Panel as a backup attitude source. I also added the Skyview Knob Panel above the display. Those dedicated knobs are very useful. I'd seriously consider the autopilot panel too, especially if doing any significant IFR work - which I'm not.

IMG_1784_zpsfm5ywlvn.jpg
 
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Thanks Walt

I'd like to thank Walt for a great job on the above G3X panel in my RV-4! He did a great job and was a pleasure to work with(hope he says the same about me:rolleyes:) The RV-4 is pretty tight when it comes to finding real estate and Walt made it all happen and was more than fair on cost considering how many obstacles he ran into during the install.
 
Combination of mag switches?

Dayton,

I like both your set-ups of the panel! Clean and functional! I do not want to divert the subject, but I have a question regarding the key switch combined with the toggle switches for the L/R mags. Could you comment on the function?
 
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