Panel Facelift for a Super Six

[rvmills]

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

[Ironflight]

First Class job Bob - that airplane (and panel) looks beautiful!

Paul

[pierre smith]

....Bob,
To satisfy our/my curiosity, kindly give us some numbers.

Takeoff distance, Rate of climb and 75% cruise speeds.

Thanks,

[Brantel]

Bob,

Looks great! Very nice!

[rvmills]

Originally Posted by pierre smith

....Bob,
To satisfy our/my curiosity, kindly give us some numbers.

Takeoff distance, Rate of climb and 75% cruise speeds.

Thanks,

Thanks Pierre, Paul and Brian!

Pierre, here are some psuedo-unscientific numbers. Some are from before the panel redo, and some are from after. I still need to make some GPS speed runs and some more side-by-side runs with others to check airspeed calibration, but I'd give these speeds +/- 5ish knots. I'll also need to do some real TO dist and initial ROC testing for better numbers...these will be SWAGs (want to put that caveat in there...I want to test more for good data that I can back up, so none of this is intended as braggin'...but Tom built a nice airplane!)

TO distance, even at GW and 6,500' DALT (warm day in RNO) is under 1000'. Tail is up in 2 potatoes, and I'm off before the first taxiway at Stead. On a cool day, its better of course. My first time solo down in the Bay Area (65 degrees at Sea Level, 20 gals of gas) I think it broke ground at 2-300 feet, and I was turning crosswind at 1000' before the end of the runway (at 120 knots). My seller advertised it at over 3,500-4,300 FPM ROC, not sure about the origin of those numbers, but it'll sustain over 2,000 fpm for quite a while, and it'll hit that well above the 87 KIAS Vy. A Vy climb is pretty impressive (visually) and I'll have to play with that some more to see what it'll do.

When we brought it west from Florida, we typically cruised at 9,500 MSL, at 21 squared (55%), and were seeing about 167 KIAS, 185 KTAS (on the Dynon) at 10.5 GPH. I've cruised at 10.5 at 22"/2300 RPM, and saw about 182 KIAS, 200 KTAS (12 GPH), and last week I did a speed run at about 6000 MSL (WOT and 2700 RPM, and about as low as I could go in the area) and saw 200 KIAS, 220 KTAS on the Dynon...at over 20 GPH though! Still need to check those top-end numbers for accuracy, but am doing so cautiously. The original steam ASI had it's redline at 260 MPH, but I've seen all the discussion of VNE and flutter, so I'm careful about being a test-pilot. The skins are thicker, wings are clipped and there are stiffeners throughout, so it's been modified for the increased speed. I don't need to push it too hard to go fast, and the extra HP is a nice margin up here in the hills, so I'm very happy with its performance. Original Empty weight was 1230 lbs, with a max GW of 1900 lbs (aerobatic GW of 1550). I have a reweigh coming up, to see if it's gained any weight over the years. 520 hours TTAF&E, about 70 of those are mine (1 year with 5 months down for the upgrades) so I'm still getting to know the plane...but it is a smile producer! Meant to mention above, it has a Hartzell 80" two-bladed CS prop on the IO-540.

If you guys ever visit RNO, gotta go for a ride!! Hope to have it out and about to some of the gatherings next year, and maybe even some SARL fun (been watching Bob Ax...sure looks like fun...is Race 600 available? )

Cheers,
Bob

[Mike S]

Bob, did you ever get in touch with Tom H. and do that photo shoot???

[N941WR]

Bob,

Your panel looks just outstanding! Great job, I like the way you used the D10A for your HSI display and I hope you like the way the Dynon autopilot works.

[rvmills]

Originally Posted by Mike S

Bob, did you ever get in touch with Tom H. and do that photo shoot???

Mike,

Not yet, though I'd really like to meet Tom and Steve Barnes, who has the sister ship. Spoke with Steve a while back, and we'd like to get the planes together, and I'd love to include Tom.

Been hectic with Matty's recovery (going well now, he's back in school, took him for an airplane ride last week, and his trach comes out next week, so all is well).

Will let you know if we put something together...maybe we can even do it at Cameron Park, and get together with you too! (Did you say Tom is a member of your EAA chapter now?) I need to fly down and meet you anyway...hopefully soon!

Cheers,
Bob

[rvmills]

Originally Posted by N941WR

Bob,

Your panel looks just outstanding! Great job, I like the way you used the D10A for your HSI display and I hope you like the way the Dynon autopilot works.

Thanks Bill, and thanks again for the wisdom shared along the way!! Is it OK if I call or e-mail ya about the AP as I put it together? Your bracket worked like a charm for the AP-74! Now if I can just get the roll servo to fit in the floor among all the wires in that bay, and then wire it up correctly!! (Is it easier than changing a diaper? ) Hmmmm!

Cheers,
Bob

[N941WR]

Originally Posted by rvmills

Thanks Bill! Is it OK if I call or e-mail ya about the AP as I put it together? Your bracket worked like a charm for the AP-74! Now if I can just get the roll servo to fit in the floor among all the wires in that bay, and then wire it up correctly!! Hmmmm!

Cheers,
Bob

No problem at all, I'll PM my phone number.

Dynon liked the AP74 bracket so much they are making it standard on their kits. What I like is it doesn't require you to drive rivets on a finished panel, which is why I made the thing in the first place. Funny thing, I couldn't talk Dynon into giving me 10% of the AP74/76 sales for coming up with that. Darn it!