I thought I'd better get the panel painted before it get's too cold, so this morning and afternoon I kicked the panel prep into high gear. I finished up the nutplates from yesterday. (Countersunk and riveted them into place.)
- Countersunk the holes for the panel angle bracing bracket. I also trimmed a bit of it to size to fit around the guages and other stuff. - Completed the cable mounts and primed them. - Rebuilt a part I had made to support the garmin GPS mounting bracket. I had made a attachment piece a few weeks ago and spent about 30 minutes looking for it. I ended up fabricating a new piece. (It took about 15 minutes) - I primed things - then went to lunch - On my return, I riveted the top panel brace bracket into place and also the support piece. - Hit everything with another light coat of primer - While the primer was drying, I taped the sub panel area off. I'm going to hit it with a coat of hammered gray.(Found 12 rivets I had neglected to pound holding the sub panel onto the bulkhead. So, I added the rivets. - Sprayed the panel and parts with hammered gray. (I'm going to let it dry for a few days before putting the decals for the switches and lights on.)
*I have decided to use a white decal materal rather than just the white lettering. I have been trying a number of different sample panel ideas and the wording the sticks out the best is black on white. Since I don't want a white panel, I'm going to have a white background on the wording. I think it will look OK. If not, I'll sand down the panel and try something else.
