Since my ship's power system now involves 3 fuse boxes, 1 over-voltage-protection unit, and a diode/heat sink, I started to consider ways to mount these in the aircraft for ease of inspection and repair. Anyone building a rebel can attest to the paucity of space behind the panel on this aircraft, and though I could have made use of the sides of the foot wells (I see this a lot on Zodiacs), it didn't seem like the best way to approach this.
In my plan, I have added a 2" lower panel extension that will house switches and throttle / mixture control quadrants. This, along with the 0.5" firewall 'struts' means there's at least 2.5" of space below any instruments that's essentially unused. A hinged tray that might drop only 30 degrees or so seemed like the right solution, but only after carefully considering the location of the aformentioned engine control devices.
In image 1, I'm checking to see if most items will fit on my carboard mock-up. No sense fabricating it in aluminum if can't hold most of the items I need it to. Then fabrication and temp install to see function.
