I’ve already done a fair amount of work on the panel layout. So I’ve got a pretty good idea where everything is going. The other day, I finally placed the first order with Grand Rapids for the panel instrumentation. I”m going to be installing a GRT HXr with remote avionics and an Android tablet option. I’ve delayed this as long as possible because new models are constantly being released. In fact, when I started this build, the HXr wasn’t an available model.

The EFIS is not symmetrical. There are knobs and buttons on the left side. What this means is that the screen is set slightly to the left. The reason this is significant is that I want the primary information display to be centered directly in front of the pilot. So the first thing I did was to identify how far to the left of the middle of the fuselage the center of the pilot seat was. Then I measured from the center of the instrument panel to the left and placed a vertical line to indicate the enter of the pilot’s vision. I then created a second vertical line to indicate the center of the EFIS box itself.

For now, I’m still using the paper EFIS display template for positioning. I drew two lines on this also: one for the display center and one for the faceplate center.

I then put the annunicator faceplate, lower switch panel, and light dimmer, servo controller and fan control panel.

As you can see, it’s rather busy. It also looks like the lighting/servo/fan controls will have to be individually mounted since the heatsinks would prevent removing the panel to the front.

Here’s the (latest) panel plan.

Panel1