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Macchi C202 Instrument Panel


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Afternoon BMs

 

As promised to Steve Sauvé, find below build details for 1:1 scale Instrument Panel I made for an Italian museum (I was at the time working in Madrid).

The Macchi C202 was one of Italy's best fighters in the early part of WWII.

 

Here is the completed panel which I made from - MDF, Card, Paper, CD case clear plastic, wood rod and a bit of resin.

 

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For panel layout I only had a sketch in one of the books below.

 

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The only measurement I had was the diameter of the Altimeter (which I obtained from the Spanish Air Force Museum, Museo del Aire at Cuatro Vientos Air Base). I blew up the drawing of the panel until the altimeter was the correct size. I stuck the drawing on 3mm MDF and cut it out. 

 

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I did some research and figured out what gauges would be on the panel. Again it was fortunate that the Spanish Air Force museum had just about every gauge on display (As Spain flew many Italian types between the wars).

 

With measurements and how the gauges should look I drew up the gauges in Serif Drawplus 8 (free software).

 

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I used each gauge drawing to cut out the gauge in either card (small gauges) or MDF for the big ones.

 

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If you notice, the gauge is made into layers.

 

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The needles are drawn on card and then cut out.

 

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I painted each number to represent Radium glow.

 

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I sanded the sides so all the layer were the same size then wrapped paper around the outer diameter. If you coat this in superglue it sets hard as plastic and paints perfectly;

 

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The reset knob was made of MDF and wrinkle paper.

 

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Again, coat in superglue before sanding, then assemble the parts into one gauge.

 

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The panel on italian fighters was painted in wrinkle paint (anti glare). I used hi temp wrinkle spray for the effect. It goes on smooth but drys like a prune!!

 

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Smaller gauges such as the rate of roll gauge was all made out of card (picture framing card). The glass on this needed shaping so I heated some clear plastic and pressed out the shape i needed.

 

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For the data plates and info labels, for example the one below, I simply print my design onto silver sticky paper.

 

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For the artificial horizon I utilised a childs plastic ball as the shape was the correct size (this took me several months to find)

 

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The lower part of the panel came next.

 

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The weapon cocking levers were made from wood dowels.

 

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The motor cut off was made from modelling putty then sanded smooth and added to an ink stamp i had (just looked perfect).

 

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The clock was made in three parts and the centre section I installed a quartz working, it keeps really good time.

 

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It took me best part of 10 months to make this panel. Research took me 2 months and the build the rest.

 

Hope you got some ideas from this build for your projects. I will show you another build of a Hampden Bomber panel utilising 3D printing instead of the paper/card technique mentioned above.

 

If you have any questions or more clarification, please ask.

 

Enjoy

 

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You can't just go around museums ripping out the instrument panels on your favourite aircraft and passing it off for modelling. Only kidding, it's another amazing piece of work and just brilliant on every level.

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Awesome work! Really impressive how you worked your way up to the full dimensions. A gem of authenticity. When are you ready to engage the full cockpit?

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