Dash finalization and so on

After the instruments and radio were fitted I had to now paint the dash and rivet it into place. I had at first just temporarily placed everything to make sure it was all going to work out. It seemed to fit ok in the end. I am a bit disappointed however about the placement of the ignition key as it is ok with just one key, but usually you have a few keys on the plane key ring like the hangar keys and so on. As it stands at the moment these extra keys hanging will interfere with the trim control. I will have to get one of those detachable key chain devices I guess and store my other keys elsewhere during flight. A bit of a pain, however easier than making a new dash panel.  My next little mission will be to sort out the decals for the switches and circuit breakers. I am as yet undecided about how I will do this but I will give it some thought soon.

I have wired up the radio PTT switches and fitted the hand grips to the dual control sticks. I was so proud of myself with what I thought was such a great neat job until I tried to get the control stick boots over the top. Ahhhhhhh... they didn't fit.  The hole in the boot is not big enough by far to go over. I will need to slacken the wiring and hope I can get enough play out of the top to add a 2-pin electrical plug to both hand grip assemblies so that I can take them on and off when needed. Oh well, a small set back.