Dash Glare

[fgayford]

I was just thinking that if my dash is a really shiny carbon fiber look, I might get some bad reflections in my wind screen I notice most planes have a flat black dash. I would appreciate any comments or advice.
Fred

[earthstaraircraft]

H Fred
Yes, shiny is bad. We use flat black paint.
Happy Flying
Mark


In a message dated 2/18/2012 8:46:09 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
gayford@golden.net writes:




I was just thinking that if my dash is a really shiny carbon fiber look, I
might get some bad reflections in my wind screen I notice most planes have
a flat black dash. I would appreciate any comments or advice.
Fred

[rileywinglowe]

Hi, Fred. Personally, I don't like shiny or brightly colored panels. Don't
actually care too much for black, either, since the faces of most
instruments are black. I like a nice, flat light gray color. I use gray
wrinkle paint or satin or flat gray. The instruments stand out in good
contrast with the panel, and the panel is not distracting.

I think the worst looking panel I ever saw was bright red. The second worst
was fake curly maple. very distracting to the eye. To me, the panel itself
should not be decorative, it should make the instruments easily readable.

Riley


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[fgayford]

Hi Riley
I never liked bright dash colors either.I will probably go with a flat off black color and leave the front flat panels in the carbon look. (if you look at the pictures of my mockups I kinda like the color of them) May dull down the carbon front panels with compound.
Thanks
Fred

[rileywinglowe]

Sounds nice. Sure is looking good, Fred.

Riley


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[blaswichk]

Flat finish is good, and yes, there are reflections off the angled windscreen. Maybe you could just give the carbon finish a light fine sandpaper finish to cut the sheen, but still give you the transparent weave look. I find that anything shiny reflects back.

kb

[fgayford]

Who knows,(just thinking out loud) maybe when the time comes I will paint all the panels even though they are carbon fiber. I went with carbon so as to be as light as possible. As Mark said. There is some rule that if you drop a piece your about to add to your airplane and it falls to the floor, its too heavy. I'm shooting for that!
Fred

[fgayford]

Thanks Riley.
I hoped that you guys would find the process interesting.
Fred

[tgulldave]

For a short time I had dark blue fabric that had a sheen at some light
angles. It was a problem. Now I have flat black nylon fabric. IMHO Weight
always matters.