Instrument Panels

[cerberus]

Does anyone know where you can find generic decals to simulated instrument panels for space fighters or decals to simulate the interior of say the millennium falcon cockpit.

[i]Editor's note: I'm expanding this subject to cover instrument panels in general. [/i][/i]

[Andrew Gorman]

It would be nice to have an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of instruments, but most modelers only want one particular panel at a time. There are some good generic ones in the old Revell 1/96 kits like the XSL-01 and Space Station- scans of those sheets and others are at
http://www.ninfinger.org/models/space_m ... ml#classic
I cut and pasted a sheet together and printed it on white decal paper with the home laser printer and they worked just fine. Some small scale window decals can masquerade as instruments- the Perry Rhodan kits were good for that. Another option is cut some instrument panel pictures out of magazines like Aviation Week, or even ads for fish finders. Glued in place they look pretty darn good.

[kenlilly106]

http://www.mikegrantdecals.com/Instruments.html


Ken

[TazMan2000]

http://www.exactwebsolutions.co.uk/imag ... ockpit.jpg

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/UXuReNWlgbo/0.jpg

http://www.ninfinger.org/models/vault2008/LM-Panel.jpg

You can use these templates as guides to make your own custom decals using Windows Paint and printing them on a color laser.

If I'm not mistaken, there use to be some free sights for downloading scenery, aircraft and cockpit details for the MS Flight Sim game. I believe there were some cockpit bitmaps in some of the files.

TazMan2000

[cerberus]

Thanks guy's.The sites you all provided yielded a wealth of instruments & dials that I will be able to use on a lot of fighter cockpits. Now I will be able to finish my Slave 1.

[Kylwell]

Odd that you'd bring this up, as I've been working on some decals for instruments like these.

[TER-OR]

I'm very fond of the Mike Grant series. while not SF, they're dials, panels, placards etc. which should be applicable to lots of subjects.

Here's where I used some in a 1/48 Mitsubishi Nell.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ter-or/220 ... 704701438/

[esperman]

Odd that you'd bring this up, as I've been working on some decals for instruments like these.

great! Just so happens I'm planning my old Revell Blue Thunder..and wanted to detail the cockpit up....

[TER-OR]

I'm moving this to Finishing and making it a sticky so it doesn't get lost. This is something very useful.

[Glorfindel]

I'd like to think I know the answer is "no" to this question but I'm going to ask it anyway. These decals I see in previous posts on this thread are they printable on, say, an HP All-in-One printer? Not Laser printer of course...I'm only curious as to why it wouldn't work. I'm assuming the Laser printer can produce far greater detail in a far smaller scale.

[Kylwell]

I'd like to think I know the answer is "no" to this question but I'm going to ask it anyway. These decals I see in previous posts on this thread are they printable on, say, an HP All-in-One printer? Not Laser printer of course...I'm only curious as to why it wouldn't work. I'm assuming the Laser printer can produce far greater detail in a far smaller scale.

Yes, they'd be printable on any color printer but a good photo inkjet will give you finer print resolution than most color laser printers. 2400dpi for laser printers, 14400dpi for a photo inkjet printer.

[Glorfindel]

Thank you Sir.

[DeltaVee]

There's a new- er - ish company called Airscale that offers a variety of different instrument decals from 1/48 to 1/24 from WWI to modern jet and every Allied and Axis air force. Lots of folks carry them. Ebay's a good place to see a bunch.
Also, Paragrafix makes a set of various sci fi markings from panels to lights to vents, etc.

[SpaceRanger1]

Check general aviation magazines such as Flying for ads for electronic flight instruments and engine management system panels. Scanned and reduced, these make good sci-fi instruments; they can’t be recognized for what they really are in small scales. Ad photos for sound gear (mixer boards, amp controls, etc.) can also be used effectively.

Here are a couple of examples of what I'm talking about:

Sound gear:

Avionics:

[SpaceRanger1]

Odd that you'd bring this up, as I've been working on some decals for instruments like these.

Where'd they go?

[naoto]

I'd like to think I know the answer is "no" to this question but I'm going to ask it anyway. These decals I see in previous posts on this thread are they printable on, say, an HP All-in-One printer? Not Laser printer of course...I'm only curious as to why it wouldn't work. I'm assuming the Laser printer can produce far greater detail in a far smaller scale.

Yes, they'd be printable on any color printer but a good photo inkjet will give you finer print resolution than most color laser printers. 2400dpi for laser printers, 14400dpi for a photo inkjet printer.

Aside from that, there's the problem that laser printers might pose if you want to print on transparency film (e.g. you want to backlight it). If you don't use the type of transparency film for laser printer (formulated to deal with the heat), the film can melt and really gum up the works (and the repair isn't going to be cheap).

[naoto]

One thing for sure however -- in powered down state the older style dials-and-switches type instrument panels look more interesting than modern "glass cockpit" (with flat display panels) style. And if you choose to backlight the panels, thee will probably be at least one person who will be disappointed because there aren't any blinkenlights.

[seam-filler]

I've found that fixing transparency film can be a bit of a swine. Few adhesives stick to it and the few that do often damage it. My way round is to print onto decal film then apply the decal to a standard acrylic, ABS, PET or styrene sheet.

[Zubie]

I've found that fixing transparency film can be a bit of a swine. Few adhesives stick to it and the few that do often damage it. My way round is to print onto decal film then apply the decal to a standard acrylic, ABS, PET or styrene sheet.

The trick there might be to just sandwich the transparency between panels. In general I've often seen that advanced paneling involves layering the panels anyway. A backing plate, particularly if you are going detail crazy and making the back visible, the actual dials and such printed or decal applied, and a face panel with drilled dials and ports that fits on top. For the full effect then, you put a drop of Krystal Klear or nail varnish into the face openings to simulate the glass cover.

It seems frequently the kind of set up I've seen with PE sets for conventional AC. Perhaps more of a trick with fictional craft.

As a paper pundit I have to ask, have you considered simply doing it on paper. Advantages of paper, easy to glue and layer. easy to cut cover openings with chisel blade or round dies, translucent for backlighting, easily made opaque with aluminum foil for light masks, fairly heat resistant (451F after all), overall way cheaper than inkjet decal sheets, and available in a variety of base colors besides white (supports metallic finishes and translucent vellum). It's the path I'm planning to take to make an interior for my Glencoe RM-1 in the stash.

[aussie cylon]

I just print on normal white paper, and with an led behind it, the light very easily shines through. I don't use Kristal Klear or any other stuff to simulate glass, I just place some clear plastic over it. The dials in this pic are only 3mm and 4mm in diameter. This pic is extremely zoomed in to show the detail, but holding the model in your hand, you can hardly see them. To give you some idea of how small they are, the coloured fibre optics are only .5mm

IMG_1388 by Nick Verge, on Flickr

[Kylwell]

Check general aviation magazines such as Flying for ads for electronic flight instruments and engine management system panels. Scanned and reduced, these make good sci-fi instruments; they can’t be recognized for what they really are in small scales. Ad photos for sound gear (mixer boards, amp controls, etc.) can also be used effectively.

Here are a couple of examples of what I'm talking about:

Sound gear:

Avionics:

don't forget the all important video mixing board