Sometimes, It's the Simplest Things....

[Willy]

I'm always on the lookout for "improving" aircraft that I like to fly and most often that will involve some panel changes. The CalClassic Curtiss C-46 is no exception to it. I had a small hand in the original version's panel and never really was satisfied with it. As once a C-46 left military service, the owners changed them around to fit their needs and no two C-46 panels today are going to look alike, I've felt that I could really run wild with this. As I do prefer a vintage to look, most of my mods involve swapping out gauges and repositioning them to where I like them to be. I really like the look of the gauges that Rich Murray (Real Old Salt) did for the SOH A-26 and as it's a R-2800 powered twin like the C-46 is, I felt them to be a good fit for the most part. So using FS Panel Studio, I did a re-gauging using them. All was well and good until I went to do a night flight and discovered that the A-26 gauges were too dark to see and turning on the panel lights didn't help one bit. And the VC was the same way.




I've been messing with solving this for a week or two now. Even to the point of making new vc light map for the gauge and delving into the gauges .xml files. Then it hit me. What kind of panel switches does the A-26 have? Lo and behold there was an unusual switch marked "instrument lights". Installed the LCP switches from the A-26 and now they light up at night! And at about the amount of dimming that I like.





Sometimes you just need to go back to the original source. Now to dig around and figure out how ROS got them to light up red in the A-26....

[Maarten -]

Looks great, Willy!

Cheers,
Maarten

[Milton Shupe]

I'm always on the lookout for "improving" aircraft that I like to fly and most often that will involve some panel changes. The CalClassic Curtiss C-46 is no exception to it. I had a small hand in the original version's panel and never really was satisfied with it. As once a C-46 left military service, the owners changed them around to fit their needs and no two C-46 panels today are going to look alike, I've felt that I could really run wild with this. As I do prefer a vintage to look, most of my mods involve swapping out gauges and repositioning them to where I like them to be. I really like the look of the gauges that Rich Murray (Real Old Salt) did for the SOH A-26 and as it's a R-2800 powered twin like the C-46 is, I felt them to be a good fit for the most part. So using FS Panel Studio, I did a re-gauging using them. All was well and good until I went to do a night flight and discovered that the A-26 gauges were too dark to see and turning on the panel lights didn't help one bit. And the VC was the same way.

I've been messing with solving this for a week or two now. Even to the point of making new vc light map for the gauge and delving into the gauges .xml files. Then it hit me. What kind of panel switches does the A-26 have? Lo and behold there was an unusual switch marked "instrument lights". Installed the LCP switches from the A-26 and now they light up at night! And at about the amount of dimming that I like.

Sometimes you just need to go back to the original source. Now to dig around and figure out how ROS got them to light up red in the A-26....

Willy,

The ROS A26 panel night lights involve 3 gauges. See the attached. Just to be sure you have the requisite gauges, the Panel switch, the Instrument switch, and the dimmer switch. You must have all three of them for proper function.

[Willy]

Thanks Milton! Looks like I'm headed back into FSPS here shortly.

[Willy]

Thanks again Milton! I went back through it last night and the instrument and panel switches are part of the lighting control panel gauge which includes the nav lights, landing lights, pitot heat, avionics and battery switches. Easy enough to install on the C-46 electrical panel and in the VC overhead. That dimmer switch did give me and FS Panel Studio a problem. It's in the gauge cab file, but while it shows up in FSPS, it won't show up in the Add Gauges menu. I copied it out of the .cab file and put it into a gauge folder I'm working on for the C-46 and still wouldn't show in that menu. so I'm thinking it's something in the xml file. I ended up putting a different gauge in the electrical panel and VC overhead where I wanted the dimmer and then manually swapped them out in notepad. Now it shows up in the C-46 and works fine.

Putting the A-26 gauges into the C-46 just brought home to me how good Rich Murray was with gauges. He did stuff in there that I would have never thought of.