The STC for the fabric says if you’re painting your airplane a red or yellow to put on a base coat of white Polytone. That’s done. So I’ll let it outgas for a few days and spray the maroon. The last photo is just a before white paint shot.

That’s the last of the instrument replacements for now. The others can wait for a while.

The original tach was faded and hard to turn so I replaced it. And if you remember from a previous post it had a radium dial so I could not send it in to be repaired. Notice the range markings and the correct tach time for this airplane; 996.5 Total Time.

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Found two on EBAY and purchased both. Checking the fit now as they mount to the wheel axle first, then bolt into the wheel pant to hold them on.

New airspeed, altimeter, and vertical speed indicator installed. Ordered a new tachometer as well.

I also have a new compass to install.

The smaller gauges will get new dials painted to match these.

I wanted seat back pockets. These will look nice

I will be replacing the altimeter and the vertical speed indicators to get rid of the radium painted dials. The rest are OK. Although it’s not a huge concern because it’s only two indicators, I want the dials to be white to match the airspeed Indicator and soon to be rescreened tachometer dial.

They used radium-226 paint to make the dials visable at night.   These two really light up in the dark after exposure to some light

In place in the panel with one screw at the moment.

Progress on the seats! They’re looking good. Double stitch on the seams. Looks good.

It’s the little things that take some time. So many small items that have to be done. This is one of them. I’m replacing the 70 year old airspeed with a new True Airspeed and I had to get the dial rescreened with the correct ranges. I also changed the new one over to MPH from Knots. I sent it to Precision Dial and they did a great job. I will send other dials there to get updated.

Also, the range markings are painted on the glass in the old Indicator and the glass has rotated, throwing them off  and it was not complete with all the marking needed.

New one:

It was in knots:

Current 70 year old airspeed: