Popham Auto/Aerojumble Monday May 3rd.

Any updates as to what the panel came from?

Thanks runway.. good idea, 🙂

Pagen, yes that curve is very distinctive , but from what ??.. i better send some mails, see what comes back, someone somewhere might know, 😀

Well the Viscount was a stab in the dark, who knows????
Brooklands museum in Surrey have a cockpit of a RAE Vickers Viscount, drop them a line or an e-mail and see what they think!

I think R/W06 is probably nearest with some sort of RAE Viscount half breed.
I can understand all the extra instruments and lit panel (possibly to test newer smaller guages etc) but I just can’t understand the strange curvature of the panel, especially in the Viscount where the panels follow the aircraft structure quite closely.
It’s a real head scratcher!

heres the panel sizes for that “Mystery Panel 🙂 ”

Left to right at bottom, 470 mm

left to right widest part at across panel 490mm

L/H side ,top to bottom, 415mm

R/H side top to bottom to highest point 350mm

all large holes are 80mm x 9

all small holes are 55mm x 6

cotrol stick hole at bottom is 75mm x 130mm

iit looks like its a black painted panel, but looking closely, its as if at some time its had a “dark grey” wash over it , but this has mostly come off, scratched to high heaven, and bent in the middle..

Right then, we just need the weight of the panel now and I think we just might be able to identify it…………………….

Something about it says GAF Nomad to me, but could be wrong.

I would put money on that first pic not being Twin Otter, probably badly captioned t’internet pic.
Your panel does seem to be an early Translite then, not sure when they first came about but very late ’50s and early ’60s seems to be when they first came into regular use on main panels.
Is there a Thorn sticker or caption on the back?
The id letters and numbers seem more confusing than ever now!

i agree with you, it looks totally wrong, but thats what it said … :confused:

heres the panel sizes for that “Mystery Panel 🙂 “

Left to right at bottom, 470 mm

left to right widest part at across panel 490mm

L/H side ,top to bottom, 415mm

R/H side top to bottom to highest point 350mm

all large holes are 80mm x 9

all small holes are 55mm x 6

cotrol stick hole at bottom is 75mm x 130mm

iit looks like its a black painted panel, but looking closely, its as if at some time its had a “dark grey” wash over it , but this has mostly come off, scratched to high heaven, and bent in the middle..

I would put money on that first pic not being Twin Otter, probably badly captioned t’internet pic.
Your panel does seem to be an early Translite then, not sure when they first came about but very late ’50s and early ’60s seems to be when they first came into regular use on main panels.
Is there a Thorn sticker or caption on the back?
The id letters and numbers seem more confusing than ever now!

Have you restored many panels before merkle?

Answer to your question… NOPE !!.:o. but done some fabric, doping ,and aluminium airframe work, with bucker and provost, peitenpol types 😀

Re the Translite, well looking at your panel, i have to admit on the rear, it looks the same as yours above, wires all going from post to post, ,I am certain its a translite panel, and probably a early one, perhaps when it was in its infancy, the panel “might” have been a Trail run for use of translite, when did this idea come out , when was it first used ??

also just noticed the “many” configerations of the DHC Twin Otter.. most have the normal control coloumn, but i found a pic with a different system, and various slight changes in panel design, all the photos were labeled DHC twin otter

heres some pics, just to see how much a panel can change over the years :confused:

interesting photo, the Viscount used for testing the TAY engine…. extra holes for jet calculations whilst testing…. Nah…. i really am dreaming now ..back to the drawing board 🙁

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled-(Boulton-Paul)/Vickers-663-Viscount/1668828/&sid=ca2d8062ff0ee9583d7d12d2ff91c22b

so i suppose its possible this was from a viscount, i am forgetting the number of holes etc in the panel, now trying to decern it by its shape .. 😉

Funny thing was that Viscount or at the least a post-war Vickers type was the nearest thing I could think to it, but I’m still unsure as the differences are so many.

Tough one this, doesn’t seem to be a standard production panel of any type. Therefore could it be an adapted panel for the instruments to serve a particular customer or purpose. I’ve looked at it closely against the Vickers Viscount some similarities but not many.
I’ve had a chat with my friend at William Hill and he will accept an outsider bet on a RAE (Royal Aircraft Establishment) Vickers Viscount at 12-1

Translite (trade name, Thorn Translite) or Plastek, it is a normal metal instrument panel with a clear perspex one fitted over it which in turn has a black painted face and has all the relevant lettering and numbers engraved into it. The perspex panel is held to the metal panel by loads of red lens lamp holders and when these light up all the panel lettering and the guages are illuminated in red – real pretty stuff!
I’m only assuming it’s one of these as the pic seems to show loads of screw in lamp holders, from the back you would see the threaded lamp holders and the wiring connecting them all together.
However yours could be a conventional older panel with lots of pillar lamp holes for all I can tell, and is more probable.

As you normally see it with the perspex panel on

Perspex panel removed

Rear of panel

To post a pic directly it has to be downsized to 300 kb or less, or alternatively upload your images to photobucket and link them to your posts here.

Have you restored many panels before merkle?

ps,

sorry to sound really nieve:o .. but what is a translite panel, and what purpose does it serve over a older standard type panel ??:confused::o:)

dimensions are

.. ****** cant find a tape measure… typical in my house, will measure properly tomorrow, when i get one from work:(

at a guess, it would be 2ft x 1.6 ft very roughly, most instrument holes are about 3″ the others around 2″

and the picture wont load.(keeps coming up with FAIL) .. god i am having fun tonight.. dont you just hate computers 🙁

Definitely not Valiant, control wheel dosen’t pass through panel, shape is wrong, and it has less instruments than your panel.
I did wonder if it was shown on its side, but the instrument adjustmant knob cut outs are correct for it as it is. Is it definitely a translite panel, or are they hole for pillar lamps, can you post up a pic of the rear, or add any dimensions?
Got me stumped:confused:

i do beg your pardon Air ministry .. I told someone it was from a manchester scrap yard, and they told me, more than likely failsworth.. so its was a different place .. Hmmmm.. i gotta say i too am wracking my brains, was up till 1am looking at cockpit pics, to try and find out what it is… there seems to be way too many holes for a light aircraft and it looks ( forgive me if i am wrong) like its full of translite fitting holes. wouldnt be early airliner would it ??
transport .. Now i am really considering or wondering , where next to turn to to find out what it is. as soon as i find out ,i can start adding instruments to it :confused::) i even thought beverley maybe.. but yet again proved wrong, the only panel it came close to looking like… and then it was wrong, was the vickers Valiant “PORT ” panel . back to front, but i cant see the top of the valiant panel in a pic, as it is obscured by a higher panel … Groan… 🙁

I am sure i will get there, one thing is for sure, its gota be quite rare if none of you lot havent seen one before .. i wonder if by slight possibility it came from a very obscure type ???

Elektron sounds like the one I used to visit in Dorset..lots of stuff from the old Tarrant Rushden Airfield went there when it closed….lots of Stirling Goodies Lanc and Halifax too.alot of it was marked `Flight Refuelling`.

Martin

Which Bomb distributor box are you after?

John

I got a better one of the 17-32 John.So you got the pre-selector Allan..I must of just missed it!!