CUSTOM OVERHEAD CONTROL PANEL !!!

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For me this is the coolest and most exciting part of the build. This panel is inspired by the overhead controls in an airplane cockpit and will be designed to look very similar. And yes it will be a fully functional control panel with NO dummy switches. It is located where the drivers side sun visor is (sun visor will be removed) and will contain control switches, knobs and circuits for the following systems

- Audio system (amplifier switches, gain knobs, etc)

- LCD system (power switches, contrast control for the two 2.5" lcds also located in this panel)

- Sun roof control switch

- Master system power control

- Camera control (power and source etc)

- Lighting control (control for this panels back lights)

In addition to these switches , this panel will also house the jvc radio face plate, two 2.5" monitors and A/V zone controller.

So this is the plan. Here are some progress pictures of the fiberglass works so far.

Okey so heres how i made this part.
- First i made a template from styrofoam in the exact shape and size that i want the console to be. This was very time consuming cos the styrofoam comes in sheets. so i have to cut pieces of the cross section of the console and glue them together.

Note: Styrofoam is very delicate and harsh chemicals really eats through it. I learnt this the hard way. So use wood glue to stick the parts together. Also to use this template for fiberglass a part, it MUST !!!!! be completely covered using aluminum foil. Glue the foil to the styrofoam so that the foils holds the shape properly.

Okey the pictures above show the two layers of fiberglass applied over the aluminium foil. Once it cured, i carefully removed it from the template to continue fabrication. The rectangular hole will be for the actual switch panel.

And heres a picture of the very first test fit......

Now comes the tricky part....

I want to attach this console to the a-pillar cover and the overhead dome light so that these parts hold it in its final place. This will also eliminate the need for additional fasteners to hold the console in place.

This is what the dome light looks like ....

Okey so i just held the console in place with some sticks and fiberglassed to attach the console to the dome light and a-pillar cover. Once these were dry, i remover it from the car to finish fabrication and make one complete piece out of it....
Here are the pictures.....

Okey now its fully cured and here are some test fit pictures of the a-pillar, overhead console and dome light as one piece. Now belive it or not im only half way done with this thing.... i still have to trim and tweak it to fit perfectly, bondo it to smoothen it out then make the holes for the head unit face plate, and 2.5" monitors. Wish me luck !!!!

It seams that luck i asked for earlier is much needed, and since things seam to be progressing, i guess i have some luck hanging around. Here are some progress pictures as of Nov 22 2005 (9.33pm). In these pictures i have pretty much completed the fiberglass part of this fadrication. But thats just half the work. I now have to fit the two little monitors and the radio face plate and of course the switch panel.