Aluminum instrument panel finish?

"John Galban" wrote in message
om...
"nauga" wrote in message
link.net...

Nothing in the CFR about "intent to operate." If a person
builds an airplane "for education or recreation" there
is nothing in the CFR that prevents them from selling it.

Uh oh. My buddy sold his RV-6 and I'm currently helping him with
the RV-10 project. I don't think he's building it for "education or
recreation". I'm pretty sure he's building it so that he'll have a
kick-ass 4-place airplane to fly around in for less than 1/4 million
dollars.

I suppose the fallback position is that we're getting educated
whether we intend to or not :-)

As long as he is not building the airplane to sell, he is within the intent
of the regulations.

I would give it a horizontal brushed finish (or machine swirled) and
then have it etched and thick clear anodized. The etch time should be
about 3 minutes to give a somewhat matte finish. On 6061 I would say
to use a thin (.0005"-.0010") hard anodize which would give a nice
medium gray color. On 2024 the results of hard anodize are less
consistant so I recommend a thick standard anodize instead. At a
thickness of .0005"+ the color will coume out a light gray with some
goldish undertones. I think it looks good, but if you don't like it
you still have about the best paint base you could imagine.