Howto:Build your own Panel or Cockpit - Planning
The purpose of planning is to focus your efforts so you can succeed. You can't fly a plan.
Small short range and not very detailed plans are good. Plans covering every aspect of the project are worse than useless for hobby projects. Planning can save you a lot of time. Or they can waste a lot of time. For a master plan, I use a picture of a cockpit that's not even identical to the one i'm building.
Here's how I intend to plan:
Keeping the immediate future in mind, I'll write down my specific goals and intentions. Then I'll make some lists:
- Activities and major steps.
- Materials.
- Anything I need to learn
- Reference Materials
Once I have the checklist, its not time to make another checklist or think about other goals and parts of the project, Its time to get started. I may make a sketch or two but I make engineering drawings only if I'm doing CNC. I may do a bit of reading or watch a few videos, but it's important to get my hands on the actual materials I'll use.
I will keep it simple. If its more than one side of a page or will take more than a few hours or days, its too big.