AMTRAK Police Cruiser All Lit Up 1/43 Scale

Nice work, Bob. 

MaxSouthOz posted:

Nice work, Bob. 

Thank you sir!

Great job BOB, now for the Fire Engine!!! LOL, Where did you find the Amtrak police car?

mike g. posted:

Great job BOB, now for the Fire Engine!!! LOL, Where did you find the Amtrak police car?

Hey Mike,

Thank you.  I've been thinking about a fire engine.   Bigger vehicle=more flashing lights.   I got the AMTRAK Police car on eBay

Thanks Bob, and if you do a fire engine keep us posted! Great work!

Looks great. I think you did a fine job on it. I want to try one of these someday too, but haven't done anything this small. A fire engine would be great too. My grandson had a Lego Mini Cooper that we put a light kit in last summer, he wanted lights in it. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot larger. 

rtr12 posted:

Looks great. I think you did a fine job on it. I want to try one of these someday too, but haven't done anything this small. A fire engine would be great too. My grandson had a Lego Mini Cooper that we put a light kit in last summer, he wanted lights in it. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot larger. 

Howdy Rrtr,

 Thanks for the kind words.  And yes, it is quite small.   The truth is that my Tri-Focal glasses got a little help from my  OptiVISOR Headband Magnifiers.   I also have a magnified jewelers lamp if needed.  The PICO Chip LED's are about the size of the head of a pin and the wires are about .007" in diameter (which is about 2 to 3 times the size of a human hair).  It's a bit of a challenge but the finished product is well worth the effort. 

Bob,

   Great stuff sir, just fantastic!

PCRR/Dave

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

Bob,

   Great stuff sir, just fantastic!

PCRR/Dave

Hi Dave,

Thank you!  Very much appreciated! 

Very impressive Bob! The flashing front strobes under the headlights look awesome. I haven't seen that done before. 

I'm a big fan of the gear from Evan Designs as well. Nice people to work with and great products. 

That is pretty Cool!!! Great Work!

Thanks for the kind words guys.   I got the idea for the front strobes from the Ohio State Trooper cruisers.  The Ohio State Trooper cars have red "strobes" in the grill as well.   I think I'll be doing one of the OH Trooper cars in the near future and I'll try to adapt the red "strobes" in the grill too.

Chief Bob (Retired)

Chief Bob,

Incredible job!  Great looking car, too!  You must be thrilled with the results.

Tomlinson Run Railroad

Hi THOMLINSONRUNRR,

Thank you, and yes, I'm very happy with the finished product.   As I stated in a previous post, I would like to do an Ohio State Highway Patrol unit next.

Chief Bob (Retired) 

I like it the police car, and I too have been very happy with Evan Designs for the warm white LEDS I put in Williams diesels as headlights.

How much did it cost you to do that car?

Hi Craig,

Total cost of the completed car (including the car which has 10 Flashing PICO LED's and 2 warm white LED's for the headlights) is roughly $62.00.  Then there is the time and equipment involved as well.  Working on the project sporadically I would estimate 3 to 4 hours.  That time included disassembling the model without breaking anything (not as simple as it would seem).  Also, all of the overhead mounted LED's had to be disassembled as well.  This entailed removing the shrink tube protecting the flasher circuit components (these are VERY delicate and extreme care must be taken here).  Once the shrink tube is successfully removed, the wire leads must be De-soldered from the flasher circuit so the wires may be routed through the roof using the smallest drill possible and then Re- soldered back onto the flasher circuit..  These wires are approximately .007" to .010" in diameter (about 3 times the thickness of a human hair) and are difficult to work with without some type of magnification.  I regularly wear Tri-Focal lenses and I supplement these with OptiVISOR Headband Magnifiers AND a Jeweler's Magnified Lamp while I worked on this project.  A pencil tip variable temperature soldering  iron is highly recommended as well.  I first saw a display of vehicles with LED's installed during a trip to York and when I saw the price I thought they were expensive.  However, after building one of these myself, I realize the REAL cost involved.  BTW, I forgot to mention various adhesives necessary and a good (variable speed drill or Dremel tool) are "Must Haves" as well.  Oh yes, did I mention that the patients of a Saint are helpful too.

Chief Bob (Retired)      

Yeah that sounds like a real big project, thanks for sharing the details, I was trying to get an idea of the DIY price versus the guy at York.

I did notice the OGRE group that advertises here has a vehicle upgrade kit (includes headlight and tailight LEDS) $14.95 per car plus shipping. That seems pretty reasonable.

Craignor posted:

Yeah that sounds like a real big project, thanks for sharing the details, I was trying to get an idea of the DIY price versus the guy at York.

I did notice the OGRE group that advertises here has a vehicle upgrade kit (includes headlight and tailight LEDS) $14.95 per car plus shipping. That seems pretty reasonable.

I believe the OGRE kit is just headlights and taillights without any flashing.  This is OK for Non Emergency vehicles.  Give em' a try.

Chief Bob (Retired)

Thanks for all the information Bob, you wouldn't happen to have the brand and type of soldering Iron you use would you?

It's a generic brand purchased on Ebay.  Just do a search for variable temperature soldering iron and pick the one you like.

Chief Bob (Retired) 

I got one of these a couple years ago. Hakko FX-888D I think a lot of folks here use the Hakko's. I picked it from reading their posts. Some have the more expensive versions, but the FX-888D is a very nice one for the hobbyist, works great.

I got one from Amazon that included an assortment of tips, but the pencil point tip and small chisel tip are about the only ones I have used so far. Seems like it was around $125-$130 with the extra tips or maybe $90-$100 without them. 

Nice Charger police car!

Being a MOPAR guy, I have to ask...does it have a Hemi? 

OGR Webmaster posted:

Nice Charger police car!

Being a MOPAR guy, I have to ask...does it have a Hemi? 

You Bet!  MOPAR=Hemi!!!  My next project is going to be an Ohio State Patrol unit and it's a Charger as well!  Thank you for your compliment. 

Chief Bob (Retired) 

excellent work Bob!