There is so much info in OGR I hope I'm not being redundant with this post. I installed headlights and tail lights in a MTH Greyhound Bus and thought I'd review what I used and how I did it in case anybody might be interested.
Here's the materials used:
Woodland Scenics (WS) Just Plug Lighting Systems:
JP5701 Light Hub Qty 1
JP5770 Power Supply Qty 1
JP5745 - Red LED Nano Lights 2 per package - Qty 1
JP5740 - Warm White LED Stick-On Lights 2 per package - Qty 2
MTH Die Cast Bus Greyhound Amarillo 30-50118 Qty 1
1/8th inch clear Acrylic round stock
I removed the bottom of the bus (chassis) held on by 4 screws and set the chassis aside. I left the plastic bus interior with passenger seats, drivers seat, and windows in the bus body. For the front headlights I used the existing plastic piece with the headlights, two clear and two painted yellow for driving lights. I inserted and taped the JP5740 - Warm White LED Stick-On Lights one on each side just behind the clear headlight. I didn't want to glue the lights in just in case I would need to replace one down the road, I could just peel the tape off. I used double sided foam tape on the passenger side of the bus to hold the LED in place, because that is what I had and it has very strong adhesion. On the drivers side I could use the adhesive on the back of the WS LED to secure it behind the clear headlight lens. I ran the wires down the center of the floor of the bottom of the passenger compartment and glued those down with hot glue. Once again I would just have to heat the hot glue with a heat gun to remove the wires if need be.
For the rear tail lights I used the 1/8th inch clear Acrylic round stock as light pipes. I drilled out the painted taillights which was more difficult then I thought it would be due to the curve on the corner of the bus body. Even in a drill press the drill bit wanted to wonder around, so the first hole was not as perfect as I would have liked, but you have to look closely to see it. I drilled more slowly and used a small amount of lubrication on the second hole and it worked much better. The cast body on these things are quite hard!! I cut two pieces of Acrylic round stock to 1.5 inches and using a heat gun carefully heated the Acrylic and bent to a 90 degree angle. I was careful not to kink the acrylic while bending it, because that will effect the light intensity. I installed the acrylic light pipe into the holes in the body and cut them to meet just behind the rear axle and hot glued them in. Make sure to leave a small gap, like 1/16" where the Nano LED will go. I taped the Nano LED to the acrylic light pipe. Once the hot glue had cooled I connected the 3 LED wires to the WS Light Hub and plugged in the Power Supply. Awesome, works fantastic!! Hot glued the wire in place, drilled a hole in the bottom of the Bus Chassis for the wires. Drilled a hole in the layout where I placed the Bus and ran the wires through the hole to the WS light hub.
I wanted to do the other lights on the top of the bus, but once I found out just how hard the cast metal it, I wisely chose not to do that in fear of ruining a $45.00 cast bus!!! Also, I need to change the city label on the front of the Bus to Paradise, as that's the name of the town. So named after Paradise, CA.
A photo is worth a thousand words, so photos attached.
