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“[In this issue,] you can assemble the reactor drum and add a lighting filament.”

NOTE: Since I am installing The EL Light Mod from Model Modz, I will not be adding the LED Wire/Filament parts listed in this issue.

Contents

Parts

Materials: All of the non-electrical parts are plastic.

Magazine

• Drive Time: Model Instructions
• Back to the Future: The Ride – Grand Finale
• A Time Traveler’s Guide: Marty’s Jacket

Build

Reactor Drum

Step 1

Make a loop in the middle of the Lighting Filament and pass it up through the small slot in the Reactor Drum.

EL Light Mod change: First, I unplugged my orange EL wire assembly from the rear deck wiring:

Next, I removed the protective end cap from the EL wire:

Then, I fed this end up through the slot of the Reactor Drum:

After looping it around, I fed the end back through the notch, like this:

Step 2

Make sure you have enough length on the ends of the Lighting Filament to work on the next step.

EL Light Mod change: I replaced the protective end cap on the exposed end wire and removed the slack, as shown:

Steps 3-6

• As we have done before with the Power Coil (Flux Band) filaments, place both ends of the Lighting Filament at one end of the stick side of the Adhesive Tape.
• Place the ‘head’ of the LED on the LED Wire up against the ends of the Lighting Filament and attach it to the tape.
• Carefully wrap the Adhesive Tape around the Filaments and LED to keep them secured together.
• Pull the loop of Lighting Filament back up through the slot in the Reactor Drum. Do not pull too hard and dislodge the LED.

EL Light Mod change: With this mod, I did not need to complete these steps. If you are not using this mod, I do explain how to attach these Filaments to the LED in Issue 98.

Step 7

Press the Lighting Filament into the circular slot around the top of the Reactor Drum until it sits flush, as shown.

Step 8

Fit the post of the Top Plate into the hole at the center of the Reactor Drum. This will hold the Lighting Filament in place:

Step 9

Secure the Top Plate to the Reactor Drum from below with one (1) BP screw:

Steps 10-11

Arrange the LED Wire so it runs between these two posts inside the Reactor Drum and secure the LED Wire down using the Tab and one (1) IP screw.

EL Light Mod change: We do not want to bend the heat-shrinked junction, so I routed and secured my wires like this:

Thoughts

This issue was nice and simple! I did plug this back into the car, power it on, and checked that it lit up correctly. I did not want to take a picture of that until the rest of the reactor deck is complete.

Next Up

 Issue 114 – Reactor: Drum Details