Return to the BUILD

“In this issue you will continue the assembly of the interior by following these step-by-step instructions.”

This is going to be a really long issue. They even had to remove two of the typical articles in the magazine to make room.

If you are going to install The EL Light Mod from Model Modz, I would start on that before beginning this issue.

Contents

Parts

Materials: All non-electrical parts are plastic except for the elastic section in the middle of the Pipe.

Magazine

• Drive Time: Model Instructions
• A Time Traveler’s Guide: Twin Pines Mall

Build

Bulkhead (Upper)

First off, it is time to replace the stock Light Board (XMAS Tree/SID) with The XMAS Tree Mod from Model Modz.

The difference between these two parts is incredible. While the stock version is lit up with two simple green LEDs, the Model Modz version has all three correct colors and is fully animated! Not only that, but it also connects to their Flux Capacitor Mod that I installed in Issue 58 so the time travel sequence displayed on both is fully in sync! I quickly installed the LEDs from Step 10 below to compare it to the modded XMAS Tree and take a picture:

Mod Step 1

First, we need to remove the two (2) GP screws holding the old Light Board in place and toss it aside:

Mod Step 2

The three plugs of the new XMAS Tree Mod need to pass through the upper LED hole, but it is too small. To enlarge this hole, I simply used a thick Philips-head screwdriver to grind out the plastic until the hole was large enough:

Mod Step 3

Carefully pass the XMAS Tree Mod plugs (one by one) through this hole from front to back:

Mod Step 4

Remove the adhesive backing paper:

Mod Step 5

Gently feed the wiring through the hole until you can stick the new XMAS Tree Mod to the Bulkhead (Upper). Horizontally, it should be centered over the two small holes below it. Vertically, I aligned the upper left ‘screw’ of the XMAS Tree Mod to the upper pin of the gold heat sink next to it:

Mod Step 6

Copying the work described in Step 11 below, secure the XMAS Tree Mod wiring between these two posts with the Tab and one (1) AP screw:

Mod Step 7 (optional)

If you also have The Flux Capacitor Mod, you can now connect the two yellow leads together. This wire allow the the animations of the two mods to stay in sync with each other. I also added some twist to the black and red power leads to help keep the wiring cleaner:

Mod Step 8

Finally, we need to connect the single pin red leads from the power splitter cable (supplied) to each red wire from the mods:

And that’s it for the XMAS Tree Mod! The two-wire plugs of the power splitter will end up inserted between the Circuit Board power pins and the main power supply wire. As for the two remaining black leads, these will connect to the pins on the Circuit Board in the steps below, allowing you to control both mods with Button #4 on the center console. I highly recommend The Power Mod as these mods can quickly drain normal batteries.

Bam, right into a second Mod Zone! Long before I received this issue of the build, I knew I wanted to improve the look of some of the braided hoses on the model. On The ‘A’ Car, the Pipe in this issue is actually a Hydroflow hose and looks much different than the elastic cord supplied with the model:

In preparation for this mod, I bought some Tamiya 2.0mm Braided Hose:

I cut a piece of this braided hose to roughly the same length as the middle section of the Pipe:

The inside diameter of this braided hose was a little too small, so I pulled out the inner PVC tube with tweezers:

Next, I cut the original Pipe right in half:

Then, it just a matter of twisting the ends of the cords into each end of the braided hose. This will also thicken the braided hose to be more accurate:

The Pipe already looks better, but with a little strip of blue electrical tape and some Metallic Gold Sharpie, it turned out incredible!

With that small mod complete, we can actually start on this issue’s build steps!

Step 1

Pass the Pipe behind the large pipe on the right side of the Flux Capacitor and push the curved end into this hole of the Bulkhead (Upper):

Steps 2-3

Slide a small purple Bracket (59E) about 1.5″ down one end of the longer Cable (59D) and another Bracket on the very end.

In reality, these are going to be about 0.75″ apart to match the holes under the Light Board (XMAS Tree/SID):

Step 4

Press the posts of both Brackets into these holes at the bottom of the Light Board, as shown.

I used a little super glue here to keep these vertical:

So far, it is looking pretty good:

Step 5

Push one end of the shorter Cable (59C) over the upper pin on the Fan.

If you look on the back of the Fan, the alignment peg is on the lower half. This can tell you which of these pins is the upper one.

Fun Fact: On The ‘A’ Car, this part is a Torin Coleco dual blower fan that was found in old air hockey tables:

Step 6

Place the Fan on the Bulkhead (Upper), aligning the pin and posts to the holes, as shown:

Step 7

Secure the Fan to the Bulkhead (Upper) from behind with two (2) AP screws:

Step 8

Slide the loose end of the shorter Cable (59C) onto the passenger side pin under the Flux Capacitor:

To make this fit a little better, I snipped off a bit of the Cable:

Step 9

Press the loose end of the longer Cable (59D) from Step 4 onto the remaining pin of the Fan.

I routed this under the shorter Cable to keep it closer to the Bulkhead (Upper):

Step 10

Push the two LEDs of the Twin Cable into these holes on the back of the Bulkhead (Upper):

If you already installed The XMAS Tree Mod, you can ignore this (and the next) step. It is included here for those builders who do not own the mod:

Carefully, bend the LED wires flat against the Bulkhead (Upper):

Step 11

Feed the LED wires between these posts and secure the Tab over them with one (1) AP screw:

Step 12

Bring the Bulkhead (Upper) up to the interior assembly and slide this Cable (49H) from Issue 49 onto the other pin below the Flux Capacitor:

Step 13

Position the Bulkhead (Upper) onto the rear deck of the interior, aligning the four posts along the bottom with the matching holes:

Step 14

Secure these parts together from underneath with four (4) FP screws:

Step 15

Make sure the thick silver Pipe Section from Issue 53 fits into this hole of the Bulkhead (Upper):

Step 16

Secure the Pipe Section from behind with one (1) FP screw:

Step 17

Fit the black plug 16 from the Flux Capacitor onto the pins marked ’16’ on the Circuit Board.

NOTE: To ensure these are connected with the correct polarity, make sure the white numbers printed on the black plugs always face the edge of the Circuit Board:

I am not using this wire (from the stock Flux Capacitor LED). But, for the builders who are, I pushed it halfway on to take this picture:

If you have The Flux Capacitor Mod from Model Modz installed, connect its black lead plug here instead. This negative (-) plug should be on the pin closer to the center of the Circuit Board. If you do not also have The XMAS Tree Mod, connect the positive (+) red wire plug from The Flux Capacitor Mod to the outer pin here:

Step 18

Fit the black plug 15 from the Light Board (XMAS Tree/SID) onto the pins marked ’15’ on the Circuit Board:

I am not using this wire (from the stock XMAS Tree/SID LEDs). But, for the builders who are, I pushed it on halfway to take this picture:

If you have The XMAS Tree Mod from Model Modz installed, connect its black lead here instead. This negative (-) plug should be on the inner pin closest to the center of the Circuit Board. If you do not also have The Flux Capacitor Mod, connect the positive (+) red wire plug from The XMAS Tree Mod to the outer pin here:

Step 19

Press the large 6-wire multi-color connector from Issue 43 into the matching plug of the Circuit Board, aligning the ‘F’ and ‘R’ ends as shown:

Step 20

Push the loose end of Pipe into the matching hole on the Base from Issue 54.

This step is a pain in the butt. The space is limited and the force required to seat the pin into the hole is significant. I ended up super gluing it in place:

Step 21

Push the loose end of the thick black Cable (49D) from Issue 49 into the lower hole of this Socket (57I) from Issue 57.

This is a little easier if you use the tips of round-nose tweezers on the plug to seat them all the way:

Step 22

Push the plug ends of the two thin black Cables (49C) from Issue 49 into the middle holes of the same Socket:

You may notice here that I added little bands of red and yellow colored electrical tape to these Cables to better match The ‘A’ Car below:

Step 23

Push the loose end of the bundled Cable (49E) from Issue 49 into the upper hole of the same Socket:

At this point, I bent all of these cables down at a pretty sharp angle towards the bottom of the seat as they hang heavily in the real car. By doing so, this put a good amount of slack in the Cables along the seat and floor:

To fix this, I simply loosened the Tabs behind the dashboard holding the front ends of these wires in place, pulled the slack through, and refastened the Tabs. This is also why I haven’t snipped off the ends of the Mini Cable Ties yet, to leave room for adjustments like these.

Step 24

Push the loose end of the thick black Cable (53E) from Issue 53 into the lower hole of this Socket (57J) from Issue 57:

Step 25

Push the loose end of the bundled Cable (53F) from Issue 53 into the middle hole of the same Socket:

Step 26

Push the loose ends of the two thin black Cables (53D) from Issue 53 into the upper holes of the same Socket.

Same as before, I added little bands of red and yellow colored electrical tape to better match The ‘A’ Car below:

Also as before, I bent these Cables down along the seat, which created slack along the floor. To fix this side, I also removed the Tab holding the front ends of the wires to the dashboard, pulled the slack through, and replaced the Tab.

Now that both of these bundles are in their final position, I could finally align all of the Mini Cable Ties, put a tiny drop of super glue on each, and snip off the excess. This is what I ended up with. I think it looks fantastic!

And, since that also completes all of the interior wiring, I could align and remove the excess bits from the rest of the Mini Cable Ties:

Before I attached the interior into the chassis, I started on the installation of The EL Light Mod from Model Modz. I have created a separate, dedicated article to that installation HERE.

Step 27

The instructions say to put the interior into the chassis in Step 37, but I don’t see how you can connect all this wiring if you don’t do it now. Therefore, retrieve the chassis assembly (can you believe it was Issue 40 when we touched it last). Place the entire interior assembly into the chassis of the car:

Then, fit the black plug 19 from the Flux Bands – Front wire onto the pins marked ’19’ on the Circuit Board.

NOTE: To ensure these are connected with the correct polarity, make sure the white numbers printed on the black plugs always face the edge of the Circuit Board.

I am not using this wire (as I am using The EL Light Mod). But, for the builders who are, I pushed it halfway on to take this picture:

Step 28

Fit the black plug 22 from the Flux Bands – Rear Left wire onto the pins marked ’22’ on the Circuit Board:

I am not using this wire (as I am using The EL Light Mod). But, for the builders who are, I pushed it on halfway to take this picture:

Step 29

Fit the black plug 23 from the Flux Bands – Rear Right wire onto the pins marked ’23’ on the Circuit Board:

This wire is required for The EL Light Mod, so I did install it on my model:

Step 30-35

• Fit the black plug 6 from the Brake Lights wire onto the pins marked ‘6’ on the Circuit Board.
• Fit the black plug 8 from the Headlights wire onto the pins marked ‘8’ on the Circuit Board.
• Fit the black plug 9 from the Hood Light wire onto the pins marked ‘9’ on the Circuit Board.
• Fit the black plug 10 from the Engine Bay Light wire onto the pins marked ’10’ on the Circuit Board.
• Fit the black plug 11 from the Rear Lights wire onto the pins marked ’11’ on the Circuit Board.
• Fit the black plug 12 from the Front Turn Signals wire onto the pins marked ’12’ on the Circuit Board.

NOTE: To ensure these are connected with the correct polarity, make sure the white numbers printed on the black plugs always face the edge of the Circuit Board.

I could not take a picture of these plugs easily as they are at the bottom of the Circuit Board, but here is the steps completed:

Step 36

Fit the power plug from the Battery Box onto the pins marked ‘- +’ on the Circuit Board. Make sure the black negative (-) wire and red positive (+) wires match the markings on the Circuit Board.

If you have The Flux Capacitor Mod AND The XMAS Tree Mod installed like I do, you will need to connect the splitter cable between the power supply plug and the Circuit Board pins. Be sure to match the red and black wires together:

Either way, the power plug should attach to the Circuit Board here:

Step 37

Position the interior assembly into the chassis.

We had to do this step already in order to complete Steps 27-36 above.

Step 38

Gather all of the short loose Cables from the Circuit Board and pass them out the right side of the chassis.

I wrapped a twist tie around the Cables to keep them together for now:

Step 39

Make sure the bent end of the Steering Column passes through the notch in Chassis Front Upper and slides down into this hole of the steering Pinion, as shown:

Step 40

Secure the passenger side of the interior assembly to the chassis with two (2) DM screws, as shown.

Make sure these holes of interior assembly are lined up to the chassis posts below. You may have to move the Cables around a bit to see these holes. This is also your friendly reminder to try using 3-in-One Oil on all screws going into metal:

Step 41

Secure the driver side of the interior assembly to the chassis with two (2) DM screws, as shown:

Step 42

Slip the angled end of the long Bracket (59H) under this wiring at the front left of the car and secure it over the Steering Column with two (2) BM screws, as shown.

This part will have to be removed in Issue 79 when the corrected Steering Column part arrives, so you may not want to add it just yet. Also, the passenger side screw was really tough to install and eventually snapped off. Since it can affect the ability of the steering wheel to turn the front wheels, you may want to take extra care installing this. I don’t plan on turning the front wheels with the steering wheel, so the failure does not bother me at all. I can always super glue it later.

That step marks the end of the issue. However, at this point, we can power up the car and take a look at the new mods in action together. I took these photos right when the animated time travel sequence was at its peak to show off all of the lights lit:

I really have to give props to Model Modz. These Flux Capacitor and XMAS Tree Mods are just phenomenal!

Thoughts

Wow, that was an insane amount of building to do! I ended up taking over 600 photos for this issue alone and used about 70 of them here. These are the kind of issues where I feel like we have made some really good progress. After this issue, the lower interior is complete and it looks just breathtaking!

Next Up

 Issue 60 – Frame: Upper Frame, Door Latches