CloudyMecha's Blog

LED tutorial for HMM Liger Zero:
How to add LEDs to the head and core (Part 1)

This tutorial will cover the installation of the LEDs. Part 2 will consist of the battery pack and switch.

Honestly, you only really need to do the cockpit, the LED in the core isn't very visible.  Besides wiring just to the cockpit is a lot easier.

Finished Product:

Materials needed:
*LED in cockpit only

• 1 3mm LED color of your choice for the cockpit*
• 1 3mm White LED
• 2 12in. pieces of 22 AWG wire or smaller*
• 2 5in. pieces of 22 AWG wire or smaller
• Soldering iron*
• Solder*
• Electrical Tape*
• 1 CR2032 battery (~3V)*
• Helping Hands (optional)*
• Protective eyewear*
• Respirator (optional)* 
• Pin Vise*
• Model Nippers*
• Hobby Knife*

Notes and warnings before we begin:

• LED in the cockpit only is a simple circuit while if you're including an LED in the core you'll be wiring in parallel.
• This mod is best for a painted build- the white cockpit cover (P18) bleeds light like crazy.  If you're not painting the kit you'll at least need to coat the inside of the cover with paint.
• You will be cutting plastic from the kit, please read through this tutorial first before attempting.
• Steps 1-4 should be done BEFORE painting the kit.  My kit is painted because I screwed up and had to rewire the LEDs.  Step 5 should be done during final assembly after painting. 
• Always wear at least safety googles when soldering.  A respirator too, you should have one if you're painting anyways, as the smoke given off by solder has cancer causing chemicals in it apparently.
• You can cheap out on the soldering iron BUT get good solder.  The cheap stuff isn't very strong and harder to get a good solder with.

Step 1.Brain Surgery
I didn't take many pictures of this part so bear with me here. >.>

Take your pin vise and hobby knife and put a hole through the back of the cockpit seat that's big enough for an LED.

 

Take your pin vise and hobby knife again and put two small holes through the back of the head big enough for your 12in. wire to easily slip in.

Run the 12in. wires through the head (you're going to need to get rid of some of the inner plastic on parts A16 and A17).

Solder the colored LED (of your choice) to the ends of the wire coming out of the cockpit seat.  You'll want to solder the wires to the leads as close to the LED as possible.

Clip excess LED lead wires then back the wires into the head letting the LED rest in the cockpit.  You're done with the head!

If you made the hole big enough, your solder job isn't as messy as mine, and you took out enough plastic you can potentially back the LED all the way into the head.

Step 2: The Neck

We want to hide the wires or at least make them look as 'natural' as possible.  Luckily there are some pseudo-pipes on the bottom of the neck that we can just replace with real wire...

Get rid of the highlighted portion of part A8.  Basically the pipes and adjoining material.  Leave the middle, vent-like structures.

Then, using your pin vise and hobby knife drill holes through the rectangular portion of A8.  You have to take care here as the part is small and flimsy.  You'll drill four holes, 2 on each end, and need to take a lot of plastic innards out of the part to make this work.

Once you do this feed the wires through the holes and along the neck where the plastic piping used to be and attach A8 and A1 to the neck.  You've now finished modding the neck.

Step 3: Wiring through the core space

 Using the pin vise and hobby knife drill holes through part B13.  To hide your wires you will be running them through the core space and out towards the bottom of the kit.

Run your wire through those holes and attach the neck while your at it.  This will allow you to properly space your wire.  Make sure you're not leaving it too slack or taut.

Feed the wires through the back of the core space. IMPORTANT: Make sure the wires are taut through this section and running along the top of the core space.  You want as little wire as possible in this area because space is limited due to the core box.

Once the wires are out the back, you can wear some indents into part C21 to direct the wire better.  There is exactly enough space between C21 and B6 to run the wires between these two parts...do it.
NOTE: If you are putting an LED in the core DO NOT attach B6 yet.

Once you attach B6 and its adjoining parts it will look something like this:

If you're just doing an LED in the cockpit you're finished and should proceed to part 2.

If you're wiring an LED in the core you need to strip a gap in the 12in. wires in order to join the wires from the core LED.  We're creating a parallel circuit here.  Once you've run the wire out the back of the core box; take your hobby knife and score the rubber around where I've marked in the picture.

When you back the wires out to disassemble the kit for paint find these scores and strip the insulation in between them.

Part 4: Modifying the core box and soldering the LED
Using your hobby knife cut an LED size hole in the back of the core box like so:

If you test fit, you'll notice that the LED is too long to fit nicely into the core box so you're going to have to cut it down.

The top is the original LED and bottom is the one cut short.  Be careful when cutting down the LED they're delicate and relatively easy to break.

Test fit to make sure it fits and swing the leads up vertical for fit and soldering.

Now solder the two 5in. wires to the leads.  Make sure you solder the wires on above the core box (parallel to the core).  This assures the core box will be able to fit into the body of the kit properly.

STOP!  At this point you've done all you can until final installation after you paint. So remove all wires or mask them and paint your kit.  Continue to step 5 for final installation.

Step 5: Final Installation
Reassemble the kit as in Steps 1-4, running the wires the same as test fitting.  This time run all wires out the back of the body's mid section.

WARNING: Don't do what I did, make sure the positive wires are coming out one side of the kit and the negative out the other.  You don't want to be crossing wires, its quite unsightly and makes soldering a lot harder.

Cut down the wires coming from the core and solder them to the exposed wire you cut out in part 4.

Once you've done that attach B6 and its adjoining parts and run the 12in. wires out the back as in Part 4.

Grab your CR2032 battery and hold the exposed end wires to the correct battery sides.  Both of your LEDs should light up!

Continue to part 2 for switch and battery installation.