# Cop cars and stuff.



## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Does anyone have a link or care to explain how to modify a cop car with flashing lights? Are there kits you can buy? is there a specific car to buy that works best and transform it into a cop car? what about fire engines and ambulances?


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## Ranman (Mar 20, 2012)

Here's a link
http://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/ledlights1.html


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

awesome! So what cars are good to modify?


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## Ranman (Mar 20, 2012)

i haven't


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

I used Micro-Machines...a bit out of scale but fun...





I used a grade crossing circuit in one and two circuits in the other. They're 1.6mm LEDs filed flat for the light bars and filed round for the headlights. The camera shutter speed gives them the odd flash rate, they really are neat in person...


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## Carl (Feb 19, 2012)

Just outstanding modeling Shay


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Shay, so what was your technique for installing them? Just drill holes in the car and thread the wires through? I mean, the headlights, are they just installed from the front?


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Basically just that, I took them apart and drilled holes just big enough for the LED leads on the roof and for the LEDs themselves in the headlights. From that point on I simply wired them like bulbs in a set of crossbucks. I used two circuit in the one, one set at the slowest rate for the headlights, the other set for the fastest rate on the roofs. I used this circuit, a DIY kit for Bakatronics... http://www.bakatronics.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=337

They're all mounted on their own boards under the layout for ease of maintenance.


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Great! I just ordered some of those kits! Now i need to find some cars to install them in  And some LEDs. 1.6mm, hmm?


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

bwoogie said:


> And some LEDs. 1.6mm, hmm?


I got mine on eBay...:thumbsup:


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

yeah i looked on ebay. all thats showing up is leds for dome lines in your car...


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## Ranman (Mar 20, 2012)

well i think eBay sucks this days i pay just much as buying else where


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Im gonna brave going to hobby lobby tomorrow and see what they have in the way of cars.. maybe i'll even go to the train shop thats less than a mile from my house? Havent been there since i was a kid. Scared to go in though cause they might be expensive... lol


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

I've ordered parts for exactly what your looking to do.
I already have 805 SMD LED's they are less than 1MM square, OK for HO.
Coming to me are both the 603 SMD LED's and the 402 SMD LED's.
The 402 LED's are about 1/4 of a MM square smaller than a pin head, and the wire that feeds them is .005. about a human hair.
T-man has posted a circuit on here that is very simple to make and will make the lights flash perfectly.
For the money that you could buy 1 set up commercially, I can make about 50.


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Where did you order from?


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Also does anyone have a curcuit for automatic crossing signals? I was thinking having two motion sensors burried in the track on either sides of the crossway and as long as there is motion detected in at least one sensor allow the LEDs to blink.. have no idea how complicated that is.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

The crossing circuit is a complicated one, Circuitron has one for fairly cheap, worth it to buy one of theirs!

I get almost all of my Electronic / LED supplies off ebay, most come from China!


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Here we go! http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/AGC11SchAndParts.html
Hmm.. I'm gonna see if i can find a parts supplier and see how much it'll cost. if it's significantly cheaper i'll do it


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

11.87 vs 26.00. One part I couldn't find from digi-key (LM556CNFS-ND) and this doesn't include a board. I dunno. I might do it. It sounds like a good "experiment"


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## New Berlin RR (Feb 11, 2012)

bwoogie said:


> Great! I just ordered some of those kits! Now i need to find some cars to install them in  And some LEDs. 1.6mm, hmm?


could just make a few under cover or PI type cars  you know the undercover police cars that are unmarked police units


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

So i went to hobby lobby just for kicks. Um. They have nothing. lol. They used to have track at least. now all they have is a couple kits and some scenery.

So I decided to stop by my local train shop. Meh, they're over priced.

But walking away from all this, I realized N scale cars are way smaller than I remember haha. It's gonna be tricky to install LEDs in them. :O


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

btw, can you give me a link where to buy the 402's on ebay? seriously, I'm not getting anything good when I search... Junk just shows up.


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## oldSmokey (Jul 31, 2011)

I model HO scale so I managed to get a few Black & White police cars from the States, they had the lightbar right across the top, inside they were just melted over to hold them in, so I mounted a red and a blue smd PLCC 6 led under this point, the first one I done I just made up an alternating flasher circuit and it worked perfectly.
I happened to be watching TV a few nights later and the show COPS came on, I noticed that the police cars now had a different lightbar setup, the red light light would flash a couple of times then the blue one would do the same thing, alternating between the red and blue with a few flashes of each, so I made up a circuit that does exactly that, my one flashes 3 times on the red then goes to the blue and flashes 3 times and continues in that cycle. I've finished them all now, so no more changes. I was looking on Ebay the other day and to my surprise there is a little circuit for sale that does exactly what I had done the year before.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Here are the LED sizes,


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Ah! Thanks! the 0 in the *0*402 helped!


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

bwoogie, 
Have you ever worked with SMD's or any micro electronics?
It's takes a very good magnifying visor or a set of loupes!
You also need a really good soldering iron! 
I have been doing micro electronics for a little bit now and it really takes a steady hand!


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## oldSmokey (Jul 31, 2011)

As Sean said,

It's takes a very good magnifying visor or a set of loupes!
You also need a really good soldering iron!
I have been doing micro electronics for a little bit now and it really takes a steady hand! 
Another thing to mention is, when you go to solder the wire on the smd led, don't leave the iron on it for long as the heat will kill the led very quickly.
What I do is tin the wire and then the led, check the led is still working then solder on the wire, it takes less than a second (so far so good)
For the PLCC-2 leds I use a small alligator clip fixed to a stand to hold the led and solder on the first wire, then turn it around and solder the second wire on, for the smaller leds I have some rubber tape that is sticky on both sides, I cut off a small piece and stick it on a piece of wood then lay the led onto it, the led doesn't move and once I have the wires soldered on, I just lift it off as it is not all that sticky with such a small led.
I would like to know from the others here how they do it, as we can all learn from eachother and it makes doing things that much easier.


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

Nope, ive never soldered anything this small before. Thanks for the tips


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

bwoogie said:


> Here we go! http://home.cogeco.ca/~rpaisley4/AGC11SchAndParts.html
> Hmm.. I'm gonna see if i can find a parts supplier and see how much it'll cost. if it's significantly cheaper i'll do it


The parts for the grade crossing signal came friday. I'm still working on designing the circuit board, which I'll etch myself - luckily my dad has etched boards before so he should be a great help. The site I got it from doesn't supply the pcb layout and basically said dont ask for one; design it yourself. So I've been spending the last few days trying to get it all laid out. Difficult, but surprisingly entertaining. I'll post it on here once its done.

Still waiting on the LEDs and wire to get here.. No rush on that though. Still haven't found some cars yet  I ordered 10 of the kits from http://www.bakatronics.com/shop/item.aspx?itemid=337 so I'll prolly make some tv antennas or something.


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## Xnats (Dec 5, 2010)

I did not know there are two smaller sizes from the 0400 series. That was a nice size chart Sean :thumbsup:


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## bwoogie (Mar 31, 2012)

bwoogie said:


> Great! I just ordered some of those kits! Now i need to find some cars to install them in  And some LEDs. 1.6mm, hmm?


So after a month later.... (order issues) the kits finally arrived. i just finished assembling one  looks great. now i just need to find me some cars to install them in.

also, i've spent all day working on my grade crossing circuit. my dad "convinced" me not to etch it and just solder the wires to it. we both decided that was a bad choice. lol live and learn i guess. next time (if there is a next time) i will etch it no matter what.


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