Return to the BUILD
“Work continues on the base as you add the main circuit board which will control the searchlights and sound effects.”
Contents
Parts
Materials: This issue only includes the electronic Main Circuit Board PCB.
Magazine
- T-800 Assembly – Model Instructions
- Sci-Fi Cinema Legends – The Hunger Games
- Real World Science – Last Player Standing
Attach a Circuit Board and Plug in the Searchlights
Steps 1-2
Retrieve your base panel assembly from the previous issue and carefully turn the base assembly upside down. Fit the Main Circuit Board into the center of the base panels as shown.
Take care not to damage any of the base details we have added. You may even want to set the base panel sections on something to raise them up off your work surface:
Step 3
Secure the Main Circuit Board into place with four (4) 2×4 mm PB screws:
Step 4
Identify these sockets on the Main Circuit Board are where the searchlights will be plugged into.
Since the remote control we will receive in the last issue of the build can control the red and blue searchlights separately, I also wanted to label which sockets are controlled by which color button:
Step 5
Connect the plugs of the four Searchlight assembly cables to the appropriate sockets of the Main Circuit Board.
If you color-coded the wires of the Searchlights as we built them, this step should be easy using the image in the previous step as a guide. But, as you can see, I ran into a cable length problem. The wires on three of the Searchlights are the same length, but one (LED and Cable (Red) from Issue 111) has a much longer cable. With my switching of their locations, you can see my blue Searchlight cable is not long enough to reach the Main Circuit Board:
This longer cabled Searchlight assembly has to be installed in the front right socket (when looking at it the base from the front) if we want the wire to reach. In order to keep my LED colors at opposite corners, I had to swap some of my Searchlights around but they are easily popped back out. This is how my front half looked after the Searchlight relocation:
And, here is the rear half of my panel assembly. Note how I had to cross the cables of these two Searchlights:
Make sure the Searchlight wiring is routed through the wide notches at the panel seams so they do not get trapped later on when the backing panels for the base are installed.
On my base panel assembly, I ran my wires like this, and then used pieces of black electrical tape to hold them down to the base panels:
I paid special attention to this area of the base panel assembly since this is where the Battery Box will soon slide into place. I wanted to make sure my Searchlight wiring was not in the way:
Thoughts
Unfortunately, we cannot test the Searchlights operation until we finish the build, so I hope everything works. This issue wraps up this two-month build session of our T-800, but it also means that we only have one more double-shipment to do. See you soon!
Next Up
Issue 115 – Switch with Cable, Speaker, Fixing Ring for Speaker, Details/Backing for Base Assembly