1/18 Die Cast KITT Coming In December

[pewter 02ws6]

well, here are some pics of the amber fog lamp replacement lenses i made.

[pewter 02ws6]

and here is my modified KARR scanner. please ignore the green led at the end. i cut one of the prongs too short on my last yellow and won't get back to the store until tomorrow to get another. now all it needs is some silver paint
btw, i know it looks like there are 3 lit at the same time. this is only the way the pic came out. i took 10 different pics and for some reason,they all came out this way. i'm guessing because of the flash of the camera.

[HondaSiR]

Scoth: You're really determined to make your ERTL KITT an RC car huh? I can't wait for the finished product, post the pics soon when its done.

pewter 02ws6: Those replacement lenses sure look great! They appear to have been factory made. And the yellow LEDS do make a difference when converting KITT into KARR. Good luck in your search for better transparent yellow LEDS (and also in painting KARR's silver tone).

[pewter 02ws6]

pewter 02ws6: Those replacement lenses sure look great! They appear to have been factory made. And the yellow LEDS do make a difference when converting KITT into KARR. Good luck in your search for better transparent yellow LEDS (and also in painting KARR's silver tone).

thanks for the compliment on the lenses. i've been searching around the net and found a few clear lens leds but it apperars that they might light up amber. the yellow ones i used looked pure yellow when they were lit but appear to look more amber than yellow behind the clear lens for the scanner once the car was put back together. i guess it is going to be trial and error to get the correct color. does anyone have a good pic of KARR's scanner to compare? i have "KITT vs KARR" that i downloaded from the net but the quality isn't too good so it actually makes it look like KARR's scanner is red

[Tetsu]

Hi guys,
I'm new to this forum but have been lurking for a bit.
Pewter 02ws6, very nice customization with the yellow LED's! How did you do it if I may ask? Was it easy to replace the red LED's with the yellow?
I guess my real question is, on the 1:18 K.I.T.T, how do you stop the scanner light from "pausing"? I noticed that the scanner light does not continuously move left-right / right-left. It always pauses at the end of each stream and it's been bugging me. Is there anything I can do to eliminate that from occuring?
Also, anyone know how I can change the 5 LED's and upgrade it to 8 LED's like the original K.I.T.T car? I think Scoth had a link for one of the websites in the U.K selling some really cool scanner lights that has the "trailing" effect. but they're like $28 not including shipping which is pretty expensive.
I guess I'm trying to customize my K.I.T.T into looking more like the authentic K.I.T.T car, not that I'm complaining about the ERTL model.
THanks so much guys,
Tetsu

[CB2001]

Though I know everyone is psyched to have the 1/18 scale KITT out, I've found a 1/24 scale KITT paper model here: http://www.geocities.jp/mamecraft/knight2000_g.html

Figured I'd post about my find.

[pewter 02ws6]

Though I know everyone is psyched to have the 1/18 scale KITT out, I've found a 1/24 scale KITT paper model here: http://www.geocities.jp/mamecraft/knight2000_g.html

Figured I'd post about my find.

that is actually pretty neat

[pewter 02ws6]

Hi guys,
I'm new to this forum but have been lurking for a bit.
Pewter 02ws6, very nice customization with the yellow LED's! How did you do it if I may ask? Was it easy to replace the red LED's with the yellow?
Tetsu

first off.... welcome aboard!
it was actually very easy and anyone with a soldering gun can do it.
1.) just pick up some 3mm LEDs at radio shack.(see previous post about finding the correct ones).
2.)remove the screws on the bottom of the car that hold the chassis to the body.
3.) once you have the body off, remove the plastic piece that makes the radiator and fan shroud from the chassis by using a small flat screwdriver and prying on the ends so you have access to the back of the LED board where the wires meet. "Note": i found this easier than removing the LED board. i tried to get the LED board out but it is fastened very tightly where as the the plastic piece pops off with little effort.
4.) heat up your soldering gun and place the tip between the solder where the two LED prongs protrude through the back of the board. as the solder starts to melt, pry the LED out with your fingers,a needle nose pliers or something similar.be careful not to burn yourself
5. take your replacement LED and cut the prongs so they don't stick out of the back of the board too much but be sure to cut them so that the longer one is still a bit longer than the other after you cut them as you need to know what one is positive and what one is negative.
6.) take your replacement LED and install them with the longer prong in the bottom hole. you will notice that they will not go all the way through the hole but don't be alarmed.
7.) once the prongs are in the appropriate holes, place the tip of your soldering gun between the two blobs of solder for the LED you are replacing. once it starts to melt, the led should slide right in so that it is flush like they were from the factory. if not, heat up the solder again until it slides in flush with the board."Note": make sure that you do not melt the top and bottom blobs of solder together or the LED will not work.if you run into this problem, simply run the tip of the gun back and forth between the two points until they become seperate.
8.) reapeat the same steps for the remaining LED's.
9.) crack open a beer,hit the button to light the scanner and give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done.
the best part of this job was that there is no need to buy solder or adding solder as the existing stuff worked just fine
it may seem like a long and difficult process but once the car is apart and you see what needs to be done, you will then see how easy it will be.
it took less than 5 minutes to take the car apart and about 10 minutes to trim the prongs,remove the old LED's and replace the new ones. i would say about 20 minutes total to rip it apart,replace the LEDs and put the car back together.

[TurbomanKnight]

And I'm looking forward for some pics of your project. If It does work I'll give you $100 for it. Think About it. LAter Man

And I thought you were broke.

I was broke before Christmas. LOL Now Im rich! *evil chuckles*

[Tetsu]

Hey there pewter02ws6,
Thanks so much for your detailed explanation. It will help me a great deal. I never soldered anything before but I was looking at ebay for a soldering gun and came across the same one I saw on T.V. The cold/heat soldering tool. Is that okay for a job like this? I mean it's failr cheap and I figured I'd be using the tool quite a bit anyways. But what do ya think?
Also check out this website, http://www.knightlight.co.uk/pr-ks5008.htm
I was going to buy the red scanner for my 1:18 car but I'm not sure if it's compatible spacewise. Here's my plan. I remove the old 5 LED scanner system, remove the thin plastic in front of the engine to give me a little more room, install the U.K. 8 LED scanner system, and solder the postive & negative wires to the already existing battery compartment. Not sure If my plan will work, but I shall post pics and let you guys know.
Also, before I forget, is it possible for me to correct the "pausing" effect of the 5 LED scanner system? U know what I'm talking about?
Thanks again boss,
Tetsu

[neps]

Though I know everyone is psyched to have the 1/18 scale KITT out, I've found a 1/24 scale KITT paper model here: http://www.geocities.jp/mamecraft/knight2000_g.html

Figured I'd post about my find.

Okay, that's the hottest thing I have ever seen.

[pewter 02ws6]

Hey there pewter02ws6,
Thanks so much for your detailed explanation. It will help me a great deal. I never soldered anything before but I was looking at ebay for a soldering gun and came across the same one I saw on T.V. The cold/heat soldering tool. Is that okay for a job like this? I mean it's failr cheap and I figured I'd be using the tool quite a bit anyways. But what do ya think?
Also check out this website, http://www.knightlight.co.uk/pr-ks5008.htm
I was going to buy the red scanner for my 1:18 car but I'm not sure if it's compatible spacewise. Here's my plan. I remove the old 5 LED scanner system, remove the thin plastic in front of the engine to give me a little more room, install the U.K. 8 LED scanner system, and solder the postive & negative wires to the already existing battery compartment. Not sure If my plan will work, but I shall post pics and let you guys know.
Also, before I forget, is it possible for me to correct the "pausing" effect of the 5 LED scanner system? U know what I'm talking about?
Thanks again boss,
Tetsu

tetsu, the soldering gun i used was only $5 at radio shack and is sufficient for what you plan to do.i don't know of the one you plan to buy but if it is as cheap then it won't matter.
thanks for the link for the scanner. i see that the KARR scanner they offer has the correct criss corss trailing effect. i think i am going to purchase it
i will wait until i have it in my hands to see what i will do for the power supply. if it has an on/off switch, i will just modify the existing battery compartment to accomodate the new battery. if not i will have to rig it to the existing power supply and on off switch to accomodate the new scanner.
it looks to be the same size as the factory scanner. it has 8 LEDs where the stock one only has 5 but there are gaps between the LEds on the stock unit and the 8 LED one looks to have them mounted tightly next to each other.
the only problem is that it looks like some modifaction to the radiator is going to be needed.most likely i will have to cut out an area in the bottom of the radiator so the board has room to stick through.
i will wait until i have my hands on one and post what will be needed to do this mod once i get it.
as for the pause in the scanner, i don't know of any way you could eliminate this.
if you get the scanner before me, please post some pics to compare it to the size of the factory one and let me know how it turns out.
thanks,chris

[Tetsu]

Yo yo, wad up Chris,
Thanks for the reply bro. I really want to buy the red scanner BUT, on their website they say you need to convert their currency to our USD. Last time I checked the scanner was 28 us dollars. Thats NOT including shipping. SO I e-mailed them a few days ago to make sure but never received a reply.
I will let you know when I hear form this guy, as I wouldn't want either one of us purchasing anything if it's not legit, U know what I'm saying?
But it feels great that I'm not the only one trying to mess with the 1:18 K.I.T.T. I just feel wrong if I'm stuck with a product I'm not satisfied with U know.
Okay boss, talk to you soon,
Tetsu
P.S- $5 for a soldering gun? yo I'm getting mines at R.S

[Tetsu]

Oh yeah Chris, before I forget,
Where did you purchase those clear fog lights? Was it something you bought or something u had to "cut out"??
I would love to replace my amber lights with your clear ones, not that I mind the amber,
Tetsu

[HondaSiR]

Though I know everyone is psyched to have the 1/18 scale KITT out, I've found a 1/24 scale KITT paper model here: http://www.geocities.jp/mamecraft/knight2000_g.html

Figured I'd post about my find.

Okay, that's the hottest thing I have ever seen.

That's a nice find CB2001! I've never seen KITT as a paper model before, its nice to know it somehow exists. But I wouldn't trade any of my diecast or plastic model kits for one though lolz.

[pewter 02ws6]

tetsu, i did a little write up on how i did the lenses a few pages back.
i am pretty happy with the car as it came stock but i just like things to be accurate. i am now thinking about removing the solid sections between the lamps and hollowing out the opening for the lamps and just have two lights on each side to make the nose 100% accurate. i figure that if i am going to do all this work to it, i might as well go the extra mile and make it a 100% accurate replica all around. i'm becoming obcessed

[Skav]

pewter 02ws6,

where did you get the clear replacement fog lights? and how did you manage to get the orange lights off? with a flick knife?

[pewter 02ws6]

pewter 02ws6,

where did you get the clear replacement fog lights? and how did you manage to get the orange lights off? with a flick knife?

please read the above post

[Skav]

can't seem to find your explanation of how you did the fog lights, only the scanner. lol.

EDIT: nevermind, found it.

[DanielB]

Nice work on the foglights.

I've just cleaned my KITT and put him away - picked up an AUTOart display case yesterday at ModelZone Bluewater for £8 in their sale, so he's clean and protected from dust now.

[Skav]

i regularly polish my models, myself.

i would buy those special protective cases but mine's placed on 2 shelves and theyre not big enough for those, only the cars.

[CB2001]

pewter 02ws6, neps- Thanks. It was pure chance.

HondaSiR- You can actually download the model and print it out for free, so that means that you don't have to trade any of your current models to have one. Some modelers and hobbyists actually download the templates, print them out onto styrene sheets and then begin working on them, so it'd end up being a plastic version of a paper model. Doing a KARR version for this paper model wouldn't be too hard. In fact, there are a wide variety of paper models, including a 1/1 scale M-41A Pulse Rifle from "Aliens", with moving parts!

[HondaSiR]

Hehe, when I have the time, I'll try and download it CB2001. When I get to it, I'll probably try to enlarge the scale to 1:16 or bigger so it will display better. Only problem I see is how to find the kind of paper that is solid enough for the job (thin cardboard perhaps).

[CB2001]

HondaSIR- Some sites recommend poster board, like the white construction kind that you can find everywhere (at Wal-Mart, CVS Pharmacy, etc).

I'm trying to figure out if you could print a paper model on a sheet of styrene (as thin and the same dimensions as a "No Trespassing" sign you can find at Wal-Mart or any hardware store).

[HondaSiR]

You'd have to find a special ink for styrene plastic, CB2001. Ordinary ink will not be absorbed by the material. Yup, white poster boards will do for a paper model. I will consider it as a future project, I still have to finish my Titanic, Blue Thunder and 1:25 KITT by 2005.