Skymaster 1/6th F-16 Scale lighting System Instructions
Starting with the vertical fin, drill a 6mm hole in the top of the fin 3" back of the leading edge at the top of the fin. Make a 1/2" hole in the base of the fin 7-3/8" from the leading edge at the base of the fin. Use a 1/4" long drill bit to connect the two hole opening. Just drill straight down thru the fin spar and out the hole in the fin base. Route the fin strobe wiring thru the top hole and out the fin base. If you have trouble threading the wires, remove the small black plastic plug from the end of the strobe and re-attach it once thru the holes. Make the fin strobe diamond base out of a piece of scrap .020 fiberply See drawing below. Drill 2 1/16" hole where shown and a 5mm (.199) hole in the center where shown. Elongate the hole in the top of the fin using a spiral dremel cutting bit. See drawing dotted lines on diamond base for approx sizing. Make two small divots in bottom of the fin strobe lens, equally spaced using a 5mm (.199) drill bit. DO NOT exceed .125" for the 2 hole depths in the bottom of the strobe lens. Glue the LEDs in place using thin CA. Place the fin strobe lens onto the top of the diamond fin strobe lens base and glue in place using clear silicone or 5 min epoxy. Once the glue dries, place the diamond base onto the top of the fin, drill 2" 1/16" holes thru the holes in the diamond base and screw base in place using 2) #1 button head machine screws. Paint the base to match the color scheme of the jet.
Next, the white formation light on the trailing edge of the vertical fin base. This is a clear light and the 5mm LED acts as it's own lens. Remove the non-scale dome where the light mounts using a dremel cut-off wheel. Drill a 5mm hole in preparation to installing the light. Carefully file or sand off the flange on the LED (this is needed so that the lens can fit into the 5mm (.199) hole. Remove the plastic plug from the end of the white light's wiring and thread the wires thru the hole to the 1/2" dia. hole in the fin base. Re-attach the plug. Slide the vertical fin in place onto the fuselage, mark the center of the hole in the fin base onto the top of the fuse. Cut a mirror hole to the fin base thru the top of the fuse for the fin wiring to pass thru. Reinstall the fin after the hole has been completed. Attach the strobe and rear position light's fuse extensions and feed them thru the hole in the top of the fuse. Route wires forward to the controller which will be mounted in the space against the belly just forward of the main landing gear
Wings: Installing the wingtip lights is a little tricky since they actually mount in the missile rails instead of the wings. Drill 1 one 5mm (.199) hole thru the top of the right and left missile rails 4.75" forward of the missile rail's trailing edge and 1/4" out from the inside edge of the missile rail. Repeat for the bottom of each missile rail. To simplify things, you can merely drill thru the top and bottom of each rail using a drill press. Bore out a 5/16" hole on the inside of each missile rail centered, in direct line with the top and bottom holes in each rail. Carefully insert one LED at a time thru the holes. It is necessary to have the first LED fed to be as far thru the hole as possible to allow the second LED sufficient clearance when it's installed. Once installed, press each LED back into the rails until the LED backs are touching and centered vertically within each rail. Drill a 5mm (.199) hole into the bottom of each of the 4 wingtip light lenses; each hole should be .125" deep. Once the holes have been completed, use clear silicone or 5min. epoxy to attach each lens over the wingtip LEDs with the fatter end of the wingtip lens facing forward. Be sure the front and rear radii are parallel to the inside edge of each rail. Allow the glue to cure. Drill a 1/4" diameter hole thru the wingtip end in direct line with the wire hole in each missile rail for the wingtip wiring extensions to feed thru. Route the wires to the aileron servo box, then the flap box and then out the root of the wing. Plug in the wingtip fuse extensions and route them to the controllers mounting point.
Inlets: The inlet light lenses come full size and must be cut down before installing on ARF Plus (finished) airframes. Carefully measure exactly to the center of both the right (green) and left (red) inlet lenses and cut them in half. Measure the corresponding distance on the solid painted lens on each inlet side of the fuse. Cut the forward painted lens for the each inlet side. The base of the new colored lens should be an exact match the cut base on the fuse. Take your time and use a flat file to get the cutouts in the fuse to match the lens bases perfectly. See photo below for lens and wire feeding instructions.
Drill a 5mm (.199) X 3mm (.125 deep) hole into the back of the lens and insert the LED into the hole. Glue in place using thin ca. Feed wires as shown and route rearward thru the nose gear rear bulkhead to where the controller is going to mount. Repeat for the right side of the fuse. Glue the lens to the fuse using 5 min epoxy. Allow to cure.
Left inlet light and lens installed
Nose gear door landing lights. The landing light holder/fixture glues directly to the inside forward edge of the nose gear door near the edge opposite the hinges (farthest away from the fuse side). Use 5 min epoxy to mount the light holder to the nose door. Be sure the door will close and that nothing will hit the light holder. You may first tack the holder to the nose door to test the installation before using the epoxy. Route the wires back thru the inlet section to the controller location.
Using velcro, install the lighting controller against the belly of the airframe just forward of the main gear openings. Mount the unit as far forward as possible within the belly space. Mount the unit with the ports facing side to side. Connect all the wiring and re-test all the lighting. Be sure the polarity of each LED wire set is correct when plugging the wires into the controller. Adjust the tail strobe to get the desired effect. The strobe should fast double pulse as if it were one pulse.
If your are installing the optional left and right fuse position lights on either side of the fin on the top side of the fuse, cut out the inner scribe holes and install the clear flat plastic lenses using 5 min epoxy. Allow the epoxy to cure. Mount the LEDs into the dome holders and mount the domes against the inside of each clear lens using 5 min epoxy. allow the epoxy to cure. Route the wires forward to the lighting controller and plug into two of the "fixed" lighting ports.
If you are installing the optional refueling light lens and light, sand off the molded in refueling light blister, drill a 1/4" hole thru the center of the blister and install the new molded lens onto the top of the fuse in place of the old blister. Use 5 min epoxy to install the lens. Mount the refueling light LED into it's molded holder and install both inside the fuse with the LED light lens directly underneath the 1/4" hole drilled thru the fuse. Glue the holder in place using 5 min. epoxy. Allow the epoxy to cure. Route wires to controller and plug into landing light port. The lights will only be on when the plane is on the ground. The refueling light will not be visible in the air anyway.
If you have any further questions, please e-mail us at support@details4scale.com or call us at 208-233-4721 M-F 9-6 PM MST USA.
Thanks,
Dan Gill