Skymaster F-4 scale lighting instructions
You will need the following tools to complete the lighting installation on your F-4 model.
Drill with 1/8", 7/32" drill bits
dremel with small drum sander, carbide cutout tip (1/8")
fine blade razor saw 3/4" wide blade
36" length of .030 piano wire (fish tape for pulling wires thru wings and fin)
5 min epoxy or clear silicone (use 5 min epoxy if you're in a hurry)
The F-4 lighting is fairly straight forward to install. Here are a few tips to help with the install.
1. Take your time when making cutouts. Measure twice, cut once. Use a piece of masking tape to define your cutout size on the low level wingtip lights and the fin strobe.
2. Be prepared to have to do a small amount of touch up to an ARF painted bird. The paint will likely chip slightly while making the wingtip and fin cutouts. You can minimize this by cutting the openings a bit smaller and then using a small sanding block with 220 or finer grit sandpaper to increase the opening to the right size for the lens.
3. If using the 5 min epoxy to glue in the lenses, use rubbing alcohol sparingly to remove the excess epoxy. You can also use denatured alcohol but test the paint surface with it on the cutout waste before using it.
4. Make all the cutouts before installing any of the lighting.
5. For the rear wingtip and the fin clear lights, it is necessary to grind the base flange on the LED off so that the led lens is one continuous diameter. Use the small dremel drum sander for this.
6. The black plastic connector housings on the rear wingtip and fin tip lights must be removed in order to fish the wires thru the surfaces. They can be easily disassembled by lifting the small tabs on the face of each connector slightly while gently pulling on the connector wires. The wire and chrome connector will slip right out of the housing. After the wires have been fished thru, simply slide the connectors back into the plastic housing until they click in place.
Installation Procedure:
Starting with the wings, remove the areas where the leading edge wingtip position lights will mount. Also, measure and cut out the low level light cutouts. Be sure the length and depth of each cutout matches each low level lens. There is a left and a right. You can tell them apart by the tip airfoils. Usually, removing the pre-painted areas is adequate. check the cutout a little at a time as material is removed by simply inserting the molded lens into the cut slot. Sand as necessary to get a perfect fit of the lens in each leading edge slot cutout. Using a the 1/8" dremel bit, cut a slight groove into the back of each angled lens. See the photos below.
Note the slight recess of the main balsa wing spar. It will also be necessary to remove a small amount of the leading edge glue material from the leading edge lens slots, depending on how much glue is in the back of the slot. Re-check the fit of all the lenses one more time, then set the lenses aside for now.
The small groove in the back of the lens should be like this.
Working from the rear edge of each wingtip, using the conical dremel tip. Recess a small hole all the way thru the rear wingtip as shown in the photo below. Using the dremel tip, enlarge the hole until it's approx. 3/16" in diameter. Finish off the hole size using a 7/32" drill bit and spin it by hand until the hole is 5/16" deep.
Notice there is very little material left on the edges, so take your time making the holes to prevent blowing out the sides of the openings.
If you haven't ground the flanges off of the LED bases yet, do so now using the small dremel sanding drum. It's ok if the rear sides of the LED are scratched a little because the light is only emitted from the ends of the LEDs.
Carefully check the fit of each trailing edge led light to the openings you just made. Once satisfied with the fit, set the wings and the LEDs aside.
Using the same techniques as with the low level light lenses on the wings, measure and cut out the pocket for the fin strobe lens. See photo below.
As with the cutouts for the wing, be sure the lens fits perfectly into the cutout on the fin. Assemble the strobe, lens and double LEDs onto the strobe lens as shown in the inset photo below.
Make two small 5mm recesses into the strobes where shown in the photo. Drill the holes approx. 3/16" deep. Use 5 min epoxy to affix the LEDs to the lens. You can also use a drop of CA each if you wish. However, the LEDs will never come out of the lens if they ever need replacing.
Using the same method as with the rear wingtip lights, core out the hole for the fin tip clear light. The LED will recess all the way into the fin with the tip of the LED flush with the rear edge of the fin. The tip is then covered by the 1/4" clear dome lens. See hole photo below.
Notice the amount of material on the outer edges of the hole allows for a nice glue surface for the clear lens.
Installing the lighting system:
You will need the .030 piano fish wire before beginning the next steps. Fashion a small open loop on one end of the wire. See photo below.
Using the fish wire, insert the straight end into the rear wingtip hole and fish the trailing edge 6" lead thru each rear wingtip hole. Green for the right wing, red for the left.
The wire shown extends thru the leading edge wingtip cutout. Simply insert the end of the wires with the connectors bent back and pull them thru the hole. Re-assemble the plastic connectors onto each tip light and repeat the same procedure for the leading edge lights.
Once the wires have been brought thru to the center low level lens openings, glue the trailing edge lights in place using a small dab of 5 min epoxy. Allow 3/32" of the LED to stick out the back of the trailing edge. Allow these to cure for a couple hours before proceeding.
Proceed to the leading edge LEDs and glue the LEDs in place in each wingtip so that only 1/16" of the tip of the LED protrudes into the lens slot cutout. The small groove made in the rear of each leading edge tip lens should just clear the tip of the LED in each cutout. Once the 5 min epoxy has cured, holding each LED firmly in place, glue the leading edge lenses in place using the same 5 min epoxy. Be very neat with the epoxy. Work fast and clean up any excess using the rubbing alcohol and a clean rag or paper towel. Allow the leading edge lenses to cure for a couple of hours before proceeding to the next step.
You will now need to fish the two wires thru the entire wing to the wing root. Use the photos below to plan the route for the wires.
Start with wire here. The straight end of the wire should be behind the main wing spar. Make a 1/4" hole in the front center of the aileron servo bay wing rib. Once the hole has been made, fish the wire thru the rib opening as shown below.
Notice the secondary hole on the flap servo side. This hole leads to the wing root. Be sure to make the holes in the centers of each rib so as to not weaken the rib structure. Fish each of the two leads from each wingtip thru the outer holes into the flap/aileron servo bays. Plug in the wingtip lights and place a small amount of electrical tape over each connector after plugging them together. DO NOT glue in the low level light yet. They will be glued in after the light system has been final tested.
Once the wingtip lighting wires are thru to the servo bays, make a hole at the rear of the aft wing tube as shown in the photo below.
Use the 1/8" dremel tip cutter and then the small drum sander to make a hole at least 3/8" in diameter on each wing root. This is where the wires will exit the wings to go into the fuse. Make a corresponding hole in each fuse side for the wires to enter the fuse. Be sure to thoroughly sand each of the holes to remove the sharp edges that may chafe the wires.
Fish the wingtip wires thru the secondary bay holes and out the wing root holes. Place a small piece of electrical tape over the wires to keep them from going back into the wings.
Working on the fin, using the same method as you did for the rear wingtip lighting, route the fin tip clear light thru the fin to the strobe cutout hole. It is necessary to route the wires here first due to the spar structure of the fin. Once the wires are thru to the strobe cutout, use a small piece of tape to hold the wires in place to prevent them from going back into the fin. There is a small piece of aluminum embedded into the fin between the two fin tube rods. Avoid drilling thru this area. Refer to the Skymaster construction manual as to the exact location before drilling this hole. Once you are certain of the aluminum's location, use a 1/4" extension drill bit, drill straight down thru the fin, spar and fin base. You may now fish the fin tip light and strobe light wires thru to the base of the fin. Drill a corresponding hole on the fin base on the fuse for the fin wires to enter the fuse.
Lighting test:
Plug all the lighting into the controller and test for proper function. Once satisfied that all the lighting is functioning properly, you can glue the remaining lenses in place. ( Low level light lenses, strobe lens and the fin tip lenses.)
Landing lights:
There are two landing light systems for the F-4. The Air Force version uses a single high power Luxeon LED light for the landing light system. The Navy version uses one Luxeon landing light and a landing light tree (red, yellow, green). The landing lights are mounted directly to the nose gear door. See photos below.
Nose door lighting shown here on Navy F-4
Photo courtesy of Jets R/C. Click on the photo to view the Jets R/C website.
Twin Air Force lighting shown to left. Typically, the twin lighting was used on the RF-4 recon Phantoms and not the F4-E's. Below shows the diagrams for both Navy and Air Force Phantom nose door landing lights.
Air Force F-4 Nose Door Landing Configs.
Navy F-4 Lighting Configs.
Simply route the wire thru the fuse to the nose door. Attach the wires to the rear of the door using 5 min. epoxy. Cover with a strip of styrene or other plastic since the Skymaster F-4 doesn't have a molded inner door. Route the wires down the left side of the fuse to the area aft of the rear wing spar. This is where the lighting controller will be mounted.
Mounting the light controller:
Using velcro, mount the lighting controller on the fuse surface wing root section just aft of the rear wing spar. Route all wires to that location and plug them into the controller. Route the battery/switch wires where necessary for proper balance for the airframe. If you need more nose weight, route the wires and batteries forward. Place the switches and charge jacks in a convenient location for easy access.
Make final adjustments to the strobe before permanently attaching the controller into the fuse. Once set, the controller will hold to strobe settings forever.
The Details 4 Scale lighting system will give you many, many hours of enjoyment in your jet. If you have any problems with your system or any questions concerning the installation or operation of the system, please call or e-mail us.
Phone 208-233-4721 M-F 9-6 MST E-mail: support@details4scale.com