SMD in place and tested, the resin replacement lenses were glued to the front of the spotlights and the seam lightblocked and hidden with a thin strip of self-adhesive aluminium tape. Then a small hole was drilled in the base to allow a micro-SMD to be added to each spotlight (these were coloured SMDs to match the final colour of the spotlight - mostly blue but also a red). The moulded lenses were drilled away along with a 'hollow' in the spotlight itself. At this stage, I also removed the moulded strobe lights in the front of the front radiator grill, drilled holed behind them which would eventually house white micro-SMDs and replaced the 'bulbs' with short lengths of clear perspex rod to form new lightable strobe flashers.įor the various spotlights I used a similar technique to the one I used on my Spinner. As I said, I didn't have clear inserts for these, so instead I taped the back of the part and carefully dribbled clear resin into the lenses from the outside using an eyedropper. The signature Cadillac conical rear lights were cut away and the lit areas of the square rear light clusters were carefully drilled out. Filed to fit, the clear resin inserts pushed into place. Replacement lenses made, I carefully drilled and filed out the moulded lenses in the chromed parts. The only lights that turned out to be imposible to make like this were the 'square' main rear lights so I had to use a different technique for them at a slightly later stage. Using these moulds I cast all the light lenses in clear resin. I used ' Blue Stuff' for this, a thermoplastic moulding material that softens to a putty like consistency when heated in hot water, but cools to a firm but slightly flexible state which retains even the finest detail. The first thing to do was to make moulds of all the lights - or at least the parts of them that should have clear lenses. So adding all the lights I wanted would take some work. There was one issue with the Ecto-1 version, however, which was that the headlights, sidelights, rear lights and all the various spotlights are all solid mouldings on the sprue of chromed parts. Polar Lights make kits of both versions of the car. The car had a lot more detail and 'busyness' added to it for the second movie, but I like the simpler lighting rig, 'roof-rack' and markings of the original. I opted for the original 'Ecto-1', seen in the first movie. The kit itself is relatively straightforward. They were beautifully accurate, and scaled down to 1/25th, would give me just what I wanted for the final look. It was finding a fantastic set of 3D-printable STL files for the ghostbusters themselves that finally got me revved up to finish the model. Like the other cars, I wanted to light it as fully as possible and if possible mount it on a small diorama base, ideally with figures of Venkman, Stantz, Zeddamore and Spengler. I've had this on my 'work-in-progress' shelf for ages. Having previously attempted the Blade Runner Police Spinner and the 1989 Batmobile, I've added to my growing collection of 1/25th scale movie vehicles with another iconic car from one of my favourite movies.
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