One of the features of Mark's brake van that appealed to me was the working tail lamp. Maybe I'm just a big kid, but working lights always appeal - I used to devour the opelectric section of the Maplin catalogue...
The LED for my lamp comes from the first issue of the Hachette "Build the Terminator" partwork. I've always been a bit of a sucker for picking up the cheap issue no.1 just to find out what's inside. Attached to the front were the "eyes", a pair of ultra-bright LEDs, and the mask face. The issue was almost worth it for the lights.
One oddity, when I attached a ready-built battery box, the colours of the wires are opposite to those on the LED. Fortunately, it seems to be able to cope with a bit of reversed polarity.
The lamp housing is made from bits of plastic tube chopped up and glued together. Dimensions are loosely based on a real BR tail lamp on my shelf, but also with a bit of "it looks right"ness thrown in.
The handle is a spare bit of etch. A coat of white primer covers everything, but not enough to stop the light shining through the sides. Painting the sides of the LED black cures most of this.
Now, what to do with the mask. Demonic Thomas maybe?
Well, I suppose the Terminater mask could come in usefull should you go down the rat rod route with the Beetle. Number plate light bulb holder, bonnet handle/mascot etc.
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