[Darkhunter]

On my PL J2, I replaced the landing gear struts with aluminum tube and ran the wires through the tubes and out the bottom of the gear pads.
I don't have the new kit yet but was wondering how everyone is running their power?

 

[djnick66]

Myself I want it all self contained. That way I don't need 1) a massive base or 2) wires dangling around outside the model. Most available light sets I have seen are battery powered.

 

[Paulbo]

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT:

The armature of the ParaGrafix Hero Landing Gear is made of brass, which conducts electricity quite nicely. Two of the legs could be used for a single power circuit, or all three could be used with one being a common ground for two circuits.

Over on the lighting forum Teslabe has a great solution for the "I picked up the model and now the lights went out" problem this could cause: http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=252929&highlight=capacitor .

 

[teslabe]

SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION ALERT:

The armature of the ParaGrafix Hero Landing Gear is made of brass, which conducts electricity quite nicely. Two of the legs could be used for a single power circuit, or all three could be used with one being a common ground for two circuits.

Over on the lighting forum Teslabe has a great solution for the "I picked up the model and now the lights went out" problem this could cause: http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=252929&highlight=capacitor .

As I've done with all my builds, they are self contained and powered by ether
"Super Caps" or rechargable batteries and are never hardwired to anything.
I too like to pick up my builds and have them still powered up. The kit drives
both the type of contact I use and the type of power needed to supply the kit when off it's charger base. For simple lighting, 5 leds or less, I will use Super Caps and can get about 10-20mins per charge. For more power hungry
builds, I use rechargable batteries like Lithium Polymer (LiPo). For all my J2 builds, from LM, PL and now my Moebius, I always used the landing gears to get power up to the ship and a matching base to set the ship on for it's power. The legs had very small wires running down the stair case back and covered with a thin sheet of plastic to hide it, then under the pivot joint at the base of the leg into the pad.Then on the bottom of the pad I used Copper
tape and soldered the wires to that. The base had small contacts that lined up with correct pad for the +/- circuit.
Using Paul's landing gears would have made it easier, so you may want to think hard about using them.....:thumbsup: Here are some reposts of my MIM
Seaview, it has super caps and some reposts of my PL J2. I will post pictures of my Moebius as soon as I get all the electronic in for it and can start the build.

P.S. I no longer have the base for my PL J2 or my LM J2, the last time I saw them was as the box that had them flew off the back of a pickup truck when I was moving......:drunk:

 

[Darkhunter]

I take it the struts that come with the kit are not hollow. How difficult would it be to replace these struts with brass tube? This was easy to do on the PL kit but the Moebius landing gear is more accurate and the load bearing portions look different.
I'll be getting the kit in the next week or two, I'm just trying to plan things out ahead of time.

 

[teslabe]

I take it the struts that come with the kit are not hollow. How difficult would it be to replace these struts with brass tube? This was easy to do on the PL kit but the Moebius landing gear is more accurate and the load bearing portions look different.
I'll be getting the kit in the next week or two, I'm just trying to plan things out ahead of time.

No, the struts are not hollow and it would not be hard to replace the plastic struts with a brass rod and tube, but you would have to make a new pivot out of a small piece of flat brass for the staircase joint. The rod would be the main support, the tube would just go over the rod to give your strut the look of a hydraulic piston. I hope this helps.

 

[Darkhunter]

No, the struts are not hollow and it would not be hard to replace the plastic struts with a brass rod and tube, but you would have to make a new pivot out of a small piece of flat brass for the staircase joint. The rod would be the main support, the tube would just go over the rod to give your strut the look of a hydraulic piston. I hope this helps.

This helps out a lot. The photo is great. The only thing I'm hung up on is trying to figure out how to make that pivot point work with flat brass. How do I get the brass to hook up to the plastic staircase joint?
Any suggestions?

 

[teslabe]

This helps out a lot. The photo is great. The only thing I'm hung up on is trying to figure out how to make that pivot point work with flat brass. How do I get the brass to hook up to the plastic staircase joint?
Any suggestions?

Just solder your joint to the brass tube on your brass rod, make sure it's 90deg from the pod's mount. If I was doing something like this, I could post picturse of the mod, but I'm not, sorry...

 

[Paulbo]

This helps out a lot. The photo is great. The only thing I'm hung up on is trying to figure out how to make that pivot point work with flat brass. How do I get the brass to hook up to the plastic staircase joint?
Any suggestions?

If you're querying how to connect to the staircase, then the easiest way is to just drill a hole through the flat brass plate. The kit staircase has a hinge pin already molded in. Easy peezy.