Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Pintopower

Functional King Blackfoot Roll Bar Lights

Recommended Posts

I am a huge fan of the Tamiya Blackfoots (Blackfeet?), well the original ORV chassis version anyway. I have a Monster Beetle but in the mid 1990's when I was racing it, parts were scarce and the suspension dated. I picked yup my King Blackfoot brand new in '96 I think. You couldn't beat the upgraded suspension when compared to the Monster Beetle.

My Monster Beetle:

14951441421_45b7dbb612_z.jpg

One of my reasons for my love of Tamiya are the shells. No one can do a shell like Tamiya (well, maybe Marui but they are sadly gone). The Blackfoot always had a look to it that was just unbeatable. Even though that F-Series shell was also recycled from the SRB Ranger, for me, it looked far more at home on the Blackfoot.

My Blackfoot:

14768003597_c57714d45b_z.jpg

When I got my KBF, I thought it looked good but not as good as the BF. I couldn't place why it wasn't, it just wasn't. I did a non-Box art shell first and then a few year later made a box art shell. When I made that box art lid, the Blackfoot extreme was out and I pilfered the chrome cage for my KBF. Man, that made a difference.

My Non-Box art shell that I painted and flamed in '97:

12602937434_a7ef1c8e0f_z.jpg

Box art shell with the Blackfoot Extreme chrome roll bar:

12464242555_f3132c4ba3_z.jpg

I thought It looked great but I wasn't done with the mods. First thing first was functional tail lights. I 3D printed lenses and buckets for the rear of the truck.

The build thread is here:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=74730&hl=

The result was pretty nice in my opinion.

15731376752_a0085ca1a5_z.jpg

Still, seems to me that a truck that has head lights, tail lights, reverse lights and brake lights need something more than three lame little fake roll bar lights.

16249474852_f9b388a08c_z.jpg

I had this old roll bar that was the one the truck came with years ago. It had been modified in the '90's to accommodate four RAM lighting units so there were three 4mm holes drilled into it where the lights were installed. I went ahead and primed and pained it in a semi gloss black to match the bumpers. I measured out the holes that I had drilled as well as the holes that were originally there for the aux lights. The holes were not originally round and 17 year old me didn't do the best job of making them bigger.

15627900364_3dab44e63d_z.jpg

At this point, I just used the existing hole placement to make a 4 lamp unit that would sit in the outer most stock aux light mounts with all of the LED's poking up from the four holes on top of the roll bar. They would slip in to the bottoms of the lamps and hide most of the wiring.

16224398676_67f7485934_z.jpg

The inside of the housings have a sloped face to facilitate reflection. These are super bright LED's but I was not expecting much more than cosmetic lighting.

16064461947_b294db64e2_z.jpg

A couple coats of primer and semi-gloss black and the finish was just about as good at the roll bar and had zero light leakage.

Bad photo I know:

16062777258_b87c8665fa_z.jpg

I installed the LED's at the base like I mentioned previously and then added a couple coats of liquid electric tape in order to make sure the bottoms of the LED's didn't show. This was a critical step and the reason I painted the housings semi-gloss black in the first place. I also test fit the lenses I was going to use. These are the stock lenses on a Tamiya Toyota Hilux Highlift. The housings have small bosses to alight the lenses so that everything is nice and straight. This is a test fit as the silver wasn't done yet. You can see the boarder has some weird bleeding going on.

16249474182_e6d149b24d_z.jpg

Where the lenses came from:

16062927020_e8c473d40b_z.jpg

Test fit on the truck before gluing the lenses (the housing light bar is screwed on):

15627896334_05ce63556f_z.jpg

Finally, I installed them and went outside. It was getting dark so it was the perfect time for a test and some photos.

16291206665_2118fb8cfa_z.jpg

16103681108_31b9452d80_z.jpg

15668797154_b14af8d2ed_z.jpg

Ok, now I love the look of the KBF. The taller lights and the addition of the 4th aux light, for me, gives the truck a more aggressive look. This is what I always thought was missing on the KBF lid.

I hope you enjoy and I will post more shots when it isn't dark.

Thanks!

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yep lights are important, did a similar with my Willy Wendy lights.

Wendy%2520II%25208%2520light%2520rolbar.

I like to hot glue the LED into place.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yep lights are important, did a similar with my Willy Wendy lights.

Wendy%2520II%25208%2520light%2520rolbar.

I like to hot glue the LED into place.

Oh very nice! Can I see the fronts?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Less exciting, I glued the white parts to the black then made a hole of approx. 12mm.

Covered the hole with a round piece of clear plastic sheat and put the decal on it.

Wendy%2520II%25209%2520leftfront.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Here is an example of a Proline Lightbar i did.

DSC00410.jpg

DSC00411.jpg

2 & 3 LED in serie and attached to the TLU01, LED positioned with hotglue.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Looks awesome.

I have purchased the Blackfoot tail lights for my project - the fitment is perfect!

Now I just need some transparent headlight lenses and I'm away...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Here is an example of a Proline Lightbar i did.

DSC00410.jpg

DSC00411.jpg

2 & 3 LED in serie and attached to the TLU01, LED positioned with hotglue.

Oh very nice! I see we think the same way.

Looks awesome.

I have purchased the Blackfoot tail lights for my project - the fitment is perfect!

Now I just need some transparent headlight lenses and I'm away...

Oh I am glad you like them! I would like to see what you have done with them. Take some pix and post them here:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=74730

I am going to give the lenses a shot soon. I have been bust with work and a replacement Clod grille.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...