Cop cars & LEDs

I'm always looking for cheap ways to get great effects on my models... and adding lights to a police car is a perfect example! This was probably one of the easiest modifications I've tried and I'd bet anyone can easily do the same.

So after posting my latest video on making hedges I found I had a bit a spare time, so I embarked on an idea I'd had for a long time which was animating a police car. It wasn't until I went to a recent model railway exhibition that I saw a guy selling blue and red alternating LEDs... Perfect! I already had the police car so this was the perfect time to have a go at adding lights.

I wanted it to be simple, I could have used the ultra small LEDs and a circuit board for the electronics and installed the lights into the existing emergency light bar however the average modeler isn't going to attempt such a complex build... Including me :)
So I simply installed 3mm LEDs into the roof of the car to get the overall effect of the police cars lights being illuminated.

I know it's certainly not perfect or prototypical by any means however it gives of a great effect and is very easy to do. 99% of viewers will appreciate the special effect and their imagination will begin to run wild as they contemplate they scene and why the police are there with the lights on?

I thoroughly enjoyed installing the lights and making this modification and I decided to make a video tutorial showing the basic process of adding LEDs to a police car.
The products I've used are

•  Bush Police Car - Busch vehicles are absolutely fantastic, they are put together so well and come apart very easily which makes it very easy to make modifications to all of their vehicles!
•  3mm Red/Blue LEDs - I wired these up in series, due to the timing of the red/blue alternations the alternating effect cycles. They start of blinking red and blue together but then one LED flashes slightly faster than the other, so after 30 seconds or so they start alternating in color and eventually sync up again. The overall effect still look quite good.
• Thin Electrical Wire - For wiring to the LEDs, I used red and black. 

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Basic tools used will be shown in the video tutorial.

To power the lights I used the Woodland Scenics Just Plug Light System, I had a spare plug due to cutting of an old Nano LED and I now use the spare plug to connect other lights into the system. It had a resistor already attached to the plug.
You can also use a standard 12v power supply or something similar however you'll need to remember to add a suitable sized resistor to avoid blowing the LEDs!
I demonstrate both techniques in the tutorial which should be done in the next 4 day.

Stay tuned for the video which isn't far away :)

Cheers
​Luke