Return to the BUILD

“In this stage, you assemble and fit the Sono channel ASA-20 and switch panel.”

Due to the modding work I did here, this is going to be a longer stage.

Contents

Parts

Materials: Most of the parts in this stage are plastic, but the Flex Tubes are soft flexible rubber.

Magazine – Issue 15

• Model Instructions
• The Model Shop: Small World
• Theater Ghost: Speaking with the Creators
• Vigo: Concept Art
• Pack Building: Creating Your Own
• Ecto-101: New York Public Library

Build

Sono Channel ASA-20 and Switch Panel

Before I started this stage, there was some custom work to do. On the real car, the top of this Driver’s Side Rear Workstation was covered with various electrical bits and wiring. Unfortunately, EM just sent us silver plastic pieces with some basic molded shapes on them. These were just too bland for me, especially if we consider any photos of the original/restored Ecto-1, like this one:

Therefore, I used a Black Sharpie and my Metallic Gold, Silver, and Bronze Sharpies, as well as some Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black and XF-5 Flat Green acrylic paints to give them some life with colors:

I spent quite a bit of time on the Switch Panel:

For the stacks of relays, I just made random marks with various colors to try and ‘busy’ it up and make them more interesting:

The rod of the Skinner Precision Industries Polynoid 7-rib Linear Actuator is where I used the green paint. The plastic is not cylindrical, so I used the black paint to give it a shadow and appear like it is a rod:

This is the actuator and switch panel in the real car. I did my best to try and match it on my build:

The front side of the Switch Panel got the same random colors treatment. It is not perfect, but it does give a nice illusion!

As for the Sono Channel ASA-20s, I also gave it a try at matching the real things:

Here, I was able to use the various Sharpies and the Tamiya XF-5 Flat Green again for the front buttons:

Finally, there are a lot of silver parts to attach in this stage, so I colored the heads of many of the screws with a Metallic Silver Sharpie as I went along:

Step 01

Align the two holes and single locating pin of the Sono Channel ASA-20 to the matching holes of the Sono Channel ASA-20 Base, and secure these together from above with two (2) BP screws, as shown:

Retrieve your Driver’s Side Rear Workstation assembly from the previous stage. Fit the posts and pin of the Sono Channel ASA-20 Base to the top left side of the Driver’s Side Rear Workstation, as shown:

Secure the base into place with two (2) BP screws:

This is what our Sono Channel ASA-20s look like at this point, not too shabby:

Fit the Switch Panel to the top of the Driver’s Side Rear Workstation, as shown.

There is a locating pin in the center of the panel to help align it:

Secure the Switch Panel to the workstation with six (6) BP screws.

Since I custom painted this part, I used a normal black screw at this location…

… then I used my silver ‘Sharpie’d’ screws in the other five holes:

Step 02

If we look closely at the real car, the Flex Tubes we are about to install in this step are actually split wire looms containing the wiring from the relays. The other thing you may notice is that none of them ‘plug’ into the top of the workstation in the way they want us to do it. However, there is one wire loom that runs down and is taped to the top of the PRC-41 radio by the jump seat. Check out these photos of the real car:

Therefore, I did not want to even try to follow the original instructions. What you are about to see here is the result of me attempting to rearrange the Flex Tubes to better match the real car. This will require permanent modifications to the stock parts, so decide now if you want to do this!

First, I used the 0.860″ (Size 44 or 2.18 mm) bit of my Pin Vise Hand Drill to make six (6) holes in the front of three of the four relay banks, like so:

Next, I took one of the Flex Tube 3 (51F – the longest) and ran down to where the PRC-41 radio will end up. I just eyeballed it to end at about the hinge screw of the jump seat and used painter’s tape to temporarily hold it in place there:

I ran the other end of this tube across the front of the Switch Panel…

… around the front of the ASA-20s, down the back of the workstation, and taped it in place as shown:

Then, I laid out the remaining Flex Tubes from longest to shortest:

Yes, the middle one needs a quick snip with a hobby knife (or other sharp tool) to give us a pair of medium length tubes!

I took the pair of Flex Tubes 2 (51E – the longest of the remaining tubes) and pressed them into the holes of my relay bank. These tubes will hold themselves in place quite well, but you may need to use some tweezers to work them in as they are made of soft rubber:

Moving on to the two pieces of Flex Tube 3 (51F that we cut in half above), I pushed the uncut ends into the next two holes as shown:

Here, I pressed the ends of the two remaining Flex Tubes 1 (the shortest) into the last two holes:

With all of these six Flex Tubes connected, I carefully grouped them together and ran them all under the very long Flex Tube (the first one we installed) and between the Switch Panel and ASA-20s, like this:

I pinched the tubes into a bundle until they looked the way I liked, then I taped them down across the top and the back of the partition as shown:

Ok, this is like a Mod Inception… a mod within a mod! Instead of using the two big, unsightly, and inaccurate Cable Ties supplied with the model, I used a few black Mini Cable Ties from Mike Lane to bundle my tubes up:

Oh, this looks so much better and much more accurate! It took a while to get through this all, but I think it was worth it.

Thoughts

Without all the modding, this stage would have been done much quicker. But, I just *had* to fix the top of the rear partition! We were going to lose too much detail leaving it stock. This work was not quick, but it also wasn’t very difficult either. I hope you enjoyed it!

Next Up

Stage 52 – Cargo Area Floor