Has anyone put headlights in their K10?

[OldNTired]

Just got a new K10 body with my K5 kit yesterday. Curious if anyone has tried drilling out the headlights on the stock grill and installing some lights?

[Natedog]

That's the one spot on the K10 body that needs improvement, I've been debating about cutting out the whole headlight and gluing in a suitably sized lens. Haven't found a proper sized lens/reflector yet. Also thought about just drilling and sticking LED through, but didn't like the look although it could be mounted fairly flush with the outside of the headlight. Beam pattern might be degraded as part of the LED would be shrouded by plastic.

[OldNTired]

Originally Posted by Natedog

That's the one spot on the K10 body that needs improvement, I've been debating about cutting out the whole headlight and gluing in a suitably sized lens. Haven't found a proper sized lens/reflector yet. Also thought about just drilling and sticking LED through, but didn't like the look although it could be mounted fairly flush with the outside of the headlight. Beam pattern might be degraded as part of the LED would be shrouded by plastic.

yeah, I wish they'd have taken a page from the K5 kit and gave us a grill that we could utilize lights in without major modifications. I'm going to keep my eyes open for suitable lenses as well. It's about time to go through the boys' toys. Maybe I'll get lucky. The trick is not getting caught!

[svt923]

Would cutting out the headlights and gluing in Axial or Tamiya Hilux light buckets be an option?

[OldNTired]

Originally Posted by svt923

Would cutting out the headlights and gluing in Axial or Tamiya Hilux light buckets be an option?

Would need to check the fitment of those lenses. I think the opening for the headlight is 7-8mm... That's purely from memory of a measurement I took weeks ago so I'm probably off.

[svt923]

Originally Posted by OldNTired

Would need to check the fitment of those lenses. I think the opening for the headlight is 7-8mm... That's purely from memory of a measurement I took weeks ago so I'm probably off.

I don't have any of the Tamiya ones but I can check the dimensions on the large and small Axial light buckets.

[OldNTired]

Boy was I off! Checked the measurement. It's 15mm for the sphere of the headlight.

[Hobbezco]

I have used these on several builds. They work very well.

Universal Transparent Light Buckets for 1/10 RC Car | eBay

[svt923]

Small Axial light buckets are 11mm, large ones are 16.75mm.

Hopefully someone can fill in the info on the Tamiya Hilux ones.

[OldNTired]

Found an idea I might try on my new shell. Mounting lights behind the grill.


Still trying to work out lenses for the main lights. I thought about mini mag light lenses but they'd be flat.

[OldNTired]

So, I ordered some Tamiya lenses from RPP. They were less than 3 bucks so I took a chance. They're close to the right size but I found another challenge. Why oh why did Vaterra place those mounting posts on the grill so that they overlap the headlight detail. It's only a few mm but it's going to make putting lights on this thing interesting.


This is horribly blurry but you can see the overlap on that post to the where i want the lens to sit.

[Natedog]

Very nice and thanks for part number in the pic! I wondered same thing as soon as I opened my K10 body, Vaterra should have moved the grill mounting screws, moulded in light buckets and provided clear lenses just like they did with the Blazer!

I'm thinking about using some 2-56 buttonheads with washers from inside the body and drill some new holes to retain the grill along with E6000 all behind the grill to hold it on. Could also cut the mounting posts off, scrape the chrome off backside of grill where the mounts should go and glue them back on with styrene glue.

[OldNTired]

I had the same thought about just shaving off those mounting posts. Will just make things easier all around to take them out. While gluing the grill to the body isn't optimal if it works, it works!

The lenses have 2 small flanges on them. I was hoping to get the hole exact enough to push the lens through from the back so I could glue them to the grill assembly. I also noticed that the lights they molded into the grill aren't perfectly round. they are a bit wider than tall.

I have a set of universal light buckets that Hobbezco posted above coming in the mail so I can start thinking about the light bucket arrangement and how I want to do that. Now if I could only decide on a color for this thing.