DANIEL160876
New Member
Hello ! I just got my futaba and I am surfing the entire internet trying to get the red STOP light. Any clue or help ? what about the box in the back what does labels read on it ? Thanks everybody for your help.
BTTF Remote Control
- Thread starter MegaPrime33
- Start date
This my friends is a prime candidate for bringing a thread back from the dead. 2006? Wow...
Alrighty here you go. I started one of these about a year ago.
The Remote is a Futaba PCM FP-T8SGA-P - you need the version with the GREEN label to be screen accurate. However, if you can only get the red you can make a custom label to fix it like I did for my red one.
With the remote you can get started on the LED Readout. In actuality they are not LEDs at all. They are a late 70s early 80s display made with incandescent bulbs. The original prop builder took them apart and placed film gels behind the lens to create the glowing effect.
I got ONE original display from the original electronics master for the first BTTF Film and made a multi unit casting.
With that casting in hand I made a custom circuit board. This is a shot of the earlier home etched board. I have since had professional boards made.
The original Stanleys are a multi-part unit. A big part of that unit is the rear socket mount. This is how they mounted them to the display plate on the Futaba. I made these early ones from lasercut acrylic and aluminum.
With the Stanley display worked out, I moved on to the STOP light indicator. The original indicator is a MOLEX switch.
Any Molex will pretty much do the job. A limited number of authentic STOP's were located at APEX electronics a couple years ago. However, here in good ole middle of nowhere Oklahoma I had to make do. So.... I made my own. This involved making a new faceplate. I used authentic MOLEX indicators to get the fonts just perfect. From there I lasercut new faces from thin plastic, applied them to existing lenses and made some molds.
Now that I had the Molex done, I moved onto the back. Thanks to some really wicked source references courtesy of BTTF.com's main archivist Tom Silknitter, I was able to figure out most, if not all of the details.
The box is a Unibox model 140 enclosure. On that we add a slew of switches from Radio shack and an adjustment knob on the rear.
As with most of Doc Brown's creations - the thing is slathered in Ebossed Tape lettering. There labels are about 98% confirmed. I remember there were one or two labels I wasn't 100% about, but they make sense from a functionality standpoint.
This was about as far as I got before I shelved the project. I have two different friends playing around with actual electronic functions right now. When they are ready to wrap those up, I'll come back to this and see about finishing it up.
I'm also waiting on the Blu-Ray set to see if there is more detail to be had in regards to the rear wiring and stuff.
-Gary
Alrighty here you go. I started one of these about a year ago.
The Remote is a Futaba PCM FP-T8SGA-P - you need the version with the GREEN label to be screen accurate. However, if you can only get the red you can make a custom label to fix it like I did for my red one.
With the remote you can get started on the LED Readout. In actuality they are not LEDs at all. They are a late 70s early 80s display made with incandescent bulbs. The original prop builder took them apart and placed film gels behind the lens to create the glowing effect.
I got ONE original display from the original electronics master for the first BTTF Film and made a multi unit casting.
With that casting in hand I made a custom circuit board. This is a shot of the earlier home etched board. I have since had professional boards made.
The original Stanleys are a multi-part unit. A big part of that unit is the rear socket mount. This is how they mounted them to the display plate on the Futaba. I made these early ones from lasercut acrylic and aluminum.
With the Stanley display worked out, I moved on to the STOP light indicator. The original indicator is a MOLEX switch.
Any Molex will pretty much do the job. A limited number of authentic STOP's were located at APEX electronics a couple years ago. However, here in good ole middle of nowhere Oklahoma I had to make do. So.... I made my own. This involved making a new faceplate. I used authentic MOLEX indicators to get the fonts just perfect. From there I lasercut new faces from thin plastic, applied them to existing lenses and made some molds.
Now that I had the Molex done, I moved onto the back. Thanks to some really wicked source references courtesy of BTTF.com's main archivist Tom Silknitter, I was able to figure out most, if not all of the details.
The box is a Unibox model 140 enclosure. On that we add a slew of switches from Radio shack and an adjustment knob on the rear.
As with most of Doc Brown's creations - the thing is slathered in Ebossed Tape lettering. There labels are about 98% confirmed. I remember there were one or two labels I wasn't 100% about, but they make sense from a functionality standpoint.
This was about as far as I got before I shelved the project. I have two different friends playing around with actual electronic functions right now. When they are ready to wrap those up, I'll come back to this and see about finishing it up.
I'm also waiting on the Blu-Ray set to see if there is more detail to be had in regards to the rear wiring and stuff.
-Gary
Maelstrom
Sr Member
Are those 9volt battery holders on either side of the futaba label?
Also...whoever may be working on this don't buy a new Dymo labeler as the letters have been made smaller on the newer models. I suggest checking ebay for old/"vintage" embossing labelers to get the right sized letters. I found this out whil working on a S-Mart Ash nametag:lol
And then I will buy a kit of this off you for my Futaba!!! Nice work Gary!
Actually, IIRC the correct vintage tape labeler isn't a DYMO brand at all.
Yes, those are radio shack 9V holders.
-Gary
Yes, those are radio shack 9V holders.
-Gary
Onkelpsycho
Sr Member
Maybe we can get good refenrence photos from you, gary...
I would try to build one of these... Dont want to buy from Bruce...
I would try to build one of these... Dont want to buy from Bruce...
It's a ROTEX labeller they used for all the BTTF items. Took me buying about 50 labellers a few years back before I figured it out. A Rotex 880 will get you most of the way there.
The main issue is the letter "Y" is correct on Rotex, but not on Dymo. That's pretty much the only font difference, so if you're only doing Doc's Remote then you can probably just run with an old vintage Dymo.
The only thing I've not figured out is the spacing. On the Rotex 880 the letter-spacing ("kerning") is off and there doesn't appear to be a way to adjust it. So I have a pile of Rotex labellers to go through here some time next week to try and find the right one. You can still use an 880, but it takes longer as you have to manually wind the tape back between each character.
I can see on Gary's replica that he appears to have used Dymo brand labelling tape. This is widely available. Harder to find is the correct red colored Rotex brand tape. You can pick it up on eBay, it's just not as common as the Dymo stuff.
The Blu-ray release in October will finally reveal the correct labels on the back with 100% certainty. As Gary says - it's only about 99% certain right now, but that's because the HD copies of the film we have are pretty muddy. The Blu-ray is sharp as all hell, so it should be possible to finally make out the labels clearly once and for all.
Gary - did you ever get anywhere with making green decals to go on the "red" remotes?
The main issue is the letter "Y" is correct on Rotex, but not on Dymo. That's pretty much the only font difference, so if you're only doing Doc's Remote then you can probably just run with an old vintage Dymo.
The only thing I've not figured out is the spacing. On the Rotex 880 the letter-spacing ("kerning") is off and there doesn't appear to be a way to adjust it. So I have a pile of Rotex labellers to go through here some time next week to try and find the right one. You can still use an 880, but it takes longer as you have to manually wind the tape back between each character.
I can see on Gary's replica that he appears to have used Dymo brand labelling tape. This is widely available. Harder to find is the correct red colored Rotex brand tape. You can pick it up on eBay, it's just not as common as the Dymo stuff.
The Blu-ray release in October will finally reveal the correct labels on the back with 100% certainty. As Gary says - it's only about 99% certain right now, but that's because the HD copies of the film we have are pretty muddy. The Blu-ray is sharp as all hell, so it should be possible to finally make out the labels clearly once and for all.
Gary - did you ever get anywhere with making green decals to go on the "red" remotes?
Grey
Sr Member
I don't know, mine's pretty sharp. Is there a timestamp on the part in question?
The HD versions are barely better than the DVDs. And I have pretty much every copy ever broadcast on any network, in original transport stream format, that's why I feel qualified to make that statement.
The new Blu-ray is an entirely new world of sharpness. Only a month now!
The new Blu-ray is an entirely new world of sharpness. Only a month now!
Charles Kline
Sr Member
Finding the correct model is a pain, finding the correct Green word label version is almost impossible.
Only advice I can give is to keep checking ebay.
Good luck.
Only advice I can give is to keep checking ebay.
Good luck.
That is true. I have the red version of the correct remote and I hope to get some of Gary's green labels for mine. Be prepared to spend about $150-$200 for the correct remote on Ebay.
Uh, there really is no technique. It's just contacting a seller and asking if they have a "buy it now" price for their auction.
-Gary
-Gary
