Help needed with 6979 Interstellar Starfighter

[funkybrick]

Hi there,

I have recently purchased a brand new 6979 Interstellar Starfighter (UFO series) set.

I have got a problem with it, though: the electronics don't (completely) work. The thing that works fine is the flashing lights inside the cockpit BUT the fiber-optic cables don't light up and there's no sound!

I am pretty sure that the micro-motor is completely dead (doesn't spin) and that I have to get a new one, you don't need to tell me that. My question is: what else do I have to re-buy in working condition to make all electronic features work? Or is it just the motor? Where would the sound come from?

Thanks.

funkybrick

Edited April 9, 2010 by funkybrick

[CP5670]

Check the 9V wire leading to the motor, and try replacing it with another wire. It's relatively common for those micromotors to lock up or be DOA, but I haven't heard of any cases of the fiber optic transmitter having such issues.

This set has no sound features, unless you count the distinctive buzzing noise made by that motor.

[funkybrick]

  CP5670 said:

Check the 9V wire leading to the motor, and try replacing it with another wire. It's relatively common for those micromotors to lock up or be DOA, but I haven't heard of any cases of the fiber optic transmitter having such issues.

This set has no sound features, unless you count the distinctive buzzing noise made by that motor.

Thanks for your reply!

Hmm, I can't check because I haven't got any other such wires. Anyway, I doubt that it's the wire and not the motor...

No sound? That noises are all produced by the humming of the motor?

Oh, and another question:

How durable are the fiber-optic wires? Do they lose some luminosity over time? Do you have to treat them especially careful?

funkybrick

[Walter Kovacs]

  funkybrick said:

Thanks for your reply!

Hmm, I can't check because I haven't got any other such wires. Anyway, I doubt that it's the wire and not the motor...

No sound? That noises are all produced by the humming of the motor?

Oh, and another question:

How durable are the fiber-optic wires? Do they lose some luminosity over time? Do you have to treat them especially careful?

funkybrick

Yep, that noise is all from the motor.

The fiber optic wires are very durable. They'll get bent into curves over time, but they will always light up. The luminescense(sp?) has nothing to do with the wire itself, but with the angles of reflection vs refraction at the wire's wall. It's a phenomenon called total internal reflectance. And that is as much explanation is you're going to get out of me. Physics classes were FAR too long ago to remember anything more.