PA1 MAKER

1/64 BTTF HILL VALLEY COURTHOUSE (Patreon)

Published:

2026-04-20 00:49:20

Edited:

2026-04-20 00:56:21

Imported:

2026-10

Downloads

Download HOT WHEELS 2026 - BTTF HILL VALLEY COURTHOUSE.zip

Content

Hello my friends!

I'm more than happy tonight to present you my most demanding diorama ever!

The Hill Valley courthouse, in "Back to the future", that so many people have been waiting for!

And I must say, I really put all my effort into this one.

I hesitated for a long time before starting it for several reasons. In fact, I started it last year and ended up getting completely discouraged. Why? Because I like to do this kind of thing as accurately as possible, with "details in mind", and I'll explain why it turned out to be so incredibly difficult...

First, the information online is very, very vague. It's hard to find the building's dimensions, and it's difficult to get clear, wide shots from the film. Furthermore, for those who didn't know, this building has existed on the Universal Studios sets since 1948! So, it's been modified for 78 years for various reasons.

It's been used in over fifty productions other than Back to the Future, spanning the years in Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), The Incredible Hulk (1977-1982), Knight Rider (1982-1986), Magnum P.I. (1986), Gremlins (1984), Batman & Robin (1997), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1998), The Offspring's video "Why Don't You Get a Job" (1999), Ted (2024), and the current Fallout series, to name just a few.

So, yes, there are photos of the building, but they're all quite different. A quick example: In some, the panthers are facing outwards. On some, they face inwards... And on many, they simply don't exist. The same goes for the windows; all different in different configurations... It took me an insane amount of research (I spent nearly forty hours in the last year just on research) just to find typical references to Back to the Future. And I must say, it was very difficult.

Then came the time to scale everything... There's practically no list of dimensions, and I had to rely on several modelers who had physically visited the building and taken measurements. I combined all of that with dimensions from HO scale model train clubs and cross-referenced everything to come up with what seemed most realistic.

Although I'm not using the exact dimensions of the building, which I reworked a bit for 3D printing reasons (the building is way deeper than my original model, but that would have required too many pieces, baseplates, etc.), I still tried to make it as accurate as possible at 1/64 scale to accommodate our diecast models, whether Hot Wheels or others.

And I think I succeeded very well!

So, with that interesting bit of history behind us, let's move on to what you need to know about the project. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY WHAT FOLLOWS:

I tried to make it completely without supports. But unfortunately, the brick sections of the building, as well as the panthers, require supports. The supports for the building are located at the window cutouts. And to hide any imperfections this might cause, I designed the outer trims of the windows to cover the top of the cutout to conceal any imperfections. By the way, there's an important note in the instructions regarding the window orientation, so pay close attention!

I wanted to give this model a bit more realism. So, I planned to include vegetation from model kits available on Amazon. If you'd like to do the same, buy some artificial trees on Amazon, print the flower boxes, and fill them with floral foam. (All the links are at the bottom of this post) Once the foam is in place, before adding the trees, cover everything with Mod Pudge and sprinkle on some artificial grass (also for model kits). Finish by planting your trees in the foam. You'll get the effect you see in the photos.

If you don't want any vegetation, there's a stair landing option (see picture), which is also part of the Universal Studios building. Print this option and place the two stair landings on either side of the main staircase (see photo below).

Regarding the lamp posts: You have two options. A dual lamp post that cannot be illuminated. Or a single lamp post that can accommodate a micro LED. I used a pre-wired 12V micro LED in mine. I highly recommend gluing the lamp posts with hot glue or Fun Tack (the sticky blue stuff for posters) because they are fragile, and if you break them, you'll be glad you can easily replace them.

To illuminate the clock, I used a 3mm 12V pre-wired LED.

And finally, for the interior, I used 12V COB LEDs (three small sections, one in each section of the building.

All of this is connected to a 12V power supply. I'll put all the links below.

Micro led for the lamp posts:

To hold the micro led in place, i simply made a small knot like this:

However, I must say I'm not satisfied with my interior lighting. The light isn't diffusing as I'd like, and I need to rework everything. So, before sharing photos of my final setup, I'm going to tweak it to achieve a result I consider more aesthetically pleasing and uniform. But I wanted to share the materials I used so you can experiment on your own. I've also included photos of my current setup to give you a better idea of my process.

The 3mm led inside the clock:

The wiring inside the courthouse (i know i know, its a bit messy)

NOTE: You can light the entire building with many other options, such as the traditional battery-powered tealights I use in many other projects. However, for the clock and lampposts, you'll need to use LEDs.

If you come up with a uniform and easy-to-assemble lighting solution for everyone, feel free to share it here or on my community's Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1403567230344891

We're here to have fun together, so your suggestions are welcome! In any case, the model is designed to be illuminated even when fully assembled, so you can always do that later.

Finally, and I can't mention this enough, follow the instructions carefully and be sure to do dry fit checks (without glue) to fully understand how the pieces interact. If you have any doubt about something, feel free to refer to the following view to sometimes better understand the assembly step.

Oh yes!!! I almost forgot!!! The whole thing is printable on a Mini printer! 😉 Because everyone has the right to have fun! 😁

With that said, I hope you have lots of fun making this project! I put a phenomenal amount of effort into making it relatively simple and accessible to everyone. I hope I succeeded! :)

Have fun, my friends! Keep printing!!!

Pascal

Equipment for lighting that I used:

Power Supply 12V:

https://a.co/d/0cQOaFB2

3mm LED for the clock:

https://a.co/d/05TjumaT

Micro LED for lamp posts:

https://a.co/d/08F6cXjh

COB LED for the interior lighting:

https://a.co/d/0c8QcVw4

22awg wire: