My First R/C Date 01/1/05
When I was about 8 years old I created my first r/c vehicle. I built it using parts from various r/c cars I bought from thrift stores. The base frame/body, rear suspension and engine were taken from a Radio Shack buggy r/c that I bought at a garage sale for $3. I thought the r/c would work when I bought it because it looked like new, and it was in its original packaging. When I got home I put some fresh batteries in it to see if it would run; to my surprise it didn't even turn on. I took it apart the same day to find out what was wrong with it. I unscrewed the four body mounts and lifted off the shell to uncover a circuit board with missing parts. There were two missing parts, and I couldn't fix it because at that age I didn't even know what the missing pieces were. One of the front suspension arms was snapped as well. It was disappointing not having an r/c that I could just buy and drive, but you get what you pay for.
You have to look at the bright side; a broken r/c means another project of tinkering. With that very notion the home built r/c was started. I told you earlier I used the Radio Shack r/c buggy's base frame/body, rear suspension and engine for the r/c. Oddly enough the old and broken front suspension was removed and replaced with front suspension from a Fisher Price r/c. The suspension was solid with no shocks and sat flat on the bottom of the frame tightly fitting in the narrow haul. It worked well because it never changed the ride height and increased the turning radius; except the new arms were bulkier and new holes had to be cut to make them fit.
The Best parts of the r/c were the circuit board and added headlights which came from the same donor r/c. The r/c was in a buggy style and was manufactured by some unheard of r/c brand. It actually came with a remote! This was rare because thrift stores usually throw away the remote or never receive one with the r/c. That's the very reason the Fisher Price r/c was not drivable. Even better it came with working headlights that would fit in my project car.
I remember the funniest part about my r/c was soldering the circuit board in. At that age I didn't know how to solder properly; I would heat it up and basically spread it on hoping it would bond. I would get solder on the car because I used way more than necessary. Even some spots on the tires were hit and melted because I wasn't watching where I had the soldering iron positioned.
After the circuit board was in I installed the headlights. The stock body of the Radio Shack buggy came with mounted headlights for show, on the top of the hood, but I wanted them the to function as working headlights. They were so convenient because they were hollow lamps with orange transparent lenses. All I had to do was drill from the body below in to the lamps and put a light bulb through each hole. I did just that with the bulbs mounted straight up, making it look as if they were factory installed. The two lights were set up parallel with a switch and hooked up to a 9V battery. They were so bright with the room lights off; they lit up the whole room with a nice orange.
The r/c was really never finished though because I never got around to finishing the body and patching up the frame. When I was building the r/c other projects always came up and I would postpone it for awhile and then come back to it later, but unfinished it still ran well. Everything functioned and ran smoothly; which is surprising to say the least, because at that age I didn't even know what a multimeter was. As a kid I guess I just thought it would work, and it did. Sadly when I was about eleven the r/c was thrown away to make more space in my room, and all that remains today is its spoiler. I learned a valuable lesson afterwards; you don't realize how much you loved something until it's gone. |
