It wasn't too long before I decided that I wanted to move on to bigger and faster things. I had my eye on the Tamiya Grasshopper for quite some time. I was excited about being able to take so many small parts and make something that functioned. I had never built a kit before, but I wanted to try it out. I pestered my parents for months before Christmas for that Grasshopper. I also remember making huge promises that I would never keep--like "I'll mow the lawn every day for a year" or "I'll do all the dusting in the house twice a week." Christmas day finally came and there was a big box under the tree for me. Of course, I saved it for last. When I ripped it open, I found that it wasn't the Grasshopper, but the Nikko Dictator. It had two motors! Four wheel drive! And it was powered by a 7.2 Volt Ni-Cd battery! The transmitter was HUGE compared to my last one. The car was huge compared to my last one. My father immediately told me that they had looked for the Grasshopper, but were told that this was even better. He was right. Even though I didn't get to do any building, it didn't matter. This car was super fast, had a rechargeable battery, and it had suspension. Once again my parents made me one of the happiest kids in the world.
I had years of fun with that Dictator, and every once in a while, I would take apart what I could, clean it, and put it back together whether it needed cleaning or not. I was also really curious about the insides of the car and what made everything work. My efforts led me to find a rather large printed circuit board, which I decided not to tamper with. I'd have plenty of time to tinker with circuit boards later when I got into computers and MAME emulation.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION........