Raced carpet cars in the late 80's early 90's until they closed the carpet track. Got out of it after that and never messed with cars again. Been a scale model builder since I was a kid and still doing it. Or have I ever grown up?
Here is my RC12i that I restored a while back, sadly I sold all of my old cars including this one on e-Bay. I made a bunch of money though!
This is back when you actually had to build a model. You got a box of parts, some electrical wire and raw rubber tires. You had to build the entire car, solder all connections, wire your own battery pack and mount and true your own tires. The metal wire for the wing had to bent into shape using a template in the instruction manual. Most heat races lasted four to five minutes due to the limited capacity batteries.
I'll bet most people don't know what a commutator truing machine is.
Here is my 1/16 Tamiya full function Tiger I. I added tons of aftermarket metal parts including the tracks so it weighs about 12lbs with two 7.5 packs for power. Firing machine gun, recoiling 88mm canon with elevation and rotating turret. Full torsion bar suspension like the real tank had and full sound effects. I did a lot of scratch building on this model, added periscopes, functional driver and machine gunner hatches, external wiring and various items that were missing from the stock kit.
Loosely based on this tank.
A small sample of the work I put into it. These latches actually rotate and lock the hatches down.
Working on a 1/16 Tamiya Kubelwagon to go with the Tiger. I scrapped the crummy Tamiya electronics and crammed a micro servo, speed control and receiver into this thing. Still have a lot of work to do.
I'm scratch building many parts like the jerry can mount.
All the electronics are hidden.
Another project that will take me months (if not longer) to complete. A huge Italeria static PT boat that I converted to R/C. I framed the interior in balsa and built watertight compartments to seal off the electronics. A single Futaba servo turns three brass rudders in unison. A Graupner geared driver powers a single prop with a Traxxas Titan 380 motor for power.
All compartments were sealed under plastic sheet.
With the speed control turned down it produces a most scale like wake under power.
Think it will work?
One of my static models, 1/24 Battle of Malta Hurricane Mk.IIC Trop. All markings were painted on using masks.
