Radio Shack Zap Shots

[JohnC]

At the fiekd today one of the guys had this neat 1/12 car it is called a Zap Shot. For $20.00 this thing is a blast. we were using the roof of the car as a race track. My first thought can it be used flying a small indoor R/C? It has a tiny transmitter and the car is charged via a snap connection on the top of the tranmitter. Charge the car after a 1 minute, it will run the car for several minutes. They even have interchangeable motors and car tops. In the morning I will have to get one.:D :D

[ferradas]

I have one of these, although I didnt get it at Radio Shack.

[seanpr123]

wait. are they wireless or not?

[JohnC]

Originally posted by seanpr123
wait. are they wireless or not?
They are available on 49 and 27 MHZ.

[omega blood]

yea these are all over the place with differnt names.

[DNA]

"can it be used flying a small indoor R/C?"

What kind of range did it have when you were playing with it at the field?

[nolasco]

Originally posted by omega blood
yea these are all over the place with differnt names.

You're not kidding. Two guys were selling hese things for $15 at the corner near my office. They seemed to be selling like hotcakes as they started with four big boxes and were down to one before I got myself one for "experimentation". :D

Jun Nolasco

[Silver]

I also picked one up today at Rat Shack. They are being sold here as ZipZaps. www.zipzaps.com

They are fun, fast for their size, and a devil to control with their little controllers.

They are selling fast here. I was only able to find the PT Cruiser but I also got the "Fast and Furious" body kit so I have three bodies to put on the chassis.

They are so fun my wife even started putting glasses and soup cans on the floor to make an obstacle course for me to drive through. They are very addictive!


Silver

[mkirsch1]

Check the indoor and micro flying forum. I recall reading a bit on guys using the radios from these tiny R/C cars to fly tiny R/C planes a couple of months back

[JohnC]

Originally posted by DNA
"can it be used flying a small indoor R/C?"

What kind of range did it have when you were playing with it at the field?

The guy at the field said it had a range about 30 feet or so.

[DBCherry]

The guy at the field said it had a range about 30 feet or so. Finally, living room RC? :D
Dennis-

[Sal C]

I just bought one after seeing a Radio Shack advertisement in the Sunday paper. I was looking at the Hobbico equivalent but that was $29.95. It's really pretty cool. I bought a upgrade kit for $7.99, you get two motors, gears, etc. . The range is pretty poor though, less than 15 feet but it's kinda neat to run in the basement.

[Cheapstake]

Do you think that I could get the thing to run on a 2v at .5 W solar panel? I haven't seen anything else that runs on what I am guessing is 2 AAs, and have'nt got the fifty bucks necessary to buy a radio. Do you think it would work if I got rid of the motor, and only used it for steering? Also, can you tell me if this has a steering servo, or sepeeerate motors for the left and right wheels?

[Chuck]

For steering it just has 2 electromagnets, 1 on either side of a metal arm. When you push the slide button right, it energizes the right magnet, pulling the steering arm to the right. It's powered by a tiny 10aaa NiMh cell 1.2v. There is no proportional anything, the motor is on/off and the steering is on/off. The BitChar-G version has a NiCad battery and is a little faster, from what I hear. My son has the ZipZap and his friend has the BitChar-G and his friend's outperforms my son's. The BitChar-g comes in 4 freq's and the RS version only comes in 2 freq's. He said he bought it for my granddaughter. Hah, he went back and bought 2 more.

These things are a hoot, though. My 5 yr old granddaughter can drive the heck out of one.



Chuck

[gouda]

They are a riot. But hard to find at the shack. Dock strike apparently has affected delivery. On E-Bay they are going for ~50$. Same problem as the GWS P-51 I have been waiting for. I doubt the radios would work for a aircraft. Mine only have a range of about 8 feet unless you are at theirlevel (sitting on the floor).
Has anyone tried any of the hop-ups yet?
They are habit forming.
If you find them for less that $30, I'd buy all I could find. We picked up 6 this weekend for Christmas, but not much selection. It looks like Tower is selling the exact same thing under another name. But their's are all Japanense bodies. There's got to be a aftermarket brewing somewhere for hop-ups etc. Anyone seen anything?

[estill]

The Hobbico ones Tower is selling is the same as the Bit Char-G. I have the Bit Char-G, that I paid $25 for. I stopped looking at prices month ago after I bought mine. The malls out here have a small stand set up, but the ones they are selling I don't think are as good. So far the difference I can see is the "mall" versions use a capacitor instead of a battery. 2 LHS's out here are beginning to stock them, but I haven't asked who their distributor is yet.

[gobigdale]

I bought 600 of these things and set up a ecommerce website. $12.95 a car. http://www.gomicrorc.com

Get them while they last.

Dale

[djci]

wazzup?

[djci]

can anybody tell me how fast can those little things go?
what do you people think about this new hobby?:D

[David Hogue]

Dale,

I have a RS zipzap and it has the magnetic actuator type steering, do the ones you are selling have that, or are they the twin motor "skid steer" style?


Thanks,
David

[gobigdale]

Mine have the magnetic steering. Have been wanting to rip one apart for a while now, but been so busy selling these things now I have very little free time.

Dale

[Marten]

Team Klaustrophobia has a web page with a few improvements for these cars.

http://134.169.96.2/~modellflug/klaustrophobia/klaust.htm

Marten

[Pacoson71]

These cars (the really small ones) have different size motors from 1k rpm to 2.2k rpm 15 ft range indoors 30 outdoors

I just bought 12 in a case from E-bay to give as gifts.

They come in 4 frequencies from one seller and they sell them in groups of that so they can be raced.

At the local mall they are 19.99ea buy 3 get 1 free. Or on line for about 10 to 15 delivered.

I want to win one cuz the ones I bought are for gifts.

Cool
jon

[ElRojo]

There are a few websites dedicated to these cars. They can be modified and hopped up just like any other rc model.

Check out www.tinyrc.com or www.questformadness.com to see what it is all about.

El Rojo

[DesertRC]

I picked up 5 of these micro cars. I have already built a track
and my 7yr old is going ape over these things. 3 of us sit down and race...to fun! Best thing since sliced bread. Takes the slot out of slot cars!:)

[Draconious]

Most of these things are cheap copy clones.. and will be sued. :)

Info about the Bit Char G clones....
http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/850710.asp

If you want more info on the cars them selves...

see: http://www.tinyrc.com -- a forum almost as busy as this one ;) but just for tiny RC :D

[steelwoolghandi]

There is another great place to get info on these small cars at:
http://www.microrccenter.com they even have some great info on trying to change a micro car into a park flyer were trying to make it work.