The builds over the last couple of weeks have given rise to a competition idea.
To race along a 10ft (3Mtr) flat straight track in the fastest time.
International competition is the idea.

With the Blue Dragster (in a post below) having won the first race of 4 self made cars, it was time to build something faster !
A new build of lighter and hopefully even faster Dragster.
People may think that a 100W solar panel would be the way forward..but...would such a panel have too much weight and crawl the vehicle off the starting line ?
'Smallest Car in the World' panels have been used throughout builds so far. Only 0.5V for voltage but 150mAh of current !

How did it do ?
Answer is here:

Solar Speed Raceway - The Challenger (2 min 18 sec)

The Single Panel Racing competition is open to anyone and everyone.
The basic rules are:
Single solar panel
No battery
10ft (3Mtr) straight and level racing track
A clock to be shown (to avoid claims of editing)

YouTube videos should be uploaded and the link messaged to me in a YouTube PM.
Updates of the leaderboard and highlights of the submissions will be summarised in videos on my channel at regular intervals. Plus, updates will be given here on my RCGroups blog. That way, everyone knows what to beat !

A solar panel manufacturer would be an ideal sponsor and/or prize giver for the winner at the end of this years competition - End of September 2013.
Know anyone ?

The first Single Panel Solar toy Racing of 2013

4 little cars that i've converted or built from scratch, powered by solar and a green end 6mm motor.
All use the same solar panel, from those little Smallest Car in the World's that you may have seen. The solar panel puts out 0.5V and 150mA.

The idea, is to perhaps encourage folks to build and race such cars, using just 1 solar panel of any size.
100 Watts could be the size, or one of these dinky ones. Any single panel.
International racing would be to compare run times, by showing YouTube videos of the cars themselves from around the world.

A fun video, to hopefully start other peoples builds rolling:

Solar Speed Raceway (4 min 20 sec)

Made from spare car parts, a finger nail file and white glue, this is my Solar powered Dragster.
The idea, was to make as light a vehicle as possible, with some size about it and to look like a Top Fuel style 1/4mile Dragster.

The motor and gearbox are from a 'Smallest Car in the World', also the solar panel and the front wheels. The blue spoiler and cockpit canopy are from a Micro Terrain Titan shell, cut down with a Dremmel and then sanded. The main frame is a fingernail file.
The faux suspension on the blue shell was removed while cutting and forms the front bumper.
The rear axle was made from a sewing needle, where the ends were snipped off and wire outer insulation was used to give the correct spacings.
Depending on how it goes in the sun, it may be fitted with a Turbo Boost nitrous oxide canister...or, in other words, a capacitor across the motor.

Happy with the 10g final weight

Solar Dragster (2 min 14 sec)

With the weather warming up now, it was time to try out something fresh...a gold plating kit.
A very kind friend had sent me his old kit some months ago, but it was too cold to try it out. I'd tried to plate a USA quarter back in February and got 1 little dab of gold on it..oops
The other day went much bettter though in the 80F or so temperature and I managed to plate 2 of them before wondering about something else to try - a Kidco 1979 Corvette

The Corvette had been a tatty horrid orange colour and had recently been stripped and sanded down to bare metal, then polished. There's a video of that on my YouTube channel from about a month ago.
It was ideal to try the gold on.
I set the unit at 3V, clipped one lead to the body and put a cotton bud in the other clip lead. Then, soaked the cotton bud in gold solution and began to electroplate.

Worked out great ! and has probably put a little value on the vintage car too.

Gold Plated Corvette - 1979 Kidco (1 min 10 sec)

Long time no post

Thought you micro car guys might like to see this.
After the arrival yesterday of 5x 'Smallest Car in the World' tiny solar powered cars, I set about some modifications.
What could be done with them ?
Well, for one thing, make one even smaller, so I did:

Smallest 'Smallest Car in the World' (1 min 53 sec)

The wheelbase is now no longer than the length of the solar panel and all 4 wheels will fit on a 25c USA coin
Also converted one to have a slightly more realistic car type body. The body came from a pack of tiny plastic cars which I had no idea what they may be used for...suited this well, even with the surfboard looking solar panel on the roof.

Next, I took a measurement of the voltage and current from the solar panel, under a Fire Storm flashlight - 0.5V but a huge 150mA
The motor is a 6mm green end cap coreless, so not too bad on current, but pretty low performance. However, hmm, what in fact could the system shift just on flashlight power ?
Selecting a HotWheels CUL8R (been out for about a month), the conversion began. They have a metal body and plastic base.
The rear end needed a lot of Dremmel'ing, trial fitting and more Dremmel'ing. Then, two replacement axles made from safety pins were found to be bent, so I swapped to a knitting needle. Snipped the ends and test fitted the length. Much better and much truer rotation.
The panel was glued to the hood of the car and the wires run inside to the now glued motor/gearbox.
So that's rear wheel drive, front mounted 'power plant'.
Runs great and I can't wait for the rain to quit to try it in the sun

Solar powered CUL8R (1 min 48 sec)

A prototype possible product idea, that was tested during the lightning storm last week of my last post.
Your opinions would be appreciated, to help further the project and to see if you guys would be interested in it.

I enjoy flying my Syma S110g outside in the late evening calm outdoor air. Punching the throttle to full and watching it zoom upwards towards a star lit sky is an incredible sight....and a lot of fun can be had if that zoom goes a bit too high and the infra-red glitches !
The problem though, is anywhere to land or takeoff.
The heli can be seen well, but the ground can't.
Wouldn't it be good to be able to takeoff and land, from something looking like a lit up helicopter landing pad ?
Wouldn't it be great, if there were no batteries needed ?
It occurred to me, that something needed to be done, something I could get a lot of use out of, that would just work, with no fuss or bother.

The idea became the Thortz Energy HeliPad, a possible product from my new start up company, aiming to offer fresh energy technologies for R/C and the home.
The helipad features 4 flashing lights, one at each corner of a landing area that's just about right for small heli's.
Simply push the Earth energies collector piece into the ground and the lights begin flashing on the HeliPad.
Takeoff and land from the HeliPad...all night if wished, there are no batteries to go flat, ever

Here's a demo video of the prototype being tested:

HeliPad Prototype (1 min

...Continue Reading

Not a good idea to fly in this

Real Time Lightning - August 12th (1 min 33 sec)

The video was taken by my wife last night and shows the huge constant power of storms here in Oklahoma. We didn't get any rain from it (it was about 20 miles away) but the light show was well worth recording.

In fact, I did fly my Syma S110G helicopter during the lightning, testing out an Earth energy prototype HeliPad, for lit up night flying with no batteries required...more details about that in my next Blog post

11th August - my Birthday - i'm 43
Heck, that's a 4 in front
Still, plenty of drive to build stuff. So, here we have a (self) eagerly awaited conversion...the Signature Models 1:32 1930 Pierce-Arrow Roadster.

And why? Because in 1931, the inventor of R/C models, Nikola Tesla, apparently converted a Pierce-Arrow car to run on absolutely nothing !
Power was from within the atmosphere, converted by a box on the passenger seat and sent to an 80hp A/C motor under the hood.
Full details here: http://keelynet.com/energy/teslcar.htm
The electric motor for this conversion is the armature assembly from a small cassette player type, the black box is a 24LC21 microchip (legs removed) and with 2 pieces of a resistors legs as the 'stout rods'. The antenna at the back is made from a piece of copper wire, formed to look like an antenna.

The DeLorean project was to emulate an interesting set of modifications by some folks, who actually make the cars look more realistic, by cutting stuff to allow doors and more to open. Details of the DMC-12 can be found in my last Blog post.

Tesla Pierce-Arrow model + DeLorean 'Open the Doors' (2 min 47 sec)

After seeing a couple of YouTube videos about people modifying the actual metalwork of Mattel Hotwheels model cars, I decided to have a go at opening a drivers door.
The car chosen, was probably the daftest possible for a first attempt...a DeLorean DMC-12 - with gullwing doors that open upwards !

First job, would be to take the car apart. Using a Dremmel and a standard round spinny bit, the 2 tabs under the car were drilled out. The base of the car then dropped from the rest. A standard drill with a very fine bit would also work and for the next part, in case folks want to try such modifications.
Removing all but the metal shell, the car was set for some metal work.
I'm not sure how others do this, but to get a good idea of the door shape on the inside of the shell, I drew a very fine line of the outside, on the inside, with a Sharpie.
Next, the Dremmel was used for some very fine scratching really, along those Sharpie lines.
About 3 hours later (yep, really that long), the car was ready for the final part.
Using a sharp hobby knife, the cuts were made on the outside of the shell, along the door frame. That way, the last little bit is cut with much more precision than simply drilling through.
Part of the blue glazing plastic was cut and glued back on to the door. Also, part of the plastics of the interior was cut away, to make it look more like an opened door.
The door now sits quite snugly opened, without needing glue or something to keep it from falling back down.

I'm happy with the result
Next for the car, might well be some interior lights, to bring it more in line with previous conversions as can be found on my YouTube channel ( https://www.youtube.com/user/slider2732?feature=mhee )

Here are some webcam pics of the car.

With reference to my last post yesterday....
The rest of the repairs to the old SWP were completed today.
A new aerial was made from 30 gauge enamelled wire, then the connections made to the receiver, for the motor, battery and actuator.
The CG was approximated and after checking the controls out, seeing if it actually did anything, my wife and I set off to the flying field this evening.

After correcting the tail heavy and motor adjustment issues, the end result is that this old lady is back in the air !
Flight time from the 3 pack of 180mAh Ni-MH's is approx 6 minutes, which is great for the age of those too (found in a bag of parts). The SWP handled any wind without issue, as these always used to and even with the 2 gram gain to 27g, against 25g stock, the bird has plenty of power.

The video shows the first couple of flights and the final trimmed flight. Delighted with this project and glad I decided to fix it up.

'Vintage' SWP -Rebuild+Flight (1 min 56 sec)

The Silverlit Single Wing plane was a 2 channel micro model from 2006.
Many of us fondly remember these little gems and, after sorting out and throwing out many former builds etc, I found this one in the pile. The aircraft itself was a very kind gift from a great friend and had been intended for its electronics to go on different homemade models....which they did.
The airframe had sat in the sun at some point and that further prompted reusing the 'guts'.
You might remember that my other SWP got chewed up by one of our cats ! This one needs much more repair work than that one did.

The first pic shows the condition of the aircraft...sorry about the soft focus, it's the humidity here in Oklahoma.
So, no tail, no electronics, no battery pack, no black nose thing and no propeller
I've built another tail from spare thin foam, found within other spares collected up recently. A foam dinner plate was the other option, but this suited the strength and thickness of the original.
Next was the rudder coil and hinging - perhaps some tips here to follow.
The coil was wound using wire from a Mabuchi 300 cassette motor (from which a dozen or more could be wound). 300 turns. The magnet is from a piece of neodymium, snapped between the jaws of a pair of pliers and from a computer hard drive. The thickness of wire is very slightly thicker than the originals used...which used to snap on people readily, so this will be stronger.
Hinging is by the use of thin pieces of computer 3.5&...Continue Reading

Anything airborne that is infra-red controlled has always been considered indoor only. But, wait for a wind free, heavily overcast day and you can fly outside
The Syma S110G is so small and light that even breathing on it can send it scurrying uncontrolled into a wall or the ceiling.
How manageable would one be outdoors ?
One appeal, has been the thought of no walls, no ceiling and soft grass for any crash !

Infra-red outside - S110G micro heli (1 min 49 sec)

As you may know, I like the DeLorean DMC-12 - have had a midlife crisis regarding them since teenage years

A while ago I posted a lit up little Mattel DeLorean and have recently turned to display ideas, for cars and aircraft.
Magnetic levitation appealed, so I built a circuit, as seen in the previous post.
The levitator could carry the 40g car.
A poster on the last video asked about changing the wheels to 90 degrees and having some lights blaze away as the car was flying...hmm...no battery onboard, what do we do ?
Wireless electricity from a small Tesla tower was the answer

Here's the DeLorean, now with wheels correct for flight and with lights shining

Flying with lights on - Mattel DeLorean (1 min 40 sec)

Here's something that's been a wish for a long time - a way to display aircraft in the air, at home, with no wires.
An infra-red magnetic levitator has been the project over the last few days, the circuit can be found here: http://uzzors2k.4hv.org/index.php?pa...eticlevitation

It allows small planes and micro heli's to sit in the air, suspended, levitating

Here's a video of the circuit running, showing (among other objects) a Polikarpov Po-2 and micro heli.
Also, a Back To The Future DeLorean...flying

"All Stars" - I/R Magnetic Levitator (3 min 58 sec)

A long time without Blog posts, but here's hopefully something useful.
I now have 2x Syma S110G's and am lovin 'em.

The basis of the post, is to describe the method by which the ratchet effect of the throttle control on the helicopter can be removed.
Some soldering experience is required and familiarity with small components.
The result from this mod, which should take around half an hour to complete, is a completely clean travel of the throttle stick, yet keeps the firm and responsive traits.

It applies not just to the Syma S110G I/R helicopter transmitter, but to many other similar transmitters, where a ratchet or spring is not required.


How To - with reference to the attached pics
Tools required -
Soldering iron, solder, flux, desoldering braid, smaller Phillips type screwdriver, jewellers small type flat blade screwdriver, approx 350 grade sandpaper..

Unscrew the back cover of the transmitter and take out the 6xAA batteries.
Remove the 4 retaining screws from the back of the transmitter.
By carefully feeding the charge plug out of the way, the top of the transmitter may be removed.
Carefully pull the plastic control stick and round plastic flat piece from the throttle assembly.
Now, you'll see the movements lever and the pot to its right hand side.
Using the desoldering braid and having practiced desoldering on junk items previously, remove the solder from the 4 holding positions of the lever and the 3 connections of the pot.
Remove the...Continue Reading

I'd heard of and tried to build walk along gliders, but not gliders that use static electricity !

It seems that with a few simple steps, much winter indoor fun can be had. In the same way that a comb through the hair, or balloon can gain a charge, so can pieces of thin plastic, like produce bags etc. You can then fly the pieces around the house.
Has me thinking that actual aircraft shapes, especially flying wings, may do well.

Here's the link that explains it all, there are good build pictures too: http://sparkbangbuzz.com/static-flye...ity-flyers.htm

With temperatures now firmly around freezing, It's time to move my building stuff into the bedroom (where we have our 2 heaters).
That means more aircraft building, than with the work table out in the livingroom. You may have noticed my YouTube vids etc have been predominantly about renewable energies and little circuits...not directly R/C !
All the electronics parts and PCB's etc took over out there lol

So, a Gloster Meteor at around UM size is on the cards, a Mitsubishi Zero, Boeing 727 and a few quirky aircraft. That's the plan, as long as Dollar Tree keep stocking foam of course.

Also, perhaps you can help out here ?!

A Syma S107 is on the cards from my wife as a present, either new or a deal. I've always wanted to try one, but also to convert one to wireless electric flight. The 2 old Picoo-z's have unfortunately been difficult to work with.
So, I would rather buy a couple of used ones from someone here. 1 to fly and at least 1 to gut out and trial in experiments. Therefore, dead ones would be no problem

Let me know by PM of prices etc.

A video for knlever, who asked me about 1 wire energy transfer recently.
I thought it may be of interest to others too.

This is part of the envisaged Tesla's boat project, as talked about in the last blog entry. To have a boat powered around by a development of this type of energy transmission.

The video shows an effective small wireless electricity generating 'module', the sort of thing that would go inside an altered transmitter. That is linked to an amplifying tower, to show the wireless field energy available from this size of circuit running at just 1.5V
Then, a wireless energy pickup, to transmit energy over 1 wire to another circuit.
All sounds perhaps complex, but really isn't and the video hopefully shows how we can imagine final systems operating.
Work with water transmission will follow

Loopstick exciter + single wire exciter (3 min 1 sec)

Part 1
Radio control was born in 1893 in St. Louis, within a demonstration by Nikola Tesla, to the National Electric Light Association.
In 1898, Tesla demonstrated a boat to the public in Maddison Square Garden, which reacted to commands remotely sent to it.
( Source - http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_025.htm )

Part 2
Within some circuit work at the moment, i've been developing 1 wire electrical transmission methods, to a device which uses no conventional power input. Instead, it uses a stake in the ground outside and 1 wire from a wall adapter that is switched off (yep, switched off).
A video which demonstrates where i'm up to so far is this one:

SEC 5 - The Pigeon Loft (1 min 31 sec)

Part 3
Within the work above, has been reading up on S.V. Avramenko, a Russian invetor. His 'AV plugs' are used in a lot of wireless energy work, to allow motors or LED's or whatever to run. Just two diodes, connected at one of their ends and they face in opposite directions.
Here's a good page about him:
http://www.viesh.ru/Development%20of...ansmission.htm


So, how do we link parts 1, 2, and 3
How could such a system be practical and of use for commercially available R/C boats ?
A pond, a boat, a guy who wants to trundle the boat around the pond.
The system would have the power source on the bank of the pond.
The transmitter is plugged into the power generator, like a buddy box.
The generator single wire output wire then is put in the pond.
The boat receives the...Continue Reading

At 2.12am today, there was an earthquake just a few miles to the West of us.
The 4.7 magnitude quake shook the house, the chair I was sitting in and plenty of stored aircraft !
I watched as a little model of a Horten IX on my PC monitor swayed around for the 20 seconds or so duration. Grabbed the camcorder, but all was over before anything could be caught.

Here's the full report from USGS: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...usb0006k8b.php

Looks like the epicenter was about halfway between here and Oklahoma City, so about 50 miles West.


---- UPDATE ----

We've just had another, at approx 11pm !!!
This one felt stronger, my wife and I ran around looking for anything damaged. The rumbles lasted for well over a minute.
The start of it felt quite similar to the one earlier in the day and lasted for about 10 seconds. Then, the intensity increased and it was definitely stronger for a few seconds. For the next 30 seconds, the lampshades shook and we watched the liquid in bottles of my wife's astringent, like the kids did in Jurassic Park when the T-Rex appeared.
I've got several past aircraft designs stored in precarious places and some are sideways or shifted around but non damaged

It was a 5.6, from about the same location as the other one.
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...usb0006klz.php


As of 2am on Sunday (or is it 1am now ?) the latest quake has been making national news.
It was apparently the largest reported earthquake in Oklahoma's history.