No Open Blockers

“Did your kit come with a speed controller?”
“Um…”

I hadn’t actually looked at any of the electronics that came with my car, I just knew I needed a radio for it. Luckily, the guys at Hobbytown are patient. Equipped with the all important steering servo in hand, I was ready to get back to work.

I’m the kind of geek that buys computer cases with windows on the side and is compulsive about hiding all the wires, so when I took a look at the electrical system in the car I felt confident I was in an area I knew.

As much as I want to brag that the wiring was really simple, I haven’t yet actually put a battery on it and tried it out. So for all I know, this thing is gonna go up in flames the first time I try to drive it.

The other interesting components were the rear dampeners. There was a lot of room to play around here between spacers and choice of oil. I went with a softer oil figuring I’ll need it since our streets still haven’t been top coated and look like a damn mine field. I made note of how to unattach them if I ever decide to go back and change that.

For the most part, the body is done. I want to paint the hubcaps (I am from NJ afterall) before I put the tires on, so once that’s done I can take the naked car for a quick ride around my basement to make sure everything is wired correctly and there’s nothing grinding. The next big step is painting, which I’ll admit is intimidating. I’m pretty sure I’m set on a color scheme and the masks I want to use, so it’s just a matter of another trip to the hobby store to pick them up.

Only just over 2 weeks left until Red Hat Summit 2010. Be sure to check out my lab on Wednesday afternoon:

Cloud Computing with Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Amazon EC2
Cloud computing is fast becoming a core component of both Web and enterprise IT infrastructure architectures. With Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Amazon EC2, you are able to experience both the dynamic scalability of the Amazon EC2 cloud combined with the enterprise stability and security of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Presented by Red Hat and sponsored by Amazon Web Services, this lab tutorial will walk participants through a complete lifecycle process of setting up Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Amazon EC2, accessing running images, and terminating those instances using both Red Hat and Amazon tools.

Guaranteed to be 100% awesome.

For the last few weeks I have been looking around for a summer hobby. I wanted something non-computer, creative, and that would give me something to show for it at the end. Wired’s Geek Dad blog mentioned RC cars in a post and a few google searches later, I had found my muse. As fate would have it there is a Hobbytown about 30 minutes away, so a Memorial Day weekend trip later I was home with my first project.

Since I don’t know squat about neither RC cars nor real ones, my criteria was simply what I thought looked cool at the time. Like any good (read: compulsive) geek, I’ve been researching the hell out of the topic, so I’m sure my next purchase will be a bit more educated. That said, so far I’m not at all disappointed in my choice.

I actually expected to be more intimidated at the unboxing. It’s definitely not a 45 minute project, but it’s also not impossible. I took a spare table from the garage and set up my new “pit table” portion of my man cave.

The first assembly was the gearbox. My hands were covered in grease so I didn’t take any good pictures of the process, which sucks since it’s much cooler to see the inside than the finished product. So far, so good though; I’m able to turn the axel without hearing any grinding (just some kinda disturbing grease squishing as it settles in).

Once I got the gearbox and motor attached, I hit my first roadblock. I’m at the step where I attach the radio and steering to it. The problem? I don’t have them yet. This also happened on Memorial Day Monday which meant Hobbytown was closed, so this is where things stand for now.

I’m hoping to get the radio attached pretty soon so I can make sure everything is happy between the motor and gearbox. The programmer geek in me lamented the fact that I have to go pretty far before I can actually test to see if my earlier assemblies work, but I may just be taking an unreasonable approach. I’m also starting to think through painting ideas for the body, which will probably end up either really cool or a complete disaster. More pictures on that when I get to it.