No Open Blockers

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.