Power Wheels Jeep makes an awesome R/C car
posted Jan 11th 2012 3:32pm by Mike Nathanfiled under: toy hacks, transportation hacks
[Will] from RevoltLab wrote in to share part one of a cool project he is working on right now, a remote-controlled mobile rocket launcher. Before you run off and call the Department of Homeland Security, he says that the launcher will be used for personal hobby rockets, which are typically considered mostly harmless.
The first part of the build is mostly concerned with obtaining a Power Wheels car and tweaking it to be driven remotely. After stripping out most of the odds and ends out of a Barbie Jeep he found via Craigslist, he added a small hobby servo under the dashboard to actuate the pedal. A larger (and much more expensive) servo was attached to the Jeep’s steering bar, allowing [Will] to easily turn the wheels with the flick of a switch.
With the mechanical bits out of the way, he installed an R/C receiver and took to the streets lawn with his creation.
The car seems to handle pretty well, and although the price of the components quickly start to add up, we’d be more than happy to spend that kind of cash for an R/C car that size!
Continue reading to watch a short video of the Jeep in action, and be sure to check Revolt Labs’ site often to follow [Will's] progress.
It’s certainly nothing to call Homeland security about, but anyone doing this may want to make sure that it isn’t done anywhere that is visible to neighbors that might care or public roads. This kind of thing could still get you harassed by local cops and might get you, at least, a ticket for something like reckless behavior or some other nonsense charge. As long as you make sure no one is down-range when you fire it (don’t want to shoot anyone’s eye out) the only way I could see this being reasonably dangerous would be if the area around you has been suffering from drought conditions (forest fires suck people, and are often started by things like campfires and fireworks after long stretches of dry weather).