Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie 3D Printed RC Truck

I think it’s safe to say that almost all of us grew up playing with toy cars. They were cheap, and darn near  indestructible. Some went by the brand name of “Hot Wheels”, and others “Matchbox”. As a kid, you most likely spent many an hour on the floor imagining your “toy” to be a real car – and of course, adding the all important sound effects. Vroom-vroommmmm!

Flash forward to 2015, and see how things have changed. There are several “micro” RC cars and trucks on the market you can buy for about $10, but this is the first micro-sized, DIY, 3D printed, 4×4 truck we’ve seen. And to add to that, it even has a working articulated front end loader.

Coming in at a minute 1/87th scale, this tiny truck and matching controller boasts 6 channels, 4-wheel drive, and a working trailer hitch. In the video after the break, you can see the amazing amount of work that [Mortimer] had to put into this build to get everything to fit in such a small space. Although the video is German, we think it’s fairly easy to see what’s going on. [Mortimer] is sharing the 3D printed files on his Shapeways page if you would like to give this build a go.

[via reddit]

26 thoughts on “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie 3D Printed RC Truck

    1. Beautiful design, integration and function. A piece of art.
      The coupling mechanism I haven’t seen before. The front loader mechanism was also well thought out.
      Not 4 wheel drive, but neither was that truck. Perfect period replica. Now I just need to convince my wife I need one to sort the lentils.

    1. The linear actuators are standard RC components; They’re often used for indoor aircraft. You can get something similar here; http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__42302__2_4Ghz_SuperMicro_Systems_Single_Linear_Servo.html
      Got to admit, I’d have gone with a doubble servo (http://hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__17638__2_4Ghz_SuperMicro_Systems_Double_Linear_Servo.html) for this, though, to save on the space. Very neat job all in all, though; No 4WD as the article states, but I think that you’d be pushing the limits of the strength of the print to do that. If you like this sort of stuff, there’s a lot of it goes on under the name of Table-Top Truck Trial; generally about 1:87th. Few have this many functions, or this level of detail, though; There’s a few 4x4s, but largely 2wd due to space constraints.

  1. People should look into the world of scale model RC construction equipment. It is BONKERS the amount of engineering people put into it. Real, fully working hydraulic systems, front end loaders bucket excavators that are completely working replicas of bigger machines. Beautifully welded frames, real suspensions, axles with gear differentials.

    If anyone was interested in being a multi-millionaire, they would try and make a “new Tonka Truck”, make a nicely updates all-metal model with an RC system, hit the $250-300 price point. It could be the hottest Christmas item for 2016 …

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