Although in our imagination those scale models of cars certainly can drive and steer just like their full-scale counterparts, there’s something incredibly satisfying about watching them truly come to life. Here [diorama111] is an absolute master at the craft, with the most recent conversion of a 1:150 Toyota Probox car model once again demonstrating these skills with casual ease.
We previously covered such conversions, with another recent one in 2024 involving another 1:150 scale model. That particular one demonstrated driving around on scale model roads, which shows a good practical use of this conversion if you want to have e.g. a scale model town with cars that actually drive around.
In the video you can see how first the base of the scale model has a tiny 25 mAh Li-polymer battery installed, along with two motors, one for steering and one for driving using a rod-linkage system and a lead screw.
The tiny gears used were salvaged from mechanical watches, with photoreflectors keeping track of the driving and steering positions. Remote control is done by infrared, with a tiny SMD IR receiver module in the car, while charging and programming of the MCU is done via terminals installed on the bottom.
In the final part of the video the car is demonstrated driving around, with working head- and rear lights, as well as blinkers and stop lights, including the top rear one. In the video description links are provided to the various schematics and software on Google Drive for those who are feeling like a fun Sunday afternoon project.
Love the worm drive steering, excellent work.
Beautiful! A museum piece. Nice touch showing the touch-pad parking lot.
That should say:
nice!
Ostensibly you could drive it on an n-scale model train layout (1:160 in the US, but I believe 1:150 in Japan).
The model car this was based on appears to come from Kato’s line of N-Scale accessories (part #23-546).
I love that guys videos. But in this video he skipped the electronics, which is almost always the best part. Deadbug style with small smd parts, so jealous.
Same I was thinking. Electronics also most difficult. Pretty sweet build. I don’t even know where to get the micro tools? Any idea where I get very small tools? I have some kinda small but dang lol
RC toy…every man and child’s weakness alike