Oh!pEnions: Breaking in the car

Breaking in the car

Maybe I should have titled it, "Going for a Test Drive in my new GT-R R35". The word break is so sensitive tonight. So, I am not going to type that word again. No more breaks.

Anyway, enough of hiding it in the room because I am itching to let my girls play with it for a while. My intention to modify this car, if its successful, is going to have a very worn everyday look. Its not going to be one of those with the irritating showroom mirror finish shine which reflects everything on its surface. No, sir! So, what better way than to let the girls have the fun while breaking it it.

This is because I want to retain all the scratches, dents and breaks in the plastic so that I can see how tough the car it. It might even help when it comes to painting it later on.

For the car this size which costs close to a hundred, this
is quite worth it, depending on how you look at it.

For one thing, this product is very well packaged. And
with the car's beautiful paint job, you actually want to
take your time to slowly open it up. Whoever designed
this packaging gave a lot of thought to give the box its
strength and also retains enough to show the product.
Only gripe was that it could not have a square hole to
show the car's front which most other competing
products are doing.

First thing out of the box is the controller. This reminds
me of those quick-drive Tamiya controllers but I can
definitely tell you that it feels much flimsier. Anyway,
it is very light eventhough I plop in a fresh 9v battery.

The car is secured via 4 screws which goes under the
chassis. Because the box is made of cardboard, each
screw will have a black plastic disc so that the screws
will not rip through it and let the car clunk about
should the box falls upside down.

So, after using the screwdriver, I managed to detach
the car from the box. And on the first feel in my hands,
it felt very sturdy, thanks to its hard plastic. But for a
real R/C car, this is a no-no as it adds weight to the
whole thing. More weight means more drain to the
batteries which means less fun-time. And more
'ouch' when it hits other people's legs.

On the first glimpse, the chassis of the car is ideal for my

project. Do not be bothered by the loose battery cover.
Once you put the slide switch to the 'ON' position, it will
also lock the flap in place. By doing this, you do not have
to waste much time switching the car off and then open
the flap with your hands/screwdriver, etc. Nice idea.

The two halves of the car is secured by a set of six screws.
Two are in the middle of the chassis, towards the sides but
the other four are actually hidden in the wheel wells.

The car takes five 1.5 AA batteries, which is about 7,5 volts. And
so, which leads me to think, it could be adapted for the usual 7.2v
systems found in most serious R/C cars.

Another reason which made me chose this product in
particular was the way they hid the aerial. Of course
this will affect the effectiveness of the R/C system but
hey, at least I do not have to worry about sealing
those oblong holes.

The electronics for the car is very simple as evident
on the green PCB on the top right. It receives the radio
signals, controls the steering motor and also the
direction of big 'power' motor. As I am not a real
R/C fan, I swear that the rear wheels have differential
gears because when I turn one wheel clockwise,
the opposite turns anti-clockwise.

What I am interested was in the car's lights. Here, they
glued a 3mm white LED into the part. And its just one
light. So, I might have to modify this later on.

The next thing is the brake disk, which 'wobbles'
about. Not a problem to me anyway.

One thing I forgot to mention is that this car has
independent suspensions, which is really great.

Beauty shot from the back.

Coming back tot he lighting, I assumed that the
front lights would be on once I switched the car
on or when I activated the controller. This is not
the case. It comes on when the car is moving
forward and goes off when it stops.

And so, what happens when it reverse? Yes, the red
light comes on, even though its not accurate. A reverse
light is always white. Form a few youtube videos, this
red light comes on when the headlight is on. The inner
red comes on when the brake is activated. So, a few
modifications could be in order.

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet The Stig(s) who will be
brea... er, test driving the GT-R in a few moments.

And so, after explaining the controls, off they went.
The car literally went everywhere, most of the time
knocking into furnitur. I tested the car's response
and for that price, I cannot complain much.