Sorry, but no pix. Try as she might, SLW just couldn't use my Nikon to capture the event, and for some reason, her cellphone wasn't tethered to her like it usually is.
We started by laying out a "course" in the cul-de-sac with the small orange traffic cones I had, and quickly realized I didn't have enough cones to lay out an oval track, with cones on the inside and outside. So I introduced him to the concept of "gates", using two cones for each gate, and then setting up the gates to make a small course. We got out the two little "Dromida" trucks to start with, and I promptly found out I'm really out of practice! The "race" soon degenerated into who could knock down the most cones, and it was a lot more fun than "just racing".
TLG, SLW, me, and the neighbors were laughing our behinds off as TLG and I were playing our version of Field Hockey with little R/C trucks, and 6" traffic cones! WHAM! Got One! A bunch of other neighbors came by to see what was going on, and an absolutely splendid time was had by all.
Then we got "Big Red" out. That thing weighs about 6 pounds, and goes about 50MPH. Hit a cone with it, and the cones either goes sailing through the air, or the truck just flattens it out and goes over it. Most impressive.
And as in real life racing, we got cut a bit short by some sprinkles and lightning. TLG is driving the big truck better than the small ones, and it was fun to watch him learn to use the throttle to crawl along at a waking pace, while turning the steering wheel to see how the truck responded. In short, he's developing a good "feel" for the controls, something hard to teach to somebody unless they really want to learn it.
I used to work on old "digital proportional" RC vehicles when I worked for Mattel back in the early 80s. I have no idea what technology is used these days. Sounds like y'all had a wonderful fun day.
ReplyDeleteThey've pretty much all been Digital Proportional since the late 70's. It's basically PCM, as I'm sure you know. the 2.4 GHz band predominates, but I think you can still get radios on 72MHz, where my old Futaba gear ran. 6 Meters is listed as "Special Order", and only available on certain models.
DeleteKnowing what I do, I got a "Full Digital Proportional" system, as they really steer the car smoothly, and you have real control of the throttle. ALL of the cheap junk out there uses a "Bang-Bang" control, so it's either center, hard left, or hard right. Same with the throttle; it's an ON-OFF switch, 100% power or nothing. Makes it very hard for a beginner to drive them smoothly, and takes a lot of the fun and realism out if it.
The post needs pictures. It's like listening to a baseball game on the radio rather than watching it from the bleachers with a dodger dog and a beer in hand.
ReplyDeleteLike some of the other things I blog about, pix get in the way of doing it. The ironic thing is I have my GoPro on a tripod in the garage, waiting to try and capture some lightning. Totally forgot about it, as we were having such a great time.
DeleteThen there is the need to turn the GoPro on (UP4014).
DeleteYep, but this time I have it set to continuously run after I trip the "shutter"! The firmware update I did the day before we went out there reset all the default settings, one of which was to only run for a minute or two, and then turn back off.
DeleteYeah, I had a red face over that one!
If fun was had, THAT Is what counts!
ReplyDeleteYou Betcha! Time spent teaching Little Ones is a bit more important than taking pix of it.
Delete