Sunday Bash Session

[markbt73]

This weekend, I went with my wife and in-laws down to San Diego. We spent Saturday at Sea World (Shamu says hi, and hopes you're all doing well), and then Sunday morning my wife and sister-in-law went out scuba diving. So my nephew and mother-in-law and I had a couple hours to kill with a big gravel parking lot and a couple of RC cars.

We bought my nephew a little RTR Jeep from Radio Shack for his birthday, so he spent most of the time driving that, but I also wanted him to see what a "real" RC car could do, just to see if he had any interest, so I took along my freshly built Hotshot and my wife's Midnight Pumpkin.

The Hotshot was a bit of a disappointment, actually. The turning circle is enormous, and it felt overgeared with the taller pinion gear. I'll have to switch to the lower gear, which should help with battery life, too. It was cool to see it running, but not as much fun to drive as I thought it would be. That's what twenty years of built-up expectations will do to you, I guess.

The Pumpkin got a much more thorough thrashing. It's actually a re-issue Lunchbox with a vintage Pumpkin shell, so it has the nice strong steering links. It's still completely stock, but after watching the rear end twitch around, both Boxes will be getting a third shock in the near future. My nephew didn't understand the "proportional control" concept; he just floored it and whipped the steering wheel around. But although the little truck flipped over many times (sorry honey; I'll touch up the paint), nothing broke. It never ceases to amaze me how much fun these little things are. I think the LB/MP might be my all-time favorite RC runner; it's just pure fun.

So we packed my nephew back off to Washington with his new (though scratched and very dusty) Jeep, and a new-found interest in RC. I feel like I accomplished something this weekend.