My R/C Stuff (pics mostly)

How about a brief history of the R/C (radio-controlled) vehicles I have owned?!

Lets start by setting the way-back machine for sometime mid '80s (I was probably still a single-digit age).  One Christmas, my parents (or was it Santa?) got my little brother and I matching "R/C" trucks.  Now, I place HEAVY quotations around the RC bit, because of the EXTREME simplicity of these toys.  Let me describe these things for you.

First, these are miniature monster trucks, maybe 25cm long, with tires no more than 10cm in diameter, and maybe 3cm ground-clearance.  The tires are basically hard plastic/rubber (no air inside), and there is no suspension of any kind.  Oh, and the body was a bright yellow.  I don't remember the power source exactly, but I think it was only 2 C-size batteries, and simple on/off switch.

And now some details on the uber-complicated "controller".  *LOL*  There are those quotations again!  Imagine a small rectangular box, about 10cm tall, by 3cm wide and 2cm deep.  And there is a whippy piece of wire sticking out the top, and there is no switch, with 2 AA batteries (or were they AAA?).  And the best part - a SINGLE square red button!  Can we handle the complexity, folks?!?!

Now for some operation details.  To get this thing going, all you have to do is turn on the single switch located on the vehicle.  This immediately starts the rear wheels driving forward, slowly.  Now remember that single button on the controller?  That is your steering AND forward/reverse control!  The only way to steer the thing, is to press and hold the button.  This puts the vehicle into reverse, and by it's design, this would turn to the wheels to the left, putting it into a clockwise circle.  To resume forward, and straight driving, release the button.

It wasn't much, but it was a start.

Several years later (now late '80s, maybe very early '90s), one fine summer day, our Dad comes home and presents my brother and I with 2 new R/C cars (buggy-style).  Now, I'll admit right now, that we quickly found out that mine could get going faster, but I had to flip a switch from lo (speed) to hi (speed) on the back end of the car.

My brother's was larger than mine, yellow, and called the Bumble Bee.  I don't remember what mine was called, but it was from Canadina Tire (or was is Radio Shack?), and mostly black.  We (I) had lots of fun for several years with these, but soon my brother got sick and tired of having a slower vehicle.

 

..........Until I get to finishing off the narrative, here is a couple pics of my currernt R/Cs.  First up is the nitro-powered Traxxas T-Maxx.  The next 2 are my electric-powered Traxxas E-Maxx.  These are both 1/10th-scale monster trucks, and both are 4x4.