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Smallest RC Cars?
fredhsu writes: "My brother-in-law bought two micro RC cars in Japan for me. They are both smaller than a matchbox. DigiQ from Takara is infrared-controlled, has two independent rear wheels powered by two tiny motors, and comes with a pistol-style analog controller. Bit Char-G from Tomy (Tomica) is radio-controlled, single-motor rear wheel drive, front wheel steering, and comes with an awkward controller with forward/backward + left/right switches. You really need to see the video clips to appreciate how small and maneuverable these cars are. I personally like DigiQ more, because of its powerful motors and analog controls. On the other hand, Bit Char-G has an extensive line of hop-ups and accessories. DigiQ sells for $50-$80 and Bit Char-G for $30-$50."
About five years ago I used to have a Tomy Char-G and played around with it in the office. In the UK there was a limited range, of around 4 colours, each with their own frequency (ie. red controller with red car etc).
;)
As a result syncronised char-g races occured, with several cars of the same colour being controlled by one handset! Quite fun
Is the HPI Micro RS4. They are 1/18th scale, I think that makes them around 7-8 inches long. These use standard radios & servos, and are all wheel drive, while still being small enough to rip through the office. They can even be run off standard alkaline batteries, or the standard R/C rechargable packs. (And can drive for up to 40 minutes on 4 AA's)
45 seconds of battery charge? I guess they designed it so it wouldn't run out of power during the commericals to sell the thing.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
If you want a really cool toy - get one of these.
Snelflight hoverfly helicopter
It's a tiny little tethered helicopter which uses a motor and propellor at the end of each blade, so it doesn't work quite the same as a normal rc helicopter, but the control box means that the controls are the same.
Quite expensive, but very cool
Not totally unrelated but i always found this interesting: Have a look at Seiko/Epson's EMRoS or "Epson Micro Robot System" here and here
Neat little buggers, not made with pager parts as these Radio/IR Cars are, instead made with watch parts.
An AC has this website and has this pic of the inside of one of the cars.
Take a look at the Piccolo helicopter. A definite flyweight, but bigger than the cars! It is meant for indoor flight.
are so damn spoiled by technology. What i wouldn't give to have something like this when i was 7 years old. i guess i shouldn't complain since i did have a nintendo, but it does makes ya wonder what the toys will be like in another century and so forth. how will your great grand children spend their afternoons?
This is probably bigger than you're thinking, but cool none-the-less: Draganflyer.
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
Not so long ago my girlfriend imported an Epoch Indoor Racer from Japan. While a little bigger than the cars talked about here, they're a whole lot neater. Real suspension, proportional steering, limited slip differential, and charge up in about 20 seconds. Extremely cool. It's built on a 1/42 scale, making them slightly larger than matchbox cars, but smaller than a CD.
Also, if you're more the tinkering type, check out Tyco's Canned Heats. I have four of those things lying around in varying states of completeness. They're really easy to modify, so you can make then go faster and whatnot. Pretty fun.
Hmmm... if I were to attach a small piece of string or cover the car in the fake fur (found on cheap toy mice) I'd have a very easy way to keep my cats entertained and in shape!