Back in 2009, LEGO released two sets (8183 and 8184 ) that got me pretty excited. The reason for my excitement was that these sets contained a car chassis that could be remote-controlled using a Power Functions IR-remote. This would make it relatively easy to build your own relatively compact remote-controlled car. I bought one, but it had about as much directional control as a puppy on a wet floor; it constantly bumped into walls or bits of furniture. It was fast, though.
Curtis D. Collins (curtydc) has now used a similar chassis to build his “little big rig”. He too reports that the steering isn’t great, but also that it is a zippy a little RC. I believe that, certainly with those big wheels. I also think it looks pretty cool. Like Barry Bosman’s Monster Masher, it has a certain toy-like quality to it that reminds me of the RC cars that were around when I was a child.
Today has been one horrible rotten no good day, but seeing this has cheered me up! Thanks for the blog:)
I’m just now noticing one of the fenders popped up while I was photographing, it should be flush with the floor board:(
TLC drive me nuts sometimes (no pun intended) when they release a magic bit of kit for such a short period…
The RC bases are sooooo much fun to build and play with and work so well with the 10-wide cars.
Great build! and have been tinkering with these myself…I built the greatest car ever made of course ;)
http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/64678482@N02/8728073470/in/set-72157633467816284/
@Curtis:
You’re welcome. I saw your model a few days ago and immediately decided I wanted to blog it at some point. It’s cool. I didn’t notice the popped-up fender.
@JustOneMoreBrick:
I have mixed feelings about the chassis and I can imagine that a fair few customers weren’t very satisfied with it. To me the poor directional control was disappointing. It was a great idea, but the execution left something to be desired. It didn’t stop me from having a go at building my own vehicle on top of it, though, which I did enjoy zipping through my LEGO-room.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23494394@N04/8085443737/
I like the ‘Homer’, by the way.