Okay, let’s talk about this little project I did, ended up calling it the “footlong car” just for kicks. It wasn’t anything super complicated, more of a weekend tinkerer thing.
Getting the Idea Rolling
It started pretty simply. I had this old, cheap remote control car lying around, the kind you get for like twenty bucks. It was small, maybe six or seven inches long. I was looking at it one day, just bored, you know? And I thought, wouldn’t it be funny if this thing was ridiculously long? Like one of those stretch limos, but tiny and kinda dumb looking. So, the idea was planted.
Gathering the Bits and Pieces
First thing, I needed to figure out how to actually make it longer. I wasn’t about to engineer some masterpiece. Simplicity was key. I rummaged through my parts bins. Found some sturdy plastic strips, maybe from an old project box or something. Also grabbed some small screws, epoxy glue, and my trusty hobby knife and soldering iron.
- The old RC car (donor)
- Plastic strips for the extension
- Small screws and nuts
- Epoxy glue / Super glue
- Soldering iron and solder
- Extra wire
- Basic tools: screwdriver, hobby knife, wire strippers
The Stretch Job
Alright, so I took the little car apart. Body off, then looked at the chassis. It was just a basic plastic frame holding the motor, steering, and circuit board. My grand plan? Cut the chassis right in the middle, basically separating the front steering part from the rear motor part.
Getting the cut clean was a bit fiddly. Used the hobby knife, scored it a few times, then carefully snapped it. Now I had two halves. I took those plastic strips I found and cut them to bridge the gap, aiming for roughly a foot overall length for the finished chassis. This part needed some patience. I decided to use both screws and epoxy for strength. Drilled tiny holes, screwed the plastic strips onto both halves of the chassis, and then gooped on some epoxy for good measure. Had to let that cure properly, which meant leaving it alone for a while – not always my strong suit!
Wiring Woes
Okay, chassis extended. But now the wires running from the circuit board (usually near the front) to the rear motor were way too short. No big surprise there. So, out came the soldering iron. I snipped the motor wires, stripped the ends, and soldered in longer pieces of wire I had lying around. Made sure to use heat shrink tubing over the joints so nothing shorted out. This is where you gotta be careful, don’t want to fry the cheap little circuit board.
Putting It Back Together (Sort Of)
Once the chassis was solid and the wiring was extended, I tried to put the electronics back in place. It mostly fit okay, though the battery compartment was now weirdly positioned in the front half. Then came the body. Obviously, the original plastic shell wasn’t going to fit anymore. For now, I just left it off. It looked kinda skeletal, just this long, stretched-out frame with wheels.
First Test Drive… and Adjustments
Put batteries in, turned it on. Success! The remote worked, wheels turned. But driving it? Oh boy. It was wobbly. The long chassis had a lot of flex. And because it was longer, the steering felt really sluggish and wide. It wasn’t exactly a high-performance machine to begin with, but the stretch definitely didn’t help its handling!
I spent a bit more time trying to stiffen the chassis. Added another piece of plastic crossways underneath, hoping to reduce the twist. It helped a little. Didn’t bother much more with the handling, it was mostly just for the laugh anyway.
The Final Look? Well…
So, what I ended up with was this bare, stretched-out RC chassis, about a foot long. No cool body, just the working guts. It looked pretty goofy, honestly. But it worked! It drove around (slowly, awkwardly), and it fulfilled the silly idea I had. It was a fun way to kill an afternoon, messing around with basic tools and parts. Definitely not a showpiece, but a completed little project nonetheless. And that’s the story of the “footlong car”. Just a bit of garage tinkering.
