Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Unveiling Something New!!!

The  following is in the words of a 3 year old

Yesterday, I did get something new in the mail. 

I know what it was in the box. Daddy did not know.

Hey, what's behind that towel?


1/24 scale Redcat Racing Sumo






truck's behind that towel!

It is an awfully cool truck, but it's not big.

It is a Redcat Racing Sumo!!!

Him's very fast. I like it.  Him does flips.



Him is very small.

My big monster truck is way bigger, but slower.

My monster truck can drive over my new truck.  He doesn't drive over the little truck.  They are best friends.


Monster truck is tall.  He likes to climb and play in the snow.

He likes it outside playing.

Him is too big to play inside.  Daddy likes him to play outside.


Little truck likes to play everywhere!

Him has a cool remote. It does have a lot of buttons!

Him doesn't like the water.  Daddy must to waterproof him.




Daddy's two cents:

Like the Pizzmeister said, we bought a 1/24 scale Sumo by Redcat Racing, and, let me tell  you, we have been having a blast with this little monster.

We have been driving it non-stop since the Pizzmeister opened up the box.  He's crashed it, flipped it, jumped it over himself, smacked it into walls, and so far the thing is still running like a champ.

Yeah, it has only been a day and a half, but I still find it impressive that an itty bitty the size of my hand can handle all that even for an hour or two since it seemed like his monster truck failed within the first few hours of play itself.  

And, one of the better things about this little truck is that Redcat Racing offers a full line of replacement parts for when you do break something outside of the 90 day warranty, which is a load off of my mind since I am tired of scrambling to find parts for the boy's cars.

I just hope we don't end up having to replace anything anytime soon.  It would be nice to spend more time playing and less time fixing for a change.


A word of advice:  If you are like the Pizzmeister and plan on modifying your cars, make sure to check before you do anything as you may be voiding the warranty.

RC Snow Plow

Well, the Pizzmeister had some big plans evolving around his monster truck ever since Santa brought it to him for Christmas.  To the boy it is just logical that if you have a truck, and there is snow on the ground, then you obviously need a plow on your truck.

This is what we came up with for our prototype.  A little plow we took off of a John Deere tractor we had laying around, but we had a few problems with it.

Firstly, we realized that it was too small straight off.  The snow would fly over the plow and build up under the truck body, eventually lifting it off the ground.

That's no good!

The second problem was that the wiring, once encased in snow, became cold enough to fray and break.

Again, no good.

So, it was back to the drawing board for us.  

While we were repairing the broken wires, I asked the Pizzmeister if he was sure he wanted a plow.  His answer was an emphatic yes.

"Oh, what the hell," I thought.  "We already have the thing ripped apart, so we may as well see what we can come up with."

Well, soon enough, the boy and I came to a conclusion.

We'd cut a large tin coffee can into quarters after removing the lip and bottom of the can.  Then we'd simply stick two quarters together to reach the length we wanted, which was about 10 inches,   and then cover the edges so they wouldn't be sharp.  

Easy Peasy.

Then all there was left to do was affix it to the frame of the truck somehow.  

Turns out that wasn't too hard either.  

We just needed some springs, a couple of wood screws, a dozen Popsicle sticks, and electrical tape.  

Yeah, I know.  It's not pretty but it works, and the Pizzmeister thinks it is wicked awesome.  That's all that matters. 

Anyway, the first thing to do was cut the popsicle sticks into the shape we needed and then glue them all together.  They were going to be the mount and spacer for the plow.

Then we drilled through the truck's bumper and made corresponding holes in the popsicle stick mount.

Next was simply screw the wood screws into the bumper, put the springs over the screws, and the screw the spring covered screws into the holes in the popsicle sticks.

Easy peasy.

The mount is complete and has a bit of flexibility because of the springs.  

Next, we just covered the popsicle stick mount with electrical tape to fight of water logging, and then we hot glued the plow into place.

Done.

The boy is happy.  I am happy, and the best part of the entire project was we didn't have to go out and buy anything.

Oh yeah, and it works pretty well too.  We just don't have any videos of it in use yet, but soon there will be videos up and running.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Maisto RC Rock Crawler

I didn't take this photo.  I found it on the net somewhere
This is it.  This is the vehicle that inspired the boys and I to start up Pizzly's own little version of an RC blog.

The Pizzmeister received this toy from Santa last Christmas and immediately fell in love with it. 

It has everything a little guy who loves trucks could ask for.  It's four wheel drive, it has awesome suspension, it has great big knobby looking tires, and the batteries last for a long time.

This Maisto Rock Crawler was perfect for the boy.  

Then, we stumbled on a youtube channel called Rc Adventures, which started giving the boy ideas after the rock crawler started malfunctioning.

The first thing to go was the steering.  Then the rear motor went. 

So, after a transmitter and receiver change and a motor upgrade we were ready to rock again. (We did both repairs using spare parts from other vehicles we either had or Grammy and Grampy had, so  we just switched out the original crawler's receiver and put in one from another broken car, and we replaced the motors with ones that were a little bigger but still fit in the housings.  I think they are 180s)

But, after that was done, the Pizzmeister wasn't quite satisfied.  There was just something missing, and then he figured it out.  The body of the truck was all wrong.

So, we replaced it with this one.

But, this old dodge body didn't have enough flare for the little man.

That's when he got the idea to paint it.

We used water soluble paint so he could change it back
whenever he wanted
Now, it has flare.

Maybe, it has too much flare.  You can't be driving around with that much pizzazz everyday.  Sometimes, you have to tone it down a little bit, but Pizzly didn't want to go back to the original body.

That was too toned down.

So, he decided to that this one would do nicely for his calm trucking days.

It's still flashy, but not as flashy as his yellow and pink monster.

Hmm...what to do with it now?

I guess we will have to wait and see what the Pizzmeister comes up with.




What got us Started

What got us started down the RC path?

Well, that is a good question and simple to answer. 

This little air hog helicopter started it all.  

We bought it when the Pizzmeister was around two, and he loved it.  I thought it was neat too, so before we knew it we got hooked by the RC World.

Our Five Favorites
It didn't take long for us to add to his collection, and now Pizzly has a number of RC Helicopters.

He also has a number of other RC vehicles, which you will see later on in future posts as we do reviews and projects with them.

So far we have two ongoing projects that we are working on and soon a third.  We'll keep you posted on what's going on as we get to it.  

Project Monster Truck


This is mainly from a three year old's perspective and in his words.  I am just writing it down for him.


Note from Dad: Well, the Pizzmeister told me this Morning that he had to work on his blog while I napped today, which got me thinking.  

Why not add a page to my existing blog all about the boy?

I know. Most all of Just a Dizzy Dad is all about the boy and our newbie, Two-zy, but this is a bit different.  This page will be more about what Pizzles wants to say and do, and it will be more like an online journal format, which means we have some back filling to do because he wants to write about his monster truck that Santa brought him.

Well, let's get  to it!

(Most of this will be in the Pizzmeister's words.  I will try not to edit it too much because the point is to let him have as much control over the content as he can.)

December 2012 in Project Monster truck: The Beginning


Santa brought this truck to me, and I love it very hard. I know all about trucks.  

This truck is way cool!


This truck is a ghost monster.  It likes to crawl on pillows and brother.

I like it chase me, and I catch it then I jump and make daddy drives it.

It's way fast!

I do love mine monster truck.





January in Project Monster Truck:  Fix it Up!

Monster Truck broke and me am sad. It really did work, but then it died.

It really did die in the house.


I helped daddy fix it all up.

It drives in snow.  Monster truck makes me happy.

I water proof it in mine house.  

Monster Truck likes snow.  I can hug it and kiss it in snow.





February in Project Monster truck:  Make it Better

Monster Truck Died one more time.  This make me sad, but we did fix it all up.


Pizzmeister browsing online for parts
Needed new Parts.

We fixed it.  I helped.


I liked orange monster truck best.  It was my idea to make it orange.

Daddy did it.


I maked it yellow too.

I painted it, and daddy helped paint it.

I don't like painting mine monster truck.


I do have a red monster truck, but I like to get a flashlight one.  

I like my head light truck. 

Daddy must light mine truck.