A Bunch of Updates!

Oh geez!  A lot of happenings around here since the last update. 

Let's see...

We transformed the Redcat Sumo into an open wheeled raleigh racer.

It didn't really take much to do it, and it was worth the effort to see the Pizzmeister's face light up when it was finished and the under glow lit up.

Other than the under glow we installed a bigger motor, lowered the ride height, installed metal out shafts from the differentials, replaced the stock axles with metal ones, replaced all the bushings with bearings, and, of course, we had to adjust the body mounts to fit the new body and installed led's with a separate power source for the under glow, a nine volt battery.  

 

The boy is happy with it, so I am too.

The Mad Gear hasn't been toyed with too  much lately.

We recently had to replace the steering servo, the receiver, and the electronic speed control.  Sounds expensive, it probably is, but more problematic is finding the parts for it.

Luckily for us, the people over at Nitrorcx really helped us out on this one!  

Those three parts all came in a single unit, which made it so hard to find, and, of course, Mad Gear doesn't have replacement parts on the market for that toy yet.  So, I emailed Nitrorcx, asking them if they had replacement parts or could order them for me at least, and they could and did.  Plus, they replaced the unit for free under the 90 day warranty even though I didn't buy the truck from them!  This saved me tons of money since I was prepared to replace all the electronics with readily available parts.  Phew!

Amazing!

Now, I know where to get parts in the future.

Let's see...What else is new?

Oh yeah, project Love Bug is moving at a snails pace.  Still looks pretty much exactly as it did except for the fact that now the body isn't just dirty like in this photo it is also cracked!

Yuck!

Oh well, I will do something with it to fix it up a bit and then paint it at some point.  

Other than that, Herbie has had his shocks over hauled with new oil and heavier springs, and his motor has been replaced with a 20 turn brushed motor that is really close to stock, but for some reason doesn't get as hot as the original motor and is noticeably quicker.

Project monster truck is officially canned.

We did fix it with all new electronics, and the Pizzmeister still adores it, but, as of right now, we can't think of anything else we can do to it with so many other projects in the works.

So, unfortunately, Project Monster truck is no longer on going, but  he is still being played with, and is an awesome example of what a $30 dollar rc can become with a little imagination.

Stay Tuned for more updates, and the Pizzmeister's unveiling a new special Project!

Here's a hint as to what the new project is.  He's holding it in a photo on Just a Dizzy Dad's facebook page!

From Monster To Epic

Well, the Pizzmeister has been kind of sad the last few days.  We had to call a halt to project Monster Truck for economical reasons, but we at least had one good last run with it before it decided it was time to retire, and we didn't even take any photos or videos because neither the Pizzmeister nor I had any clue what it had planned.

Here's what happened:

A week or so ago we took it out mud bogging and pond jumping, and it was working really well.  We were having a blast, but after we got it home and dried out we couldn't wake the Monster up again.  So, we performed emergency circuit board surgery since we had two boards that we could use to replace the defunct one.

The first board went in in a snap.  Pizzly was happy, I was happy, and Monster Truck was happy and full of pep...for a  moment.  Soon after he was up and running again, we noticed that there was some evil blue smoke coming from under his lid.  

You guessed it...the new circuit board fried.  The electronic speed control failed and caught fire.

Bummer!

So, on to the second and last circuit board.  Same thing happened.

Poor little Pizzmeister was so sad when his little Monster Truck project was put on hold until garage sale season when we are sure to be able to pick up parts cheap.  In fact, he was so sad he wouldn't let me take photos of the failed surgeries and carnage.  I think he said something about it not being dignified.

But, he quickly forgot all about being sad because we have a few more projects cooking up to help take his mind off of the wait to get his spirit "soaring."

If that wasn't enough of a hint here are some photos:

 

Yep, that's right.  The Pizzmeister and I are going to help fix up, shine up, and fly some ancient planes that Uncle Ra Ra found laying around.  How cool is this going to be?!

We are both super excited to start working on them, but it is going to be awhile for a project update.  We first need to map out the repairs.

But wait! That's not the only project we have cooking up for this spring.  There's another one that is way cool, but we'll keep you hanging and guessing.

Oh, here's a hint because I feel bad...almost:  "Herbie" 

Another Project for the Monster Truck

Well, having a little plow for his truck wasn't enough.  Now, the Pizzmeister wants me to make a trailer specifically to tow his newest truck around.

Great!

Now how are we going to pull this one off?

Well, we are going to buy a cheapo napkin holder, throw some wood in it to make a bed for the trailer, and then slap wheels on it, and voila!  

The Pizzmeister has a new trailer.

Now, all we have to do is cut the feet off the napkin holder, paint the sides and stuff, and add a tail gate.

I guess that wasn't so hard, and it only cost us about 5 bucks to make so far.  

More Photos when it is completed...maybe.

Here's what the Pizzmeister has to say about it:

I like mine new trailer. It's on mine truck.  It has wheels. 

It was on my truck, but it is naughty.  It has wheels on it.  It rolled away. I had to hooked it up.

Mine monster truck loves mine trailer.  It's gotta go fast.

Daddy helped build trailer. I'm boss. I'm told daddy to build the trailer.

Those old dogs don't like mine trailer. Mine truck is scary.

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.

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.

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.