The boy approves.
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My son wanted a skateboard for his birthday so I got him one and got myself a surfskate, so I'd be entertained while he was learning. I never really skated before but I figured what the hell.
Surfskates are basically wideish boards with high, tippy trucks that turn at extreme angles (compared to standard and longboards). You generate speed with a motion more like pumping when you surf and end up making way more turns than you would on a normal board.
So far, it's been awesome, though I've been way more committed to learning than my son. Our street has a nice gentle grade which is fun to ride. I've spend a number of mornings riding up and down it while my son does other things nearby. I sometimes bring his board and gear out to both encourage him and make it look like I'm not playing alone in my ridiculous mountain bike protection get up.
My wife finally got him to skate tonight and he did well and had a lot of fun. He'd basically start with the wheels in a road crack, get on, then ride downhill for a while until he lost his nerve and jump off. Good times!
Had fun morning out with my boy over the weekend.
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I had to throw a new steering servo in the 'yota. I think the cheap ass light controllers might be to blame. In other news, the boy is still just as enamored with the Blazer as he ever was.
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Making sure the boy knows not to 'Renner it.
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Oh Fuck Yes!
This.Quote:
Originally Posted by pfluffenmeister
Picked up a Tekno SCT410.3. 1/10 scale kit but 1/8 scale based so heavy; supposedly ends up around 6.5 or 7 lbs ready to go. Is anyone deep enough into this money pit err hobby to have a preference on electronics? I'm leaning Futaba for radio and Hitec for servo because they are brands I know, and leaning Castle for ESC and motor although HobbyWing keeps coming up in searches. No experience with either of these. Gens Ace was recommended for batteries.
I'm relatively new to this so hopefully others will chime in, but those are all solid brands you've mentioned. One caveat, I enjoyed Hobbywing's stuff for the price but one of my HW esc's has crapped out after just a couple months of infrequent use. Just a single bad example so probably not even worth mentioning, but if you're asking for feedback there ya go.
I prefer castle systems. I like the tune ability of the ESCs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazderati
If you are going to race it check your local rules on esc/motor size as that can dictate what your can run in it.
If your just messing around I like to over volt and gear down. Helps keep the temps down, letting you run longer.
Castles Copperhead can run on 4s, pair it with one one of their 1/8 motors and you will have more than enough motor for that truck. Run that combo on 3s and temps should stay nice and cool.
Hobbywing has bluetooth tuning built in, and are nice also. I prefer castle though
Reedy make a great esc/motor as well. Reedy is a little more race focused.
For servos. Shift RC makes a nice low profile race servo for about 85$ and have great customer service being a smaller company.
Reef also make nice servos.
I've had good luck with HobbyWing for ESC's, Holmes for motors, Flysky for radios (because I'm cheap, and have too many cars. As for batteries and servos, I consider those to be wear items and usually go with cheap Amazon shit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mazderati
I picked this up off of the classifieds for $100. I think the boy is going to shit. DJI makes some wild stuff. It's got a frickin laser and apparently it shoots those little gel balls (not sure if we're going to tell him about that part.) He has a couple of other robots and I thought he was just going to use them to chase the cat around but he's really gotten deep into the programming portion of them. I'll gladly foster the shit out of that. Where was some of this stuff when I was a kid?
https://www.dji.com/robomaster-s1
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This leads to SkyNet and Terminators looking for Sarah Connor.
Speaking of things that fly. Model rockets are always a hoot.
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Nice! We got some rockets during the lockdowns and they're great.
Came here to mention Gel blaster guns. My nephew got one and it's been tons of fun. Ours is a generic amazon one but linking this as a reference.
https://gelblaster.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S_FyprPQIE&t=3s
I want to do this for the kids for Christmas. Educate me.Quote:
Originally Posted by basinbeater
Is there somewhere local that you get your shit?
Any recommended sites to get me started?
https://estesrockets.com/collections...stes%20rocketsQuote:
Originally Posted by Touring_Sedan
Thanks! That'll get me started.Quote:
Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong
Serious suggestion. Sugar rockets. If you and the kids want to really get into it. Thing#3 learned a lot making his own fairly safe motors. They are a lot more involved than Estes, though. And a lot less predictable. Which is part of the fun. You have to apply science . He had a lot of appreciation for AP chem and AP physics after fooling around with rockets on his own . The kid is now a freshman at WPI for mechanical engineering. He's probably going to switch majors to aerospace.
We e given a number of complete kits as birthday presents to other kids. I Estes has a complete kit to get started with launcher and rocket for pretty cheap. They have them and tons of different ones for sale at West valley hobbies. Whole big aisle of model rocket shit.
Here ya go, $40 and you'll need to grab some engines...
https://estesrockets.com/products/tandem-x-launch-set
Good intro kit! I can't stress enough that if they get into it, to dig deeper into the chemistry, for engines, and physics, for the vehicle. YMMV. The younger two were partners in crime for a while. Some things did get set on fire that probably shouldn't have been. There's a good video of a fail that I'm trying to find to post. And I'm not gonna lie, there was a little Tom Fuckery with some gunpowder that got shut down right quick. Everyone still has their digits and eyes.
One of the absolute joys of being a parent was watching the kids find something and explore it. The sense of accomplishment from figuring stuff out is huge. And watching them connect the dots is amazing. Now the last one is in college and we have memories, pictures, videos, and ... college bills...
Can confirm that's a great choice - same set that got my nephew and I into it during the covid lockdowns.Quote:
Originally Posted by basinbeater
Excellent. That's probably what I'll start with. Just have to figure out the motors and ancillary shit. I enjoy going down these rabbit holes.Quote:
Originally Posted by Thaleia
For engines there's a bunch of options listed on that link under Technical Specifications.
You'll notice the engines start with either A, B, C or D. Basically that letter refers to the engine's strength, A being the weakest, D the strongest. At first err on the weaker ones, unless you have access to a massive outdoor windless area. If you haven't seen a launch before these might surprise you with the altitude they can achieve.
Beyond that you'll need AA batteries for the launcher, starters (they come with the engines) and recovery wadding. The wadding protects the plastic parachute when the engine backfires to release the cone and expose the parachute.
Another note on engines: there are engines that backfire to trigger the parachute like Thaleia says, but there are also engines designed for the first stage of a two-stage rocket that don’t have that backfire, they’re just designed to ignite the following stage when it has burnt out.
TLDR, the final stage engine and only the final stage engine should have the capacity to trigger the parachute.
(This is going off what 12 year old me knew 23 years ago, so maybe trust but verify?)
Nice to see Estes is still the goto for model rockets. I got into model rockets at age 10, in 1968. The Apollo program was in full swing, and every kid in my class could rattle off the names of every Astronaut. By age 11 I was doing multi-stage rockets, just like the real astronauts. For Apollo 11, my parents bought us kids a telescope, and the night that Neal Armstrong set foot on the moon surface the whole neighborhood gathered at our rocket launch pad. All the kids took turns looking at the moon, trying to see the astronauts walking around up there. The entire world understood that history was being made that night. It was quiet and serene.
Years later I majored in engineering, I think my playing around with model rockets had an influence on that. Understanding safety protocols, following directions to the letter, putting together a complex rocket with multiple stages and a parachute deployment, studying wind direction and velocity. It got my 10 y/o mind working.
You guys are very good Dads.
Fun fact: Model rockets use a bit of ‘black powder’ in the engine. When the only black powder plant in America closed, Estes ended up purchasing and re-opening it. So now they’re a model rocket company as well as a defense industry supplier.
I love the model rockets. I might go get a more complex one to build. But kids just love em. And they take off running after em and they go high as fuck, it's a hoot. Stuff little green alien guys or army guys with parachutes in there so when the charge shoots the parachute out, a bunch of little green men also parachute down. Good times.
We should do a SLC maggot rocket launch summit. Kids can come too I guess. [emoji3]
I'll be there.... in January. I think I'm settled on that kit and probably another themed rocket, a bunch of motors, wadding, etc. I'll probably get one of those little altimeters that you tuck inside, (the boy is a bit of a data nerd.) and a bunch of ancillary crap. I'd like him to have his own setup so he's not taking scissors and glue, and all the other shit from around the house. I'm still trying to talk myself out of the model with the nose cone camera. Maybe for his birthday in February. Thanks Y'all.Quote:
Originally Posted by basinbeater
Send in the Poopatroopers!Quote:
Originally Posted by basinbeater
PS My five year old nephew and I are scratch building the sweetest Lego spaceship from the big old box of Legos!
You some friends for y’all.
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Workin on the Mojave. Needs serious love. Have gone through and put new bearing on the rear corners and in the gearbox. Replaced some steering parts and bearings to remove the slop. Gotta do the corners on the front and should be back in action.
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Drove the big kraton the other day.
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^ Nice!!
Working on a launch controller for the rockets.
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Meanwhile the crawlers still crawl.
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Let's see the Christmas haul.
I want to see more of the rocket launcher gizmo. Ours is not that fancy lookin.
Bought a short course truck and super clod a while back but still need all the peripherals.