1/16 Scale RC Hotrod

thingiverse

First, thanks to Ossum for uploading the cab and chassis rails that I used in this project. I scaled them down to 1/16. Every printed part other than the cab and rails was designed by me. The goal of this project was to make a 1/16 scale RC rat rod as cheaply as possible with functioning suspension and a ridiculously powerful motor. The motor in this car is a 540 hpi firebolt 15t, equipped with all cheap Chinese electronics. The front suspension uses a perpendicular leaf spring made from an old pair of glasses, while the rear incorporates two coil springs found in clicky pens. The rest of the drivetrain is all metal but also all cheap Chinese stuff at 1/16 scale. The front wheel and driveshaft bearings are pieces of nylon spacers. I used whatever screws and fixings I had lying around to construct it. Originally, both front and rear tires were printed from TPU rubber filament, but after several redesigns, I decided that the rubber was too hard and didn't have enough grip. As you can see from the video, anything more than quarter throttle would cause the rear wheels to spin uncontrollably. I then chose to buy a set of pre-made tires for the rear made from a nice soft rubber. Now the car has so much grip that whenever I launch it or try to turn at speed, it rips control arms out and snaps the steering knuckles. It looks cool though. If anyone tries to make this thing, I would recommend using a slower motor if you want to actually drive it. This was only ever intended to be a cool-looking RC car with way too much power for its size. It's very impractical; the LiPo batteries last for about 2 minutes, and so far, I've broken it every time I've driven it, but it's fun!