Lego Gokart
Eric Steenstra‘s Lego car is a monstrous Mindstorms creation that can carry an 88-pound kid. There are awesome build photos that show just how huge this project ended up being. [Thanks, Martyn]
Fun & Games
The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.
Aerofex Hoverbike on its Way to Star Wars Speeder Status
California-based company Aerofex has developed a working hoverbike that uses ducted fan technology and can be controlled by knee movements of the pilot. The ducted fans have been around since the 60s, but Aerofex has only now utilized it in this capacity with enough stability for the pilot to have control over the vehicle’s movements.
Skylanders, Monsters Swoop Into Maker Camp
During our Maker Camp game design day and our behind-the-scenes tour of Toys For Bob (makers of the Skylanders), we were surrounded by some incredible toy figures.
Skylanders Designers Come to Maker Camp, Tomorrow
Join Toys for Bob’s Blake Maloof and I-Wei Huang tomorrow at Maker Camp on Google+. They’ll talk about game and character design and present “Monsters Ruined my Summer Camp,” a board game for campers to make and modify.
Montreal Mini Maker Faire: Meet The Buttonmashers
One of the exhibits at this weekend’s first Montreal Mini Maker Faire will be The Buttonmashers’ Arcade Royale, a four-player, re-habbed, re-programmed, and re-made video game cabinet.
Maker Camp: Extreme Marshmallow Cannons with Joey Hudy
Week 6, Tinkering Tuesday at Maker Camp. Joe Hudy shows us how to make a marshmallow cannon out of pvc piping and an air compressor.
Maker Camp, sponsored by MAKE magazine, was a virtual summer camp for teens, with a focus on creating, building, and discovering.From July 16th through August 24th, 2012, 30 awesome projects were made in 30 days, on Google+. Maker Camp is free and open to all.
Visit Makezine.com/maker-camp for more information.
Instructions for Joe Hudy’s Marshmallow Cannon: http://makeprojects.com/Project/Extreme-Marshmallow-Cannon/961/1
Etching Metalized Plastic
I have been hacking on some cheap R/C cars, lately, and wanted to etch metal films off of a few of the bits. I knew that the usual strong acid and base suspects would remove it, but many folks don’t keep these substances around, for whatever reasons. I got curious about milder etchants, and did a simple test with some household chemicals.