#Expensive hobby stuff
4 messages in this thread
Peter:
>Computers, robots, RC Cars..all the hobbies that are bottomless money pits!<
yep, but at least RC cars can only kill $1k or so max.. That's where PC's and
robots begin for the really cool stuff.<BG>
I now have the Thrustmaster Pro FCS and the WCS Mark I.. (those nifty high-tech
black joystick things) I picked the Weapons Control System (WCS) up at a
computer show saturday, but haven't gotten it to work yet. I found out later
(my ignorance) that it was the old one, and it's not as programmable as the new
one. It hooks into the keyboard and sends keystrokes to the computer, but only
has a certain amount of games it supports. All of them are old games.. like
Falcon AT and such. Anyways, I've figured out a solution. I'm having a friend
of mine write a little keymap tsr that will intercept the key commands, and
allow me to send the appropriate keys to the game, or program I desire. I've
got the keystrokes figured out to use all the buttons for Doom. 🙂 It should
free my need of the keyboard for anything important in game play. I found
that, even with the FCS joystick, I couldn't do everything without the
keyboard. Now I should be able to. (I'm looking forward to Mechwarrior II- it
will have net/modem play as well as full Thrustmaster support.)
Another idea I had was to program it to run 3DS. I could assign 18 keystrokes,
or macros to the hardware. Things like render last, etc. can be programmed
into 3DS as a macro, and I could use the WCS to run the macros or other
keystrokes.. that would be useful. A mouse in one hand, the WCS in the other.
🙂 I guess those who have tablets do that already, without looking like
you're gonna blow up the models.<g>
What kind of RC car do you have? I had a Hornet way back when I was in Jr.
High and High school. I really beat that thing up bad, but I still have the
controller (looks almost new too!). (Futaba Magnum JR.) I don't know why I
kept it- I'm sure today's controllers are a lot better. Mabe I can use it with
those nithol robots.. 🙂 That would be fun.
What would you suggest for a good, beat-me-up, fast, good handling, multiple
terrain car to get? How's the RC-10 "off road" baha type car? I've seen one
of those in a mag, and it looked like a good blend of road and offroad/jumping
abilities (depending on tires).
On those robot kits, is there anything like an mechanized arm? If so, how
strong would it be? I'm curious on how good a pull those wires would give.
They seem pretty fragile. What have you done with them?
JNJ
The wires are relatively fragile, but you can strand 50 or a few hundred of
them together to get some real pulling strength! The projects that come with
the book are mainly very small thingies made from balsa and cardboard and bits
of string and stuff.
As for R/C cars, I have a a 4WD Celica rally beastie that absolutely flies (I
flew it into concrete last week and smashed about $50.00 worth of parts), but
for real clod hopping I only have a 4WD BigWig, and a Fox, both are okay, but I
tend to play more with the celica as it is faster and real fun in the dirt or
gravel.
As for the ultimate all terrain vehicle…ummm Dunno!?
Peter
>strand 50 or a few hundred of them together to get some real pulling
strength!<
What?? That sounds very time consuming! How thick are they?
(and what's the address, phone #, etc.)
>Fox, BigWig
Those names are familiar. Have you had those a while? The fox was out when I
got my Hornet long ago. The Celica sounds fun too. I'm not sure if I'm
interesed in a 4WD though. I understand that they use up the batteries faster,
and aren't as fast as a 2WD. But I guess that with bearings the differences
could be minimizedl.
Take it easy on that Celica.. $50 is alot of parts. 🙂
JNJ
The 4WD Celica is selectable between 4 and 2WD, but it is faster in 4WD than
just about anything else in 2WD
Peter