Category: RC/IR

DJI Spark Body Shell replacement (complete teardown)

Got myself a DJI Spark Drone over Christmas which I assume a lot of people did as well because drones are soo hot nowadays and they are just perfect as gifts.  Like every kid, I was very excited to fly my drone but the temperature was so low (mostly below 0°C) and the weather wasn’t helping, I only had a few chances to fly it during the winter time.  With not a lot of practice, one big accident into a tree 20m tall tree, it fell straight down onto the concrete ground like a rock, it ended up with a broken arm and it would not be able to fly again.  The good news is, after doing some research online, I found out that I could actually order the DJI Spark body shell (not from DJI) from AliExpress for just CAD$30, but there will be a lot of disassembling/assembling to do in order to get the drone flying again which is not an easy task (after watching many many videos on YouTube).  Anyhow, instead of buying another drone or ask DJI for an estimate, I decided to just get the body shell and see if it is possible to repair it.

While waiting for the parts to arrive (which took about 4 weeks time), watched a lot of teardown videos on YouTube but didn’t really see any that documented the whole process of how to replace a DJI Spark broken body shell (which I assumed a lot of people broke their drones…).  So when the body shell arrived last week, I decided to put together a video (DJI Spark Body Shell replacement (complete teardown).  Hope this helps the people trying to figure out what the options are if something similar happened.

Many thanks to my friend Sunny for doing most of the disassembling/assembling.

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LOSI 1/24 Micro Brushless Short Course Truck RTR

Really wanted a small scale RC car that has mostly everything a 1/10 has, think about the fun you would have when you are racing small scale RC cars with friends down in the basement or something :-P, so I did some research, looked around a few brands, thought about getting the new LaTrax 1/18 On-Road Rally Car, also looked at HPI 1/18 Micro RS4 and I came across this, LOSI 1/24 Micro Brushless SCT RTR.  Inexpensive ($150), small, 2.4 Ghz control, brushless motor, 4 oiled shocks, 4WD and, full bearings (doesn’t say it on their site but it was because I took it apart :-P).  The size it’s just as big as my hand, speed is pretty fast considered it’s 1/24 scale, and it is ready to run right out of the box.  There are tons of upgrade parts available if you looking to speed this baby up in the future as well, so if you have some spare money for a toy, this is actually not bad 🙂  FYI, LOSI has a Rally version too which uses the same chassis.

LOSI 1/24 Micro Brushless Short Course Truck

LOSI 1/24 Micro Brushless Short Course Truck

On a side note, if you want to do future upgrades or something custom to it, you will probably need a precision screwdriver set because the screws are very tiny 🙂

converted to Rally

converted to Rally

picture added 10 Feb, 2014
all I had to do was to buy another body, bumpers and a back tower for the body clips

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ESTES proto X nano quadcopter

RC quadcopters have been around for a long long time and I really wanted one, so I did some research and found myself a perfect RC quadcopter, a ESTES proto X nano quadcopter, probably the smallest quad in the world.  it uses a 2.4 GHz controller instead of those cheap infrared ones, USB charging, built in gyro, tons of LED lights and it is super small (take a look at the size of it on my Samsung Galaxy S3)!!!  Charging time is about 20 mins and you get about 5-8 mins of play time, with the built in gyro, it is very stable while flying BUT you will probably need some practice first because after all, it is very small in size and IT IS a quadcopter.  I find the controls are very very sensitive but after a few small crashes, flying in a small room is really not a problem at all.  Price wise it’s very affordable, only $40, sadly I had to get it in Mississauga because I couldn’t find it in GTA area.  Anyways, you never know if it would become available everywhere in Toronto soon because it is really a super fun toy to have.  BTW, their official website is estesrockets.com but they dont have this on their site yet, maybe this is too new?!?

ESTES proto X nano quadcopter

ESTES proto X nano quadcopter

P.S.  because it uses 2.4 GHz, you could actually have a few friends flying a few of this at the same time, sounds like fun doesn’t it?  hehe

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TRAXXAS Rally

Welcome the newest member of my RC family, my new TRAXXAS Rally 🙂

DSC06601What a coincident, my best friend Raymond asked if I wanted to play RC with him, and of course I didn’t mind 😛  After doing some research, I figured I should get something that I don’t have, maybe a Rally?  I used to play a lot of different on road and off road RC cars, I think I have about 10 RC cars in my basement, but they were the old days’ toys, time to see what’s out there.  I found this TRAXXAS Rally, great reviews, love the ready-made body cover and everything.  Don’t really want to surprise anyone but you know, I had never had any of my RC cars running 7 cells, this is actually my first 🙂  Anyways, I am charging the battery right now and will probably try it tomorrow if the weather allows.  If anyone has something similar and want to play together, let me know and we can figure something out 🙂  plus I hope I will take some awesome video on this baby in the coming future too 🙂

 

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LEGO TECHNIC #9398 4X4 Crawler (part 2)

What a perfect time to put this LEGO TECHNIC #9398 4X4 Crawler set together, a huge snow storm just hit Toronto, with inches of snow outside, I rather stay home and find something to do.  First I thought this would take at least 8-10 hours to build but instead, it only took me 6 hours, with the same amount of pieces, my LEGO TECHNIC #8043 took me 9 hours to build…  With the IR remote and the 4-wheel drive, this set is fun to build and fun to play with after it is finished, tho I wished it would run a lot faster with 2 motors 😛  Anyways, here is the finished product.

LEGO TECHNIC #9398 4X4 Crawler

LEGO TECHNIC #9398 4X4 Crawler

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