Rc Car exhibit, for kids science museum.
 

Calling RC-monster heads, a local musuem for kids is wanting my advice on building an rc car exhibit that can last the test of repeated use by children.
Please Help us with your advice about a challenge of building a high volume use extreme rc car exhibit. They have very little space, 4 X 8 maybe a bit larger (i know this is really micro). One of the difficult things to advise on would be which car, which scale (either 1/18, 1/24, or 1/32). They would have to be geared or programmed to have very little speed. Since bus loads of kids will be using the cars, durability is very important. Ease of Maintance is also important. thanks for any and all input

idea so far (feel free to critique)

Lexan enclosed area (so kids can't handle cars, or track).

vehicles might use associated 18r, losi micro SC, Losi Micro Crawler

get one of the rc18 cars, or the TRX mini rally cars

full fenders+bodys= no broken parts



also, bring something like a large MT to draw in the parents...

For a small area, the micro crawler on some rough terrain/rocks might work - keep things slow but interesting.

+ 1 for micro crawler... Its 2.4Ghx to...

Cool idea and sweet you are a part of it. The only bad thing about the micro crawler is unless someone is there monitoring the exibit constantly if the kids flip them over they'll loose interest waiting for someone to tip them back over. The 18r would be pretty good, just wonder about their size if you get too many in there. Honestly I think some x-mods would probably work pretty decent. Their cheap, realistic looking, hold up decent, and for a "toy" you can get parts for them. I guess you could find some sort of super high turn motor to slow them down. The remotes are small and light too making it easier for kids to drive.

hey, thanks for the ideas. X-mods seem like they could work. I think if they were to build the most bullet proof track, and slow the x-mods down so they cant flip, could work. Yes crawlers would be cool, but with or without rough terrain they can flip (too much articulation). there will not be someone to constantly attend the exhibit to marshall the cars.

Keep the ideas coming yall.

maybe we blend some of your ideas to come up with the perfect exhibit.
RC18SC or 18R with a super high turn crawler motor. Add plenty of weight down low on the chassis to firmly plant it to the course

None of this is set in stone yet, a few guys doin research on the logistics. And i'm... i mean We (rc-monster) are one of those guys. thanks again for helping

Here's a suggestion: you could easily mod the transmitters to be corded. This would serve two purposes, 1) use a small power supply to power multiple TX, no need to change batteries, and 2) keeps the TX where you want them, so no one will accidentally run off with them (since there won't always be someone there to monitor).

Think of the camera section at an electronics store, they both power and tether down the cameras.

This could be setup at a driving platform, where the kids would have a good view of the driving area.

EDIT: Just curious, what is the "theme" or idea behind the exhibit? Will it be teaching about electricity, batteries, and motors? Velocity and acceleration? Force and energy?

It pains me to recomend Losi but there micro desert truck or micro-t sounds like a pretty good choice for the size. Keep them stock and they'll hold up pretty well.

A big problem with any vehicle will be battery life. A stock Losi micro with the NiMH won't last very long, lipo would help a bit, but then you run into LVC issues and the higher sensitivity of lipo cells. Unless you want to have someone on staff just to be battery swapper and charger, this will be a challenge.

The vehicles will need to be much slower than a stock Losi micro too IMO.

I believe the theme will be radio waves. But it is a interactive science museum, they will probably involve more than that.

Crawlers would be a great idea, a little tougher and much slower. I suppose a Slash wouldn't hurt either.

As for the radio waves, then yes I would bring all three types of our radios. AM FM and 2.4, maybe a household wireless phone @ a higher wavelength, etc. I can't remember what cell phones operate off of but I know it is up there as well.