Remote-Control STATION WAGON
A 7-1/2 inch scale model of the Jeep Station Wagon. Powered with a miniature electric motor, you can “drive” it yourself.
By Douglas Roffe
A flick of the switch, the lights go on and this realistic little station wagon starts to roll! A flick of the switch and it’ll back up! A twist of the wrist and you can steer it to the left or the right!
Powered with a miniature electric motor driven by batteries housed in a flashlight case, this remote control model car is as agile as the real Jeep Station Wagon after which it was patterned. Actually, the control system is very simple. One end of a flexible cable is connected to the steering mechanism on the car while the other end is attached to the flashlight case. By twisting the case the front wheels can be turned. Two wires extending from the batteries in the case are taped to the flexible cable and are connected to the electric motor which drives one rear wheel of the car.
Read the rest of this entry »
I love the name “Devil Junk” that he gave his jeep, though it does make it sound like the kid might have a heroin problem.
The midget jeep at the left was built by Valentin Labata. of Leyte. Philippine Islands. He starts his letter by asking, “I wonder if Filipinos are qualified to enter your Workbench Award contest?” They sure are, Val. We base our awards on ability, not nationality. He goes on to say. “A 3-hp. Wisconsin engine drives one rear wheel through a belt, giving 25 m.p.h, top speed and 75 to 80 miles per gallon. The brake works through the other rear wheel. I received help from my father, who donated the engine and the wheels, and two relatives. That’s me in the middle. The other two boys are the helpful relatives.”
Well, it was apparently street legal in 1962 at least.
In case you had any concerns about reliability; read about these guys driving this kart around the world.
MI’s HIGHWAY KART
You don’t need a trailer or a station wagon to haul this kart to a track you can drive it there on public roads!
By R. J. Capotosto
DRIVING a kart is a real thrill. Seated on a low-slung frame only inches from the ground, you feel as if you’re doing 80 mph when you’re doing 20. Yet it’s surprisingly safe. The low center of gravity and a width two-thirds the length make it almost impossible to flip a kart in a tight turn. Just about everyone who tries a kart gets the urge to own one—and if you’ve got that urge, you get a bonus in building the MI Highway Kart.
Since karts are generally driven on special tracks, it is not necessary to register them. However, transporting a kart is often a problem. It can be hauled in a station wagon—if you own a wagon—or it can be towed on a trailer. Either way, the lugging can be quite a nuisance. With this in mind, our model was designed so that registration could be obtained, making it possible to drive the kart to its destination on public roads.
Read the rest of this entry »
Lucky kid, I want a tractor too!
Our next award goes to a proud wife and mother, Mrs. S. C. Manila, of Boyceville. Wisconsin. Her letter reads, “I cannot help but forward the enclosed, snapshot of a tractor my husband made for our youngsters. It really has created envy in everyone who sees it. It stops traffic and all children just must touch it and ride in it. I am sure your readers will be interested. It is powered with a 2/3-hp. engine and will pull four coaster wagons carrying 12 children. Our boy in the snapshot is just four years old.”
I have never seen any biography of Ronald Reagan that includes the fact that was an inductee of the Mechanix Illustrated Hobby Hall of Fame. What a travesty. How can I ever trust them again?
Ronald Reagan - Movielandlubber
ON board the S.S. America on her maiden voyage, actor Ronald Reagan asked to see the blueprints. One look and Reagan, a whittler from way back, was trapped. He wanted to build a model.
“I had all the material,” he says, “but no experience. I had to find out that you don’t put each piece into place as you finish it, that you don’t paint the parts after you have them in place.
“I always carried a piece of the boat around with me and any time I had a spare moment, I’d drag out my knife.”
Finally it was completed—a fine scale model of the S.S. America. And since then, Reagan has made a model of the S.S. Challenge, a C-2 freighter. He plans to continue building model ships because, as he says himself: “a ship is a thing of beauty—-whether it’s on the high seas or on your living room table.”
Caption: Movie star Ronald Reagan, featured in Paramount’s Hong Kong, left surveys his model of the S. S. America, below. It took him a little over a year of spare-time work to complete the difficult job.
I love how they speak in absolutes “never makes a mistake”, “perfect chess techniques”. I’m worndering how it could possibly play chess at all. My guess is that what they mean is it always makes a legal move, i.e. pawns don’t go sideways.
Also, does that board look a little small to you?
Mechanical Chess Opponent
Chess fans can play solitaire against a machine that never makes a mistake. Invented by a Spaniard, the machine teaches perfect chess techniques. Whenever an error is made in play, a light flashes on automatically.
Apparently bowling used to be a lot more popular.
25,000 Bowlers Participate In National Contest
CLOSE to 25,000 bowlers, members of 5,000 five-man teams, recently gathered in Chicago, 111., to attend the mammoth competition sponsored by the American Bowling Congress. The competition lasted for one and a half months and the prizes totaled $290,000. Because of the large number of contestants, the competition was declared to be the nation’s most extravagant sports event. More than forty alleys were constructed at the contest site to accommodate the bowlers.
PARLOR MAGIC with CIGARETTES
IF THE cigarettes themselves could only express the keen competition apparent among their manufacturers . . .well!
Try this: Drop a bunch of one brand smokes into a hat. Take a lone cigarette of another brand and skoot it into the enemy encampment. Bang! Out comes the intruder with much gusto to be deftly caught in your hand. The “how” is absurdly simple. The “bunch” is dropped into the hat, taking care that they land in the far compartment of the crown. The lone cigarette goes into the near compartment. What’s left is merely a matter of voicing a loud “bang” at the same moment you snap the crown of the hat with your thumb, projecting the cigarette high into the air. For so simple a bit of foolery, this goes over nicely.
How to Tie a Cigarette in a Knot
Read the rest of this entry »
This looks like a hell of a lot of fun.
Human Squirrel Cage
THRILL ADDICTS registered their screaming approval of a German-made fun machine introduced at Chicago’s Riverview Amusement Park this summer. Little cars circle a drum 27 feet in diameter which supports five circular tracks. The cars are loosely attached to the tracks and, by operating a foot pedal, the rider can lock his car to the track. As the drum revolves at about 15 miles per hour, the cars go around with it. Timid riders can release the brake pedal and their cars merely rock back and forth. But braver souls press the pedals and make like squirrels in a squirrel cage.
Learn all about a new game called Monopoly that is taking the nation by storm.
Feeding America’s Appetite for Games
AMERICA likes to play. Whether they know it or not, millions of otherwise rational Americans are forever waiting to be caught in the craze for a new puzzle, a new diversion, a new game. The very word “game” sounds trivial, but it isn’t. Games have a powerful influence on the social life of the world, and—games are the delight and the despair of the men who invent them.
America likes to play, and is willing to pay for its fun. Right now it is playing a new game called Monopoly. Already the fastest-selling non-card pastime in the country, Monopoly bids fair to break all-time popularity records.
Read the rest of this entry »
