The latest DIY ideas, techniques and tools for bikes, rockets, R/C vehicles, toys and other diversions.
Make a mind-blowing remote controlled “Meka-Inchworm” robot with this fun, no-soldering-required kit. You’ve got to love a machine that moves like a bug! It’s Japanese, but we’ve got English instructions at stage.makezine.com/go/inchworm. MAKE is proud to be the exclusive distributor in North America for these brilliant kits, part of Gakken’s Mechanical Animals Series. Reviewer Tyler Bennett […]
Employing a centuries-old secret technique from the Edo period, this kit has everything needed to create an acrobatic doll, plus a festive kimono and a tiered pedestal on which to perform. You can even adjust the velocity of the doll’s action. The instructions are in Japanese with beautiful illustrations that make it easy to put together.
The Video Game Shield is an Arduino add-on shield to make your own video games, including graphics, text, sound effects, and music! Using the power of open source, this shield allows you to make awesome black-and-white video games on your TV. It supports up to two Nintendo Wii Nunchuk controllers for an easy and familiar […]
Build your own life-size grasshopper and explore solar power with this educational mini solar robot kit. The snap-together, attention-getting Solar Frightened Grasshopper teaches how solar energy can be used to generate electricity. This easy-to-use science kit is perfect for first-time experimenters with little or no experience. Ages 10 and up.
How are your reflexes? Ken Delahoussaye’s Pendulum Challenge (featured in MAKE Volume 26) is a fun and clever handheld game that you assemble on a printed circuit board. The game’s arc-shaped array of 15 LEDs (14 red and 1 green) simulate the path of a swinging pendulum, which you try to stop at the bottom […]
This kit’s great for office warfare but it’s really meant for flight-testing paper airplanes. Two DC motors spin rubber discs in opposite directions to grab your plane and propel it up to 30mph. There’s no soldering, just pre-cut wires and a screw terminal block. Intended for teaching kids ages 14 and up, it’s easily assembled in […]
This detailed post from modeling forum member Panzerpaul nicely shows off the skill and hard work that went into creating his radio-controlled replica of a WWII-era German tank destroyer commonly called a Hetzer. To house the R/C electronics and other guts, the hull has to be hollow.
