Mouse Droid help needed: R/C car?

[Mill. Falsehood]

Hey dudes, I need a bit of help with my current project:

I want to create a Mouse Droid from Star Wars, and while I know how to make most of it, I am stumped as to what R/C car they used for the original. I know it just needs to have both forward/backward and left/right channels, but in order for it to fit the body it must have the right chassis and wheels, so I can't just go out and buy any ordinary little cheapo R/C car.

The car in the prop appears to have wheels which are larger in the back than they are in the front, and of course the fact that it had to have been made at or before 1975/6 kind of narrows it down a bit.

Does anyone know what type of car they used, or failing that, is there a catalog I can browse through of antique R/C cars (surely *someone* out there collects them)?

 

[asemblyrequired]

There's a Yahoo group for mouse builders that has all the information you need. That's a project I would like to pick up again.

 

[ralphee]

Off the top of my head, id say its a 1/12 pancar....so search Associated, Bolink and Parma maybe, you should find something very close, as 1/12 has changed very little over the years.

lee

 

[Padde]

Hey there,

the car that has been used for the mouse droid seems to have been a 'Bolink Legends' - well, at least its chassis... ;-)
These are not being produced anymore but as far as I know there is some sort of reproduction available - just try google or search the bay, got mine from there.

Cheers

Patrick

 

[ralphee]

Ahh, well, i see Bolinks for sale all the time TBH, if i recall correctly, the Parma series (i forget the model) was VERY similar back then?

The Legend's was a funny car i think, just a stick chassis and a solid axle?

lee

 

[Padde]

I am not familiar with the Parma series, so there is nothing I can say about these.
But this is my Bolink Legends model - with and without body:

Cheers

Patrick

 

[Mill. Falsehood]

Sweet! Thanks for the info, guys! I'll look up that MSE builders group.

 

[Padde]

Ayntime! Glad if this was helpful!

Good luck on your build!

Cheers

Patrick

 

[ralphee]

Padde, thanks for the pics, and you are correct, Bolink are to re release the kit.....which is pretty cool for RC nuts like me, and Mouse droid builders.

lee

 

[ColeHorton]

Best I can tell, the mouse droid was a 1/8 pan car. This means it is MUCH bigger than most of the cars mouse droid builders have historically used. Keep in mind that historically, the majority of the fan-made shells have been scaled down (~80%) so guys were using smaller scale cars to match. The real prop was a whopping 22 inches long, so you need quite a car to fit that scale.

I've started building my own full size MSE. I've vacuformed the full size shell but have stalled trying to find the most accurate car. We got ahold of a 1/12 scale car and quickly realized it wasn't right. Unfortunately, those vintage 1/8 pans are selling for outrageous prices. On top of that, 1/8 scale pan cars are not nearly as popular here in the US as they were in 70s, so finding a new chassis for the project isn't cheap.

If you manage to find anything, I'd love to know. My own mouse project has been in the peripheral for too long.

 

[Stormy320]

Nice looking R2.

 

[Padde]

Hey, that is some interesting information - I did not know that!
Makes building the MSE harder though... ;-)

Cheers

Patrick

 

[norlemann123]

Time to ressurrect this one again?

How's your build coming along Cole - found that 1/8 car? I'm concidering building a MSE inspired droid - meaning I won't necessarily stick to the look of the screen used prop. I have a 1/10 Tamiya car from when I was a kid an plan to use this in a scaled shell. (unless I get as hooked on this as I am on astromech aluminium - then I1ll be getting the full scale kit and a new car, hehe)

One question though - for a full scale build isn't it possible to use a 1/10 pan car and just stretch the chassis? You'd still have wheels that are a tad to small, but at least the wheel spacing should be right? The 1/10 cars crowd eBay and for not much money. RJ Speed is even doing a Bolink Legends copy (Search "RJ Speed Legends") they go for 99usd NIB - not too bad imo