Laurie Calvert can be blamed for many things. Hornby's Steampunk range for example.
And now, me being £17.75 poorer and the owner of a radio controlled crocodile head. He posted a photo on Facebook and I just knew I had to have one...
And I'm not sorry. The head is 30cm long and pretty well detailed. OK, it's not going to fool David Attenborough, but it looks great. Inside is a USB charged battery pack fitted in a watertight compartment underneath. The plastic it's made from seems pretty tough and the paint job isn't bad either.
Drive comes from a pair of props controlled by a 2.4Ghz controller using "tank steering". Press both buttons forward for ramming speed. Take your finder off one to turn. Press reverse on one to turn faster. The advert describes this as "swerve sailing". No, I have no idea what that means.
On the water, it's far too fast and leaves a wake, but I don't care. This is silly and I like silly. Despite the price and madness of the model, it works really well. Range is more than adequate for our lake and the battery duration is at least 10 minutes, so plenty of play time. I look forward to the day when I can introduce it to the rest of the club.
I wonder, can you sail more than one at a time? Would a racing series be possible? Hmmm.
3 comments:
I think 'swerve steering' refers to the fact it turns ultra quick. It also floats quite high in the water, goes too fast and leaves a funny wake (as you say) but apart from that it is ultra realistic. I find little spurts of power and letting it drift is better and it doubles the run time. Families love it, and it creates chuckles, which is always a good thing. Nobody has been scared - yet.
If the "on the water" photo is anything to go by, I'd imagine the wake probably adds to the effect.
Whilst on the topic of "fun on the water", I don't know if you've checked out the rescue boat plan in the August 2020 "Model Boats". OK - it might not be to everyone's taste - but I could imagine some people enjoying something like that.
Laurie, Have you seen how quickly a Saltie can move?
But I think it would be at home in a Fenland dyke, just lurking.
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