Cheap source of bodies - Big Lots - $0.99

[brianpipa]

Here are the pics of what to look for at Big Lots:
http://www.thebrokenjoystick.com/pictures/minirc

$0.99 for the Hummer and $0.99 for TWO of the sports cars (are they Porsche clones?) - can't beat that price. The Hummer sits a little high, but it looks good - like it's supposed to be that way. The Porsche bodies are almost perfect. A little Dremel action and they are good to go.

The rescue pack has a usable ambulance and maybe the police car (it will sit kinda high though). The one on the right has a usable security van. $0.99 for each pack :)

All of these are REALLY light (as light as the original boddies I would say). They are great for modifying and/or putting on a custom paint job.

If anyone desperately wants some of these and there's no Big Lots near you, drop me a line and I'll get you some for a good price. They have maybe 10 Hummers left, maybe 20 reescue packs and maybe 40 2-packs of Porsches

Brian

[zacdaddy]

pretty sweet discovery man....so all you have to do is drimel out the slots for the chassis to clip into?

[lowerdfool]

Good find. I'll have a bit/zip city full of different cars some day. . . .:D

[brianpipa]

Originally posted by zacdaddy
pretty sweet discovery man....so all you have to do is drimel out the slots for the chassis to clip into?

For all of them, they have plastic columns coming down from the roof. You also have to dremel those off. You have to make a hole for the antenna to come out of (pockket knife, dremel, drill). You also have to widen the wheel wells a bit. I used a dremel with a rotating sanding cylinder. Worked like a charm.

You can see the wheel well changes on the Hummer:
before:
http://www.thebrokenjoystick.com/zipzaps/imagepages/hummer-from-package.html
after:
http://www.thebrokenjoystick.com/zipzaps2/image6.html

For the Hummer, it doesn't really attach - it kind of sits on it (snugly). I added a piece of scotch tape on the inside of the Hummer ot bulk it up a bit. it statys on fine. I ran the Hummer while playing ZZ soccer yesterday and it didn't come off at all.

For the sports cars, I dremeled a notch in the front so the body would stay on. It's pretty snug on the sides. The back end sticks up a bit from being level, but I like it that way. I didn't bother trying to get it level.

I haven't actually modded any of the rescue vehicles yet. Might do that this weekend.

brian
http://www.thebrokenjoystick.com

[clex]

great tip on big lots. i got the hummer/mp hq building set and security van/ambulance/suv sets saturday. a few tips to add... 1. used double stick foam tape on the inside of the door panels to hold the body in place (i did not pull off the release strip on the side that touches the chassis); and 2. on the hummer, trim the back bumper around the heatsink screw (that sets the rear end height to where it wants to be). as far as the ambulance, you'll have to trim a lot of the rear wheel wells to make the back wheels fit. it looks weird for me. as far as the large suv/suburban body... that width is just too darn narrow to make it work. i suspect you could heat it up with a heat gun and stretch it but i don't want it that bad. i painted the hummer flat black and it came out sweet. now i'm always looking for a cheap plastic body to mod. btw, those without a dremel, a plier to crush and wiggle off works get the screw column off just as well. just not really clean. thanks brian