I always longed for a Ripmax Pathfinder RC system or a Macgregor MR200 set as a teenager but they were well out of reach of my 10 bob a week paper round wages. Its always been in the back of my mind getting my hands on one someday. You very rarely see the pathfinder on internet auction sites plus i was told that the electronics and especially the button were not too good on the originals.
This gave me an idea on building a replica but with modern reliable electronics. The innards were not too much of a problem as i know Phil Green of Phil & Shauns single channel museum quite well and he’d already made a lovely single channel encoder emulating perfectly the old bangBang system to a tee, I prefer the Frsky 2.4Ghz modules so one of these was connected up and the system worked perfectly.
The hardest bit for me was making and painting a casing for it in that lovely deep red colour that the Pathfinder was famous for.
Luckily after scouring the internet i found the perfect casing for it at Farnell components in leeds. Although it was quite a bit smaller than the original case it was a perfect compact size and just big enough to fit the electronics in and on the plus side it was powder coated a lovely deep red so no spraying was necessary.
The replica label was the next challenge, The way i did it was to firstly make an accurate copy using photoshop then printing this on some laser printable self adhesive clear vinyl. Then by simply sticking this onto some aluminium foil or chrome vinyl the results were quite remarkable.
Just to finish the set off, I decided to make a matching receiver. This was simply a plastic case with a custom decal applied... Oh and for good measure a matching mug & USB stick
Ron
Pathfinder replica with a modern twist
- RON
- Site Admin
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- Joined: 12 Jun 2017, 15:09
- Location: Stokesley North Yorkshire
Pathfinder replica with a modern twist
G0MBV Class A Radio Amateur, North Yorkshire
- PaulJ
- Posts: 605
- Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 19:01
- Location: Ipswich, UK
Re: Pathfinder replica with a modern twist
Another lovely job Ron.
I found a slightly battered empty Pathfinder case at Old Warden about three years ago, it cost all of a fiver! A Phil Mk1 and an Orange module later I have a working Pathfinder...... but it's not as pretty as yours
(Don't know why the pictures won't go in the right way up?)
Paul
I found a slightly battered empty Pathfinder case at Old Warden about three years ago, it cost all of a fiver! A Phil Mk1 and an Orange module later I have a working Pathfinder...... but it's not as pretty as yours
(Don't know why the pictures won't go in the right way up?)
Paul