How-To Guides about Model Cars, Rockets & Trains

This video tutorial shows how to paint and install a brick arch retaining wall on the layout of toy model train tracks.

There are plenty of things you can use at home to make your own rocket, like sugar, matchsticks, or even trash. They may not be as impressive as a real rocket, but they can still be a lot of fun. In this video, How To Lou shows how he made a high-flying water rocket out of some basic materials like PVC and a soda bottle.

Model airplanes are cool and all, but making them out of your typical 8 1/2 X 11 printer paper isn't going to cut it for long, especially if any sort of rain or misplaced foot is involved. Make your awesome model airplanes even more awesome by crafting them out of sturdy cardboard instead.

Do you like drinking coffee? It may seem like this question has nothing to do with homemade rockets or fuse paper, but indeed coffee filters - which you should have in ample supply if you enjoy making your own cup of Joe - are the key ingredient in a kick ass construction of fuse paper.

Optimize vehicle performance by knowing the differences between the different tires available for your RC vehicle. Each type of tire (commonly referred to by the red dot, blue dot or green dot) is optimized for a specific operating temperature range. Knowing about the different temperatures and what tires are best suited for them could be the difference between first place and second. Find out more in this instructional video.

Upgrade the shocks on your RC vehicle to new aftermarket parts with this informative video. This video details how to install the Universal Shock Mounting kit with Proline Power Strokes. Tools needed for this install are a 5.5 driver and a 2.0 hex.

In this video, 17mm hex adapters are installed on a Short Course truck. Installing these adapters allows a greater range of wheels and tires to be used on your SC racer vehicle. Squirrel of ProLine demonstrates the installation technique.

In this tutorial we learn how to lay and ballast O-Scale 3-Rail track. First, lay the track down on a piece of bare plywood. Also, you will paint the wood to prevent it from absorbing liquid when you place glue on it. Put the track down onto a flex bed and then set the flex bed on the wood. From here, place the track onto the road bed and line it up. Make sure the track is centered completely. After this, take a track screw and secure the ends down. Continue to do this throughout the entire...

Working on an RC project, or really anything that involves RC, at some point there's a chance that you will end up breaking your antenna for your receiver. If you're a little lost on how to fix the antenna, have no fear. In this video you will get a tutorial on how to fix various antenna receivers and more!

In this video, we learn how to paint your favorite sports team logo on a racing shell. First, you will take your shell and trace out the logo on it with a Sharpie marker of your choice. Use tape to cover the areas that you don't want marked, so the lines come out cleaner and straighter. After you have done this, paint the logo onto the racing shell with small brushes and your choice of paints. Leave the tape in place until all of the paint has dried. Then, remove the tape from the shell and...

There's no better way to celebrate the discovery of the New World than by recreating Christopher Columbus's three ships from the famous voyage— the Niña, Pinta & Santa Maria. In this short ship-building how-to, you'll learn a simple activity for you and your kids, where you'll make miniature ship models of Columbus's boats with egg cups, brown paint, white paper (sails), toothpicks, clay and glue.

In this tutorial, we learn how to detect an air leak in a Nitro RC engine. Air leaks damage your engine which will take your tuning and completely void it. Now, take some soapy water and apply it to your engine and anything that is connected in between. Block off one end of the host where you aren't going to blow into. Find where you think the leak is, then make sure you don't have a cracked tank. Next, make sure everything is sealed and apply soapy water. Blow in the other end of the valve and...

Most really powerful rockets fire their payload in multiple stages to distribute it better. To control the release of each stage, you need staging mechanisms. This video will show you how to make a staging mechanism for a multi-stage water rocket, and references written help here.

If you want to make a really powerful water rocket, one water bottle is not going to give you enough propellant. You're going to have to splice two or more bottles together and do it well enough that they don't come apart. This video will show you exactly how to do it step-by-step.

If you like the idea of building rockets that will soar through the air like angels but don't want to bother with operating high explosive, it's possible to build pretty darn powerful rockets out of water. This video will show you how to do so very easily out of junk that you probably already have.

If you're getting into the hobby of building RC vehicles, there are many different tasks that need to be done before you have a beautiful working, and looking, vehicle. Tires, engine, the body, etc. all can be built from the very start.

In this video, learn how to strip a magnet wire for soldering when making mini-RC cars. This process is incredibly easy to do and you will be surprised how fast it works. So, check this out and assemble your cars faster and easier.

Are you a radio control car enthusiast who's never moved beyond the store-bought toy models from Radio Shack? Then this nine-part series of videos is what you've been waiting for. It breaks down how RC engines work in exhaustive detail, including whole sections on carbs, pipe tuning, fuel mixing, and super chargers, among other topics. You may not be able to put your own RC car together entirely from scratch after this, but you will have a broad, deep understanding of how their engines work and...

Is there anything cooler than a water rocket? These things are super easy to make and can shoot distances of up to 50 meters away!So, if you are looking for a fun, outdoor project this summer, why not check out this video? In this tutorial, you will learn how to make a super easy water rocket from items you probably already have around your home. This whole process takes less than 10 minutes and the video will show you every step you'll need to get going.So, have fun! And remember to be...

There's nothing like playing outside, especially as a kid. The grass beneath your feet, the blue sky in the air, and the endless amount of possiblity that lies in such a wide open space. This tutorial takes advantage of that space and shows you how to make a simple bottle rocket. Many of the supplies needed are easil found in your home and are usually cheap and inexpensive. So sit back and enjoy! Oh, and please be careful!

In this how to video, you will learn how to create a finger board kicker from simple materials. You will need a saw, wood glue, an index card, and thin wood. First, draw three shapes. The top is a rectangle while the sides are triangles. Put glue on the top of the side pieces and place the top on. Glue the index card at the bottom of the kicker. You can also print a photo of a stop sign on a piece of paper with the index card under it and glue it to the kicker. Once you have done that,...

If you want to paint shadow lines on a model care you should first realize that you can pair this technique up with any other technique you want to for different effects. Shadow lines occur when the out lines get thick and it provides a contrast to make something pop out. Shadow lines will focus on the light source. You want your shadow to be realistic so you want to think about where you light source will be. To paint on shadows lines, focus on where the light source is coming from and darken...

Brian from thetoyz.com and ProLineRacing.com will show you some painting techniques in this video. He is decorating his Revo truck with a special paint design. Brian is painting tears on various shells of vehicles and he got his design idea from the label of a drink can of Monster beverage. Brian suggests using "liquid" masking to mask the base vehicle and then it will be this "shell" that you draw on, which in this case is a design of tears, tear like in air. Draw some tears on the body's...

Want to make your very own diet cola & Mentos rocket? Sure, you could probably figure it out yourself with a little bit of trial and error, but why be wasteful? Especially when the project is already wasteful by design. Better to follow this video guide, which presents a complete overview on how to build your own Mentos & soda-powered bottle rockets.

This video will show you how to make motor casings. You'll need parallel wound paper tubes ¾ inch outside diameter, ½ inch inside diameter. You can make the same thing out of poster board and glue. In this video shows how to use the store bought ones. Use bentonite clay which is volcanic ash which is like a fine powder that when compressed down it becomes hard. This way you don't need to wet and wait for it to . Add 1 ¼ clay and then ¾ increments, dump into tube and pound it down with a rubber...

An important aspect of building your remote controlled car is ensuring you have the proper fuel ratio. This tutorial by the guys at Toyz will take you step by step through the process of detecting and measuring your fuel ratios. Once you have that down pat, be sure to check out the rest of Toyz's awesome tutorials and build the ultimate RC vehicle.

You can make a rocket at home using these items found around the house. Icing sugar, measuring tape, a PVC pipe, black marker, hammer, flat headed bolt around 18 millimeters wide , mortar and pestle, drill, drill bit size 5 millimeter, potassium nitrate and kitty litter.

In this video tutorial we learn how to make a match rocket. The author explains that match rockets are very easy to make and shoot very far. The first thing to do is to gather your materials. The material that you will need are two little pieces of aluminum fool, matches, two barbecue sticks, and to launch it you will need a paper clip and two pennies. The next step to do is to cut about 10 matches for your rocket from the packet of matches. The next step is to take your two barbecue sticks and...

In this video we are shown how to make a match rocket. You will need a lighter, a paper clip, a pair of scissors, tinfoil and some matches. Start with two matches and with the scissors cut the heads off. Using the stick of the match measure a square of tinfoil. Place the stick on one edge of tinfoil and roll a little lip around it. Remove the stick and place the heads in the lip that you just rolled. Place the stick in the lip behind the heads so that it is halfway off of your tinfoil. Now...

This tutorial shows how to construct a mouth-launched air rocket. He begins with an ordinary strip of chewing gum. After removing the gun, he flattens out the wrapper. He then carefully wraps the long end of the wrapper around his index finger, leaving about half the wrapper protruding off the end of his finger. This creates a cylinder. Then he twists off the protruding end tightly and pulls it off his finger. To launch the projectile, he puts the rocket between his lips and blows. This design...

Do you want to make a diet Coke and Mentos Rocket? Well, first of all you have to buy a 2 litter bottle of Diet Coke and some Mentos. Then, go outside, because you don't want do it indoors, believe me. Wrap the paper cover off the Mentos, but leave the foil wrapper on and put the roll into the bottle. After this, you'll have to close the bottle and shake it. In the next step you'll have to open slowly the cap bottle until it starts fizzing. Throw it down with power and be sure there's no one...

Hacker Daily teaches you to how to make a rocket "outta trash". They take a bunch of everyday materials (paper towel roll, body spray cap, paper cup glue gun, scrap cardboard and a model rocket engine) and create a rocket, by first cutting cross hairs in the bottom of the cup and gluing the rocket engine inside. The video than tells you to insert the paper towel roll trough the bottom of the cup. Than they tell us to glue the body spray cup on top of the "rocket". After adding fins the rocket...

The video deals with a clear step by step process of making a plastic airplane. He asked us to select the model of the airplane we are going to make first. He has selected the North American F86A SABRE model in this demo.

Sure, your RC car runs like a champ but does it look the part? With a little bit of customization, it can. In this hobbyist how-to, you'll learn how to add mask and fade detail to an RC shell.

This instructional video series is on how to build any type of 2/5th (40%) scale, fully functional tank. The specific model demonstrated is the M60 Patton. An MBT. A destructive force. If you have any questions about your backyard tank build, please address them to "Dave's Tank Foundry" at Scaled Tanks.

In this instructional video brought to you by Lowe's, a leader in the home improvement retail business, host NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson, demonstrates how to create and customize a pinewood derby car with the help of a Dremel tool. New and experienced enthusiasts in the pinewood derby arena will appreciate the level of detail and tips found in this video. Whether you are building a car for yourself or your kids anything you could want to know about creating a pinewood derby car can be found in...