Friday, October 19, 2007

New Bright 1/6th RC Hummers

Click on pictures for full-sized versions



Because somebody over on my Joe's Garage Yahoo Group requested it, here are some pictures of my latest Goodwill find, a 1/6th (more or less) New Bright RC H3 Hummer, seen side-by-side with the yellow New Bright H2 Hummer I've had for a couple years.

I only paid $9.95 for the H3. It didn't have a charger or remote, but the remotes on most of the large New Bright vehicles are interchangeable as long as you have the right frequency (either 49 MHz, or as in this case 27 MHz, and I've got remotes for both frequencies). Last I checked, you can also order replacement remotes directly from the New Bright website for a very reasonable $10 plus shipping. I can use the same remotes for both Hummers, my two New Beetles, and my F-150 pickup.

The H3 is lighter and has more guts (perhaps just because it's lighter) than the H2, and corrects the H2's too-soft springs (which have it bouncing all over the road). On the other hand, it isn't as pretty or detailed, and lacks the working doors, or even clear windows and an interior. The body is just a shell. I may end up stripping it down to the chassis for an Adventure Team vehicle project of some kind. I haven't decided.

As for the H2, it has its problems, but with a GI Joe Adventure Team passenger and driver inside, a few accessories, and some understated Adventure Team decals, it still looks cool, and nothing will ever take that away.

8 comments:

skipthefrogman said...

Those are some great thrift store pfinds, good work on the custom AT rig!

h2andol said...

I have the same H2! It worked for about a year then it just stoped moving. I tryed to have it fixed but no one can do the job. For the past two years I have been trying to find another one just like it that still works. Does anyone know where I can get one?

h2andol said...

I have the same H2! It worked for about a year then it just stoped moving. I tryed to have it fixed but no one can do the job. For the past two years I have been trying to find another one just like it that still works. Does anyone know where I can get one?

J. Steven York said...

I haven't seen the H2s in many years. New Bright dropped all their 1/6th vehicles with working doors and interiors (the New Beetle, H2, etc.) apparently as a cost-cutting measure. The 1/6th H3 (no interior or working doors) is still in production as I saw plenty of then in Fred Meyer stores over the holidays.

matthew said...

i have a hummer 1:6 scale on ebay now,no remote or battery,so i`m not sure if it works,oundit at an estate sale.it says h2 but it doesn`t have interior and has smoked windows,check it out at ebay

matthew said...

i have a hummer 1:6 for sale on ebay.i`mnot sure if it works,i found it at an estate sale and it has no remote or batteries,check it ou at ebay

Unknown said...

I just went to the New Brite page....they do NOT supply replacement parts for any of their toys. You have to go through a retailers to purchase any.

J. Steven York said...

That post was done several years ago, Patrick. At that point, New Bright did at least sell a replacement generic controller, but not at this date. If you need one, your best hope is probably eBay, and it's useful to know what all the controllers for their 9.6v large-scale vehicles are interchangeable for any vehicle with the same frequency. That is, most 27mhz controllers work with other 27mhz vehicles, and most 49mhz controllers work with other 49mhz vehicles. This does NOT apply to all their smaller RC vehicles (these must use a different chip set or something), unfortunately, nor to large scale vehicles that are 18v (those actually have proportional steering).

Though I've never done it, it might not be hard to convert one of these vehicles for hobby RC. I converted a Nikko 1/10th scale vehicle at one point, just as an experiment. The steering gearbox turned out to be the exact size of a full-sized hobby servo. The speed control is the tricky part, though those are much easier and cheaper now to find on eBay and Amazon. And given that speed control on the New Bright vehicles, you could possibly just rig a servo to flip a switch and get the same functionality. I've heard of people upgrading the motors as well, though I think you'd quickly hit the limits of the stock suspension, and rather frail plastic chassis.