From guns to cars: Using advanced polymers from firearms to fabricate parts for my RC car.

While I wait for some replacement parts to arrive from Tower Hobbies I've decided to fabricate some parts for my old RC10. I decided to use some plastic parts from work that are otherwise going to be thrown away. They are made out of a polymer called polyphtalamide which is a relatively new polymer that is most commonly used in the automotive industry. Lee and I decided to use it because of it's dimensional stability and stiffness. That, and we found that a high priced European rifle had used it in a similar application. Some people may consider that to be copying someone else's idea; we prefer to consider it "reverse engineering". Anyway, this stuff is pretty sweet so I've hacked up the parts with a Dremel and a utility knife and made a transmission brace and battery hold down bar. I'll probably end up fashioning the body out of gun parts if it remains back-ordered too long.