Home >> Hobbies >> Other Hobbies

How to Build a Model Go-Kart

For a go-kart enthusiast, there can be few more rewarding things than pushing your cart to the limit and beating your personal best on a lap time. Off the track, however, making a model of a go-kart can provide slightly more sedate satisfaction. Meccano and LEGO -- along with other toy manufacturers -- have been producing go-kart model kits for many years, and these are highly effective at engaging young children in the principles of engineering, torque and motion. But it is far more rewarding to build a model cart from scratch with your own two hands. That said, it is still useful to borrow parts from these model kits -- difficult-to-make parts such as wheels or seats -- to enhance our own model-making skills.

Things You'll Need

1/4-inch plywood board
1/4-inch-radius wooden beading
Metal dowel
Pins
Hammer
Solvent-based glue
LEGO steering wheel
4 Meccano wheels
Lego bucket seat for racing car
Coping saw
Hacksaw

Instructions

- 1
  Decide how big you want the base of the frame to be and represent this by drawing a rectangle on the plywood board. Draw two more rectangles on the plywood with the longest sides equal to the longest side of the first rectangle, and with the shortest sides equal to the depth you want your go-kart's frame to be. Use the coping saw to cut these three rectangles out.
- 2
  Draw two more rectangles on the plywood, this time with the length of their longest sides equal to the shortest side of the first rectangle, and the length of their shortest sides equal to the depth of the kart's frame. Cut these rectangles out with the coping saw and put the largest rectangle on the worktop so that it is lying flat. Push the two longer rectangles to the sides of the large rectangle so that they are flush together, then do the same with the shorter rectangle at each end.
- 3
  Stand the four smaller rectangles up around the large rectangle to create a wooden tray, which will be the frame of the model go-kart. Secure this tray with tacks hammered in at half-inch intervals through the sides of the upright rectangles into the base of the frame. Cut the quarter-circle beading to a length equal to the depth of the frame and glue the piece into the outside corner of the frame. Repeat this three more times for each corner of the frame.
- 4
  On the long rectangles, draw lines parallel to the longest sides that divide the rectangles exactly in two. Measure a fifth of the way along the length of the longest side from both ends of the frame, making a mark on the halfway line each time. Turn the frame around and repeat this for the other side. This leaves you with four marks on the outside of the frame, in two distinct sets of pairs. Drill through each mark to create two pairs of axle holes. Push a piece of metal dowel through both pairs of holes to create two axles. Thread a Meccano wheel onto both ends of each dowel and secure it with a bolt.
- 5
  Drill a small angled hole in the inside front of the go-kart frame. Do not drill right through to the other side, just drill far enough to be able to glue a short piece of the metal dowel. This is the steering wheel pillar. Attach a LEGO steering wheel to the end of the pillar and secure with glue. Glue a bucket seat from a LEGO racing car to the inside back of the frame and the model is complete.

Other Hobbies