Early RC conversion for TOMY Bulgy... by another Israeli

Last Friday, I tried looking for Hebrew search results relating to supersized high voltage RC batteries like this one (up to 22.2V) to see if they were available in Israel (thinking they might work as an alternative to a transformer for homemade electric track); turned out they do sell such types here for the RC aircraft market. Anyway, one of the image results showed something I really didn't expect:



The link took me to a 2012 post on a defunct blog by Yaron Keren (ירון קרן), a fellow Israeli who built, repaired and modded various electronics and other projects until 2015. He took a Bulgy and equipped him with a receiver, LEDs and 3.7V Li-Po battery from a wrecked RC helicopter, whose other parts were reused for a "fly" that used a joule thief to produce light from a worn out battery. I've translated the original post and backed up all the photos he took (in case they ever stop working).

---

Not only a Duplo loco "deserves" add-on remote control [referring to a previous mod]. I installed the RC circuit of the wrecked helicopter in 'a tiny bus' [sic] by TOMY.

This is the circuit. On the right is a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, in the middle is the circuit itself, wire antenna facing up and on the left are the helicopter motors, which I didn't use.



This was how the bus looked before installation:



After installing headlights (5mm LEDs) and right before packing up. On the right is the bus' chassis, in the middle are the battery and RC circuit and on the left is the 'upper part' [shell] of the bus. [left and right were originally mixed up]



After packing up the circuit, right before final assembly. The antenna is folded within the upper part.



The bus assembled and working:



Credit to Yaron Keren from yrnkrn.blogspot.com.

---

Either he never provided a demonstration video, or there was one but he deleted it. While it doesn't have a steering chassis unlike the Ace conversions, I found it impressive for a mod done in the early 2010s. The headlights didn't look good either since they were too big and too far out. Too bad no one seems to have made a (successful) flying RC Harold after Topkazfatt's attempt.

[Super]

Interesting build. Bulgy might be the only small car that had the room to fit all that into. I like the idea of a Flying R/C Harold

The receiver and battery look small enough that they might also fit in a Bertie, Lorry 1 or Elizabeth. Except maybe Caroline and Ned, I'm not sure about the HiT Toys exclusive vehicles. They've been making those helis more and more compact in recent years, so it might be possible in our time.

I would've thought if a Thomas toy were to be fitted with RC heli parts, it would only make sense for it to be Harold (esp. given how many forms of merch he's been made in). The Bandai TECS/Gold Rail or Nylint versions might be big enough for the fuselage, assuming they could be opened and resealed to fit the mechanics.

i reckon you could fit RC mechanisms into the nylint harold with ease, but i don’t know if he’d actually fly with how big he is (about 28cm long apparently)