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modernwizardIn my previous entry, I discussed the paucity of commercially produced 1:6 scale wheelchairs, all of which are out-of-print manual chairs. While manual wheelchairs are much more common than electric ones, I, as a bourgeois person in the United States, see many more electric wheelchairs [and their cousins: scooters] on a daily basis than I do manual ones. And I'm extremely irritated that there are no 1:6 scale electric wheelchairs!!!
Therefore I decided to make one.
I had several goals for this project. I wanted to capture the essential elements of an electric wheelchair in 1:6 scale: seat, motor housing, wheels, footrests and joybox. I wanted to avoid scratch building, so I looked for existing parts that I could adapt. I wanted the durability, level of detail and realism of a playline toy; i.e., I did not want to make meticulously realistic, fragile, static scale models, but usable toys.
To begin with, I looked around for electric wheelchairs to model mine after. In my experience, most electric wheelchairs that I've seen are pretty complex, with six tires [two small front ones, two large central ones, two small rear ones], elaborate seats with headrests and motor housings with complicated profiles. SpinLife's category of "center wheel drive" power chairs, for example, exemplifies this design.
Here's a typical six-wheeler:
Being a supremely lazy individual, I had no desire to replicate a six-tire design in 1:6 scale, so I researched the simplest possible design of electric wheelchair I could find. Lo and behold, I discovered the world of portable power chairs! The Go Chair, manufactured by Pride, represents the most basic design of all those I saw. I chose it as my model.
Therefore I decided to make one.
I had several goals for this project. I wanted to capture the essential elements of an electric wheelchair in 1:6 scale: seat, motor housing, wheels, footrests and joybox. I wanted to avoid scratch building, so I looked for existing parts that I could adapt. I wanted the durability, level of detail and realism of a playline toy; i.e., I did not want to make meticulously realistic, fragile, static scale models, but usable toys.
To begin with, I looked around for electric wheelchairs to model mine after. In my experience, most electric wheelchairs that I've seen are pretty complex, with six tires [two small front ones, two large central ones, two small rear ones], elaborate seats with headrests and motor housings with complicated profiles. SpinLife's category of "center wheel drive" power chairs, for example, exemplifies this design.
Here's a typical six-wheeler:
Being a supremely lazy individual, I had no desire to replicate a six-tire design in 1:6 scale, so I researched the simplest possible design of electric wheelchair I could find. Lo and behold, I discovered the world of portable power chairs! The Go Chair, manufactured by Pride, represents the most basic design of all those I saw. I chose it as my model.