This Mini Mazda RX-7 Model Has Working Lights, Pop-Up Headlights, and Dancing Suspension
Maker diorama111 has crammed a heck of a lot of functionality into this plastic model kit — despite it being to a 1/32 scale.
Pseudonymous maker "diorama111" is cramming ridiculous amounts of functionality into compact model vehicles again, this time packing everything from pop-up headlights to remote-controlled bouncing suspension into a 1/32-scale Mazda RX-7 model.
"I built a 1/32 scale MAZDA RX-7 plastic model kit," diorama111 explains of how the impressive project began. "The model measures 135mm [around 5.31"] in overall length and 55mm [around 2.17"] in overall width. The kit is an early [vehicle] model, but I modified it to look like the later model."
Changing the model year of the model vehicle wasn't the only modification the maker made: the finished kit includes no fewer than 30 LEDs, including driving lights, headlights, brake lights, and more. The turn signals work, and flash in exactly the same dimming way as the real Mazda on which the model kit is based — and even the dashboard instrumentation lights up.
That's all impressive enough, but diorama111's work goes further. The headlights pop up and return on-demand, under remote control, using a small stepper motor. The front and rear suspension, meanwhile, is height-adjustable — allowing the compact model to bounce around. "Since [the] DC motors are positioned at each axle," the maker explains, "they can be operated independently."
Links to additional behind-the-scenes footage are available on diorama111's YouTube channel.