🔋 Motor Buggy: step-by-step build

Your first car that drives by itself — with a forwards/backwards switch and headlights!

No more pushing! This buggy has a real electric motor. Electricity flows from the battery box, through the direction switch, into the motor and back again. The motor spins super fast, so a tiny gear drives a bigger gear on the back axle: slower, but much stronger. Flip the switch to drive forwards or backwards, and switch on the headlights for a night drive.

  • Level 3 of 5 (medium)
  • About 30 minutes
  • 20 steps, 45 parts
  • Powered by: Motor
  • Series: Starter Builds

What you will learn

Build these first

  • 🛒 Push Buggy: A sturdy buggy with a push bar held up by super-strong triangles. (level 2 of 5, about 15 minutes, 12 steps)
  • Gear Speed Lab🧪 Gear Speed Lab: Two cranks, two gear pairs: one makes things FAST, one makes things STRONG. (level 2 of 5, about 20 minutes, 13 steps)

Parts you need

  • 2 × Beam 15
  • 2 × Axle 12
  • 3 × Bush
  • 1 × Axle 10
  • 9 × Half bush
  • 1 × L-beam 3×5
  • 5 × Black pin (grippy)
  • 1 × M motor
  • 2 × Axle 4
  • 1 × Tiny gear (8 teeth)
  • 5 × Blue long pin
  • 1 × Medium gear (24 teeth)
  • 1 × AA battery box
  • 1 × Beam 5
  • 1 × Beam 11
  • 1 × Double cross block
  • 1 × Axle 3
  • 1 × Direction switch
  • 4 × Big tyre wheel
  • 1 × Open frame 5×7
  • 1 × LED lights

Steps

  1. Stand a 15-hole beam on its edge. This is the left side.
  2. Push the front axle through the 4th hole and slide a bush onto each side of it.
  3. Slide the second 15-hole beam onto the front axle. Then push a 10-axle through the last holes of both beams and lock it with a half bush on each end.
  4. Motor cradle: take an L-beam with the short leg pointing up. Push a black pin into the middle hole of the short leg.
  5. Press the M motor's front onto the pin: the pin goes into the hole just under its round output, and the output lines up with the top hole of the short leg.
  6. Push a 4-long axle through the top hole into the motor's output, slide the tiny 8-tooth gear on and a half bush after it so the gear can't slide off.
  7. Lower the motor cradle into the chassis. Push a blue long pin from the outside through the 9th hole of the right beam into the end hole of the L-beam. Then push the back axle through the 13th hole: through the beam, the 24-tooth gear, the L-beam's corner hole, a bush and the other beam.
  8. Add a half bush to every wheel-axle end.
  9. Power pack: take the AA battery box.
  10. Push blue long pins into the bottom and middle holes of each ear, so they stick out on the left.
  11. Press a 5-hole beam onto the front pins and an 11-hole beam onto the back pins, both standing straight up.
  12. Hold a double cross block standing up inside the tall beam, and push a 3-long axle through the 8th hole of the beam into its bottom cross hole. Half bush on the outside end.
  13. Push a 4-long axle through the 10th hole of the tall beam and the top cross hole of the block, and slide the direction switch onto it through the cross hole under its lever. Slide a half bush on the outside end so the axle can't fall out.
  14. Lower the power pack into the chassis, the two upright beams just inside the left beam. Push a black pin from the outside through the 1st and the 11th holes of the left beam into the upright beams. Plug the battery wire into the switch and the motor wire onto the switch.
  15. Push on the two wheels on this side…
  16. …and the two on the other side.
  17. Front grille: stand the 5×7 frame up on its long side.
  18. Push a black pin into the 3rd and 5th holes of the bottom edge, pointing backwards.
  19. Push the two LED lights into the 3rd and 5th holes of the top edge, shining forwards.
  20. Push the grille onto the front of the battery box (the black pins go into the two low holes in its end) and plug the lights into the battery box.

Play time

Switch the battery box on and flip the direction switch. Drive forwards, stop, then reverse into a parking space!

Build next

  • 📡 Spinning Radar: A motor-driven radar dish that sweeps round and round on a turntable — with a blinking light. (level 3 of 5, about 25 minutes, 15 steps)
  • 🦾 XL Power Crane: The strongest motor plus a worm gear: 24 times slower and super strong. (level 4 of 5, about 35 minutes, 27 steps)
  • 🪖 RC Tank: Two motors, two tracks, one remote. Spin on the spot and climb over anything! (level 4 of 5, about 60 minutes, 27 steps)
  • 🚂 Floor Express: A remote-control locomotive with headlights, a chimney and a log wagon. (level 4 of 5, about 40 minutes, 17 steps)
  • 🏆 RC Racer: A real remote-control car: motor drive, differential, servo steering and headlights. (level 5 of 5, about 75 minutes, 38 steps)
  • 🪢 Belt-Drive Buggy: No gears touching: a loop carries the power from the motor down to the wheels. (level 3 of 5, about 35 minutes, 11 steps)
  • ⚙️ Clutch-Gear 2-Speed Car: Push the gear lever and a driving ring grabs a different gear: 1st climbs, 2nd races! (level 3 of 5, about 45 minutes, 18 steps)
  • 🎛️ One Motor, Knob Steering: The motor drives, YOU steer — turn the knob as you walk beside it. (level 3 of 5, about 40 minutes, 21 steps)
  • 🧗 Worm-Drive Crawler: Super slow, super strong: worm gears drive both axles and it never rolls back. (level 4 of 5, about 50 minutes, 20 steps)
  • 🔥 Twin-Piston Engine: See inside a car engine: two pistons race up and down in turns! (level 3 of 5, about 40 minutes, 22 steps)
  • 🛢️ Nodding-Donkey Pump Jack: A slow crank rocks a long beam up and down — nod, nod, nod, all day long. (level 3 of 5, about 45 minutes, 30 steps)
  • 🚞 Cog Railway Climber: A mountain train that grips a toothed rail — it climbs super steep ramps and never slides back. (level 4 of 5, about 55 minutes, 20 steps)
  • 🕷️ Klann Walking Spider: A robot that WALKS instead of rolling — beams and pins turn a spinning crank into steps. (level 4 of 5, about 60 minutes, 17 steps)