Awesome Mods

Are skins or DIY paint jobs not good enough for your already pricey Apple Pencil? Well, the madmen at ColorWare would be all too happy to take your money. Their take on the obvious color scheme for the second-generation iPad stylus is, as expected, completely overkill in terms of both quality and price.

You know those toy cars that move using a flywheel? The car-chopping madmen of Garage 54 took another rusted-out old Lada and fitted it with such a mechanism. They connected its engine and transmission to the flywheel via a differential, pulley, and belts. After giving the car some gas, let it coast to see how far it would go under flywheel power.

Diesel Brothers Heavy D and Diesel Dave know a thing or two about modding vehicles. For this build, they outfitted a Tesla Cybertruck with an upgraded suspension and giant snow tracks. This clip teases us with footage of their CyberTrax electric pickup dashing through the snow. They plan on releasing a full-length video on YouTube soon.

Inspired by the Backyard Scientist’s industrial laser experiments, YouTuber Styropyro got a cheap but powerful industrial fiber laser of his own. He started by testing the 2-kilowatt laser’s cleaning and burning capabilities; then, he attached a beam-spreading lens to help light things on fire from a long distance.

This crazy flying bicycle was created by Chinese maker Aircraft Model Art. He started by purchasing the lightest bicycle he could find, then made a custom foam wing and attached a pair of powerful motors. It took several redesigns to come up with a version that could stay airborne. We suggest turning on English captions.

Airplanes are usually meant to fly. This one never leaves the ground again because it’s been converted into a limousine. Martín Vaca and VA-K Innovation took the decommissioned Boeing 727 and mounted it atop a bus chassis. The wings had to be removed, and the fuselage reduced in size to make it street-legal. Here’s what it looks like inside.

It’s easy to find toy cars that are powered by rubber bands. On the other hand, it seems that nobody is making human-size vehicles that run on rubber band power. Joel Creates set out to solve this problem by replacing the engine in a lightweight Goblin kit car with an elastic-powered one. Like toy cars, it needs to be pulled back to store energy for a ride.

SoFlo Customs created this over-the-top Jeep Wrangler that seats up to 10 passengers. Its lifted suspension, chunky tires, winch, and fog lights are off-roading staples, but its extra-long wheelbase and luxurious interior materials make it more of a limousine for cruising the tame tarmac of South Beach.

When YouTuber Aboringday isn’t overpowering toys with too much electricity, he’s doing other stupid things, like turning everyday objects into yo-yos. He starts out with plastic fan blades and wall clocks, then ramps up the danger by using circular saw blades. Other highlights include an ice yo-yo and one made from ping pong paddles.

A car-nut fantasy came true for Wayne Dick of Alberta, Canada, whose custom Chevrolet Corvair Rampside Truck won top honors at Hot Wheels’ El Segundo HQ in the toymaker’s coast-to-coast Hot Wheels Legends Tour quest to find real wild cars to recreate as genuine Hot Wheels toys.

Consumer 3D printers are great for producing small objects, but for larger things, you need to either buy a massive industrial printer or use one of those special printers that can print onto a moving belt. Emily the Engineer did neither of those things and instead modded a cheap 3D printer by adding long aluminum rails to extend its range of motion.

While a standing desk is better for your back than a seated one, it won’t help you get any exercise – unless you can walk while you work. That’s the idea behind this Flexispot standing desk modded by Joel Creates. To prove that his motorized desk is a practical workstation, Joel edited this entire video while the desk was in motion.

Tightening lug nuts on a wheel typically involves turning five nuts sequentially to make sure they’re tightened evenly. This video shows off a homebrew invention that can loosen or tighten them all at once. It’s a cool idea, but in the real world, you’ll need metal gears and something more powerful than a Makita cordless drill to get the job done.

The team at Hacksmith Industries specializes in over-the-top builds. In this video, mechanical engineer Jeff got his hands on an off-road capable electric skateboard and upgraded its motors, battery pack, and circuitry to produce way more power than most people would feel comfortable with beneath their feet.

When WhistlinDiesel isn’t accidentally lighting his Ferrari on fire, he’s torture-testing cars or modifying them in stupid ways. This video definitely falls into the latter category. For this build, Cody and his pals took a Dodge Challenger Hellcat, strapped it to a pontoon boat, and attached paddles to its rear axle. It seems to be better at splashing water than going fast.

The guys from Grind Hard Plumbing Co. have made some crazy custom vehicles, including a tricked out Barbie Power Wheels Jeep. Now they’ve equipped a shopping cart with a 125 hp motorcycle engine and dual powered rear axles. After an initial failure, they went back to the drawing board to improve its reliability. Driving footage starts around 32:30.

The guys at Garage 54 seem to have an infinite supply of junker Ladas lying around their workshop. In this video, they took one of the notoriously bad Russian compact cars and cut away half of its body and chassis. By keeping the engine, transmission, driveshaft, axles, and exhaust system in place, it’s still fully driveable.

Istvan of Custom Watches World takes Casio’s AE-1200 digital watch and makes it much cooler. He modifies the watch with a negative LCD screen and heat treats its stainless steel bracelet for a variegated look. He also performs a hydromod, filling its interior with silicone oil for improved viewing angles. He also mods watches with custom color displays.

Commercial jet airplanes have been getting longer and longer over the years to accommodate more passengers. But at what point would an airplane’s length get in the way of its airworthiness? Maker Peter Sripol conducted a small-scale experiment to answer that question, taking an R/C model of a jet plane and extending its fuselage to ridiculous proportions.

The cars in The Flintstones rolled on wheels carved from boulders. Chris Rollins took a different approach to making stone tires for his go-kart by casting them from concrete. How fast and far can he drive on these punishing solid tires before something breaks? Watch part two here.

Tiny homes are all the rage these days. YouTuber President Chay and his brother purchased a beat-up old school bus with the goal of turning it into a luxurious small home on wheels. After a full cleanup and roof repair, they installed studs, insulation, and drywall and built a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom.

Maker The Q has a thing for modifying bicycles. For this unusual bike mod, he took an ordinary 2-wheeler and chopped its frame into a series of links with cables that hold them together. The idea is that its segments can be loosened and wrapped around a pole like a cable lock, then tightened to form a stiff frame for riding.

The 8-bit NES offered family-friendly games like Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. But in the hands of Aussie builder Electrosync, the console is now a killer robot. After ripping out the console’s innards, he installed a remote-controlled drivetrain and a spinning sawblade to take down other beetleweight combat robots.