bigtrak

The bigtrak, also written BIG TRAK, and Big Trak, was one of the first high-end super toys with a programmable microprocessor. The original name that Milton Bradley (MB) used on product release in 1979 was BIG TRAK, and Ed Levy was the original mechanical designer in 1978-1979. He was involved in every mechanical aspect of its design and development, and it became an immense success.

The BIG TRACK was a futuristic six-wheeled programmable tank, which allowed the owner to enter direction and distance parameters using a keypad. Once programmed, the vehicle executed these commands and navigated the route. This article shows photographs of the Zeon Tech version manufactured by Zeon Ltd in 2010, in China.

ED Levy - Designers Notes / History

The original motors in the Milton Bradley version were by the Mabuchi Corporation. The tooling for all body parts was in MA, except for the main chassis, which was in St. Jean, Canada. The trial shots came from Montreal and the final production moulding was in-house at MB on Shaker Rd where they had 48 injection moulding machines.

The manufacturing origin of the gearbox assembly was at Superdex in Kowloon. Superdex also ran the moulds in their Kowloon building. Whilst the initial inspection was at the Kowloon factory, they carried out further inspections at the East Longmeadow machine shop in MA. This was an ideal location as it was near the Milton-Bradley’s plant. The inspection was for speed, torque, and current consumption, before final installation into the product.

This toy is 18 cm wide at its widest part at the front, and 34 cm long. The wheels are approximately 8 cm in diameter, and approximately 4.5 cm wide.

The front headlights are grey coloured plastic and not clear. It might be a perfect opportunity for hobbyists to mod theirs and fit some ultra-bright LEDs.

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