Remote Control Cars and Model Making

[KiwiJenn]

When I was in my teenager years, I used to make model cars, planes, ships and army people. I also made up a few remote control car models and raced them around the loose gravel driveway (it was an U shape driveway).

My brother also made these and we raced our cars against each other, it was fun. I had bought a Monster Beetle rc buggy and I made it up from sratch, all the parts in one box. It had big cubby tires too. I had spare batterys too and also was able to fix the buggy up when it needed attention.

I loved making these model planes and cars, the hardest model I made was a ship. I had a box full of different colored paints, spray paint can, all the tools I needed and a desk for making the models on. I spent hours making these.

Did anyone else make model cars, planes etc? or do now?

[Pete]

I use to build Airfix model planes when i was young, never built a RC car though.

[Noble StoneHeart]

I have two RC`s ...one is allterrain and one is a two motor high speed racer....
haven`t used them in a couple years though ....just kinda lost interest.

NS

[KiwiJenn]

Yea I kinda lost interest too.

I have two RC`s ...one is allterrain and one is a two motor high speed racer....
haven`t used them in a couple years though ....just kinda lost interest.

NS

[wheelie360]

I'm planning on getting an RC helicopter soon.
check out some videos on youtube it looks cool

[wheelie360]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGSP7mSLkrw

this is the one I'm getting

[Pete]

Looks like fun, i wonder how hard they are to fly?. Of course if i got one, i'd want side mounted machine guns. :)

[wheelie360]

Looks like fun, i wonder how hard they are to fly?. Of course if i got one, i'd want side mounted machine guns. :)

I've seen them with rockets (in videos)

[KiwiJenn]

wow that's pretty kewl and it's fast by the looks.

[Ric]

An old friend of mine had several Heli's before he quit flying them. The biggest one had a supercharged engine and flat out would run 90 mph! But the stunts he could do were sick! He would fly upside down backwards sideways, coming, going, left right it didn't matter. Loops, rolls, anything!

The transmitter he used cost around $800.00 and besides twin sticks, it had toggle switchs all over it, and took most of his fingers to control it.

[Night Moves.....]

I used to build slot cars 32 scale and race them when you could go out and rent tracks to race them on. They used 12 volt motors and I'd open the motor and take off some windings and close the motor up and man did that car move. For those not technically minded taking windings off a 12 volt motor makes it a 10 volt motor. Racing a 10 volt motor on a 12 volt race track increased the speed by about 10%.:005:

[OkieGlocker]

I've watched quite a few people learn to fly R/C helicopters and it takes a lot of time and even more patience. They all started off with training rigs on their copters. They're long springy legs (for lack of a better term) attached to the landing skids that will keep you from crashing your rig too bad while learning.

The first step is hovering. The controls are the same as a real copter with a throttle and collective to control the speed and "bite" of the rotor. There is a control for the gimble on the main rotor (flying forwards, backward or sideways) and one that controls the speed of the tail rotor (to rotate the copter left or right). Watching them, it seemed like they needed 3 hands to control everything. The guys I saw also flew R/C airplanes, so I don't know if that helped or hurt them in learning to fly the helicopters.

There are now smaller battery powered helicopters, as well as airplanes, that can be flown inside large structures, such as basketball courts and slightly larger ones that can be flown on playgrounds. Gotta watch out for liability on those, though, with kids around. All-in-all, R/C flying is a fun hobby if you can handle the plane or helicopter and all that's involved in flying them.

[wheelie360]

It seems to be a bit expensive though. And buying a cheap one seems pointless because they dont have collective pitch controls.

[Noble StoneHeart]

Wheelie360:
I used to work on the real birds ......I`m afraid the little RC choppers just wouldn`t get it for me....just isn`t the same as being inside the bird and feeling it all for real ....the vibrations the whumpwhump, the way everything responds and reacts ...the transition from pure lift to actual flight...the will of the bird to torque in the opposite direction upon going lite on the skids......
awwwwh heck now I got tears in my eyes ...see what ya gone an done. shucks.
Runway? hehe we don`t need no stinking runways....hehe
Noble StoneHeart

[OkieGlocker]

Wow Noble...I'm jealous! I've flown in commercial plane and small private planes, but never in a helicopter. :cool:

That's something I want to do one day. I've flown R/C airplanes - used to have one with a 72" wingspan - but I've never tried the R/C helicopters. I don't think I have enough hands to control the thing! :eek:

It's more fun to watch others who know what they're doing fly them and make it look easy. :rolleyes:

[Ric]

I guess I'm lucky, I've flown in real choppers more than I want, the last two were for life flight. But even with a broken neck (my first accident, no cord damage) the AWESOME POWER of a US UH-60 Blackhawk is everything Noble described. I don't care what the claimed speed is, it's a lie. A Blackhawk will exceed 200 mph.

The British Lynx is a wicked machine also, and holds the world top speed record. :028:

[Pete]

I guess I'm lucky, I've flown in real choppers more than I want, the last two were for life flight. But even with a broken neck (my first accident, no cord damage) the AWESOME POWER of a US UH-60 Blackhawk is everything Noble described. I don't care what the claimed speed is, it's a lie. A Blackhawk will exceed 200 mph.

As long as you don't try to stop to quickly. :(

Blackhawk crash (http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22184179-1702,00.html)

but your right Ric, from what i've heard, the Blackhawk is a well built chopper.

[Chairdozer]

I've built several r/c cars & trucks. Always thought about getting into aeroplanes and helecopters. but I always broke enough parts when my trucks crashed into stuff, (usually the ground!) I just hafta go for the huge air!

There's two real advantages to R/C hot rodding.
1. You can completly blow the motor up, or trash a suspention, or fry a set of tires, and your out, maybe $20 or $30 bucks. Try that with a real one!
2. You can drive as fast and get as crazy as you dare. No speeding tickets, No jails, and no hospitalizations. Just bragging rights!

[Noble StoneHeart]

OkieGlocker:
You would have loved the week ends in Jacksonville Florida then!! I lived on the north east side of Jacksonville in the old part , but out in the country . however I worked in town accross from the zoo for quite awhile when I wasn`t either running trucks or Heavy equipment . Anyway the industrial park there is built on a deserted wwII air field and there were plenty of unused air strips to do RC airplanes , cars, and until someone finally got killed ......1/8 mile drags ...... You just wouldn`t believe how big some of those RC planes can be.....whew.
Noble

[Noble StoneHeart]

It sounds to me like that pilot was nowhere near trainned sufficiently to be attempting sea duty landings and take offs ....It also sounds like he was a wild card and had trouble following orders.....problems that should have been known to his commander if the flight control officer and the others involved had been sharing and reviewing the operational logs as they should have anyway , if they were trainning and evaluating subordinates....JMHO
Noble

[Noble StoneHeart]

Ric :
I never had the privilege of a Blackhawk run. Our unit was due to get one , but I never got to put an eye ball on it , let alone step onboard ! I was an old schooler I reckon ....hehe you know slicks(medivacs) some UH`s outfitted with guns and rocket pods..... a few of the Kiowa scouts (and or command and control birds)....and of course the general had two fixed wing birds too... Our unit was accompanied with a hospital and or Mash unit , an Engineer unit, and our MP group. And yes there were good and bad in every unit ......we had one so-called pilot show up......just so happened I was on the flight line at the time , pulling fluid samples on the bird when this guy waltzed up in the company of a Tech sarge ...I heard the Tech tell him to do a preflight walk around and over on this bird as it would be the one used for his check ride! I paused in what I was doing so as not to get in the warrant officer`s way, and watched him walk around looking at the bird , running his hand over the tail rotor blades edges and checking fluid windows and latches etc, I`m thinking so far so good ....just then he climbs up on top, now when you climb up on a bird the first thing you see...( that is if you can see) is markings that say step here, or NO STEP .....well this ole boy walks forward and puts his combat boot right in the middle of the copilots overhead plexiglass bubble .....when I heard the very audible CRACK, I looked at the Tech sarge ...held out the clip board I was using and said well sarge would you like to redline this bird or would you like me to do it? We didn`t even have to ask the warrant to get down , he was already on his way back to the hanger with a red face. ....Gheez.

Noble

[Pete]

It sounds to me like that pilot was nowhere near trainned sufficiently to be attempting sea duty landings and take offs ....It also sounds like he was a wild card and had trouble following orders.....problems that should have been known to his commander if the flight control officer and the others involved had been sharing and reviewing the operational logs as they should have anyway , if they were trainning and evaluating subordinates....JMHO

I agree Noble, although i know nothing about flying choppers, the impression i get is the pilot went from speed to hover too fast and the blackhawk just didn't have the power to stay airborne, plus a tailwind made matters worse.

As always in inquiries like this, there'll be lots of arse covering and blame shifting, bottom line, the pilot screwed up and had done so before, he should have been jumped on by his commanding officer earlier, he wasn't, and as a result, two people are dead.

[Starlord]

I have a set of plans that I have always sworn I was going to build someday. It will be a huge project, and require at least a 6 channel control center. It is approximately a 1/7 scale model of the Corsair F4U F. theplane flown by VMF 214, led by Greg "Pappy" Boyington in WWII. The wing span is about 8-9 feet, and they fold up just as the real ones did for transport. It calls for a motor like you would find in a weed eater, and there are so many things you can add to the basic plane. like guns, bombs. parachuting pilot, smoke bomb for 'dogfights', retracting landing gear and such. Even if I end up building it as a static display model, it will be impressive.

[rollbob@comcast.net]

:cool: I just got one like but battery all the way. At CVS drug store for $24.95 , ages 8 and up ;) controller needs 10 AA batteries :eek: but chopper has rechargeable. Two stick controller only, rotter speed and tail rotter speed.? ? What, how ? 150 foot range.
Have yet had time to batteries in or charge it. We'll get back when it happens.

[Pete]

I have a set of plans that I have always sworn I was going to build someday. It is approximately a 1/7 scale model of the Corsair F4U F.

Sounds like a big project Starlord.

[Pete]

So what happens when you exceed 150' rollbob, it fly's away? :)

[wheelie360]

i just bought an rc flight sim so i don't crash the real thing

[Ric]

I have a set of plans that I have always sworn I was going to build someday. It will be a huge project, and require at least a 6 channel control center. It is approximately a 1/7 scale model of the Corsair F4U F. theplane flown by VMF 214, led by Greg "Pappy" Boyington in WWII. The wing span is about 8-9 feet, and they fold up just as the real ones did for transport. It calls for a motor like you would find in a weed eater, and there are so many things you can add to the basic plane. like guns, bombs. parachuting pilot, smoke bomb for 'dogfights', retracting landing gear and such. Even if I end up building it as a static display model, it will be impressive.

If you ever watch a Discovery channel special on The Blacksheep Squadron one of the guest speakers is a para named Bruce Gamble. They don't show him in his push chair, but he's an SCI. I went through rehab with him at the Tampa VA SCI Rehab center. Super nice guy.

[rollbob@comcast.net]

Their on sale this week again so when they go beyond 150' Pete you get to by another. It will fall to the earth, land in pool, bull ring, poisoin ivy patch, nudist camp, mind field, you know, just where 'you' can't get it. ;)

[OkieGlocker]

Hey Noble,

Sorry it's taken so long to get back to this thread. On the giant scale R/C airplanes, the club I used to belong to had a yearly fly-in and the last year I was there, a guy showed up with a 1/3 scale Extra. I don't remember what the wing span was, but it was easily the biggest plane anyone out there has ever seen. The guy flying it really knew what he was doing and put on a show every time he flew.

I really miss those days. Flying an R/C plane almost made me feel like I was free for awhile. :D

[DjDrewDigital]

When I was a kid I had a couple of R/C cars. Then when I was in highschool I got into R/C airplanes. They are a blast to fly but boy do they require a lot of time to maintain.

[sn00py]

I quite enjoyed building and messing around with a Tamiya R/C off road car but got annoyed that the batteries only lasted 10 minutes between charges. The car is sitting out in a box in the garage somewhere nowadays.

I thought one day I'll move onto something that flies and have checked out planes, blimps and helicopters...

I also really enjoy photography.

Whilst looking at both the flying and the photography aspect, I found Draganfly!

http://www.rctoys.com/images/products/DF-SAVS_1.jpg

The videos look really neat.

http://www.rctoys.com/videos/draganfly-innovations/video.php?sku=DF-SAVS&url=DF-SAVS_1.swf&type=swf&title=none&tn=none&mode=video

http://www.rctoys.com/videos/draganfly-innovations/video.php?sku=DF-SAVS&url=DF-SAVS_3.swf&type=swf&title=none&tn=none&mode=video

And their site: http://www.rctoys.com/rc-products-catalog/RC-HELICOPTERS.html

Now to save for a zillion years until I can afford one!

[Wheelin Rev]

I was getting ready to start a new thread when I noticed this one. Thanks Jenn!

My son-in-law and I are seriously thinking of getting in to 1/8 or 1/10 scale RC buggy/truggy with nitro-gas engines. Here is a picture and a link to one that we are considering. http://www.rcslot.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/LOSB0020.jpg

http://www.rcslot.com/pc-radio-control-slot-cars/LOSB0020.html (http://www.rcslot.com/pc-radio-control-slot-cars/LOSB0020.html)

List price is US $770 but the street price looks to be US $430. Not too bad.

Anybody have experience with this scale and/or the nitro-gas engines? That model pictured can do over 40 MPH (64 kMH). Wow!

TIA! Dave

[Pete]

I can't help with advice or experience Dave, but they look like fun.

[Wheelin Rev]

I can't help with advice or experience Dave, but they look like fun.
I'm counting on it. I used to fly an RC airplane and I have a 1/14th scale battery powered Jeep right now. The forum that I joined about a year ago to learn about this hobby in greater detail is Radio Controlled Crawlers found here:

http://www.rccrawler.com/ (http://www.rccrawler.com/)

My local off-road 4WD club has a lot of members with used RC cars and parts that are willing to help me get started. My son-in-law, who also lives here now, is also getting interested. The largest scale is 1:5 (huge) and in the NASCAR lineup, some of those things can hit 80 miles per hour (129 kMH). :eek: as in WOW!

YouTube has lots of video of these things. Search for RC, radio controlled, NASCAR, etc. keywords and you should be able to find some like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raMVWNhnM5w&NR=1

This looks like a nice hobby to get in to. I'll just need a "runner" to go flip my car back over if it goes upside-down in the yard. Perhaps I can train my dogs to do that for me. :) Otherwise, I'd need a Frontier X4 to go down the hill to retrieve the car. LOL

Dave

[Wheelchairdude]

i've always wanted one of the gas powered monster trucks! they look like so much fun but they're so exspensive. i would rather a real monster truck lol

[4PawPower]

My husband and I started R/C Car racing this past February.

I brought home a flyer from a local club and gave it to my husband. He went one weekend. He enjoyed it and asked me if I wanted to try it. I said ok so we rented the club cars on Valentines day.:045: I tried it, and I loved it.:045:
I had to buy my own car. Andrew and I put them together and we have been racing ever since.
The club that we belong to focus on the fun side of racing. And we are family friendly.

I have a 2006 Mini Cooper S, painted purple and pearl white. I also have a set of dice in the windshield.:011:

The sad thing is that I usually loose to a 9 year old girl. But her and I like to exchange stickers for our cars.

[Pete]

4PawPower.
That sure sounds like a lot of fun.

[4PawPower]

Thanks
It is fun. The club that we race with has a few sponsors and one of them will be building a ramp for me to get up onto the driver's stand. Right now Andrew just bumps the manual chair up onto the stand.
I will try to get a picture of the cars posted.

[Wheelin Rev]

The club that we race with has a few sponsors and one of them will be building a ramp for me to get up onto the driver's stand.
That's awesome that they'll do that mod for you. May you have many more R/C seasons to come! Dave

[4PawPower]

Thanks Dave
It is a BLAST!!!

I was looking at another car, M03 chassis, but I decided to wait a bit. I have a Mini Cooper S06. I did have my eye on a old VW Beetle. Some of the others at the club have tried talking me into a TT01, maybe later....

[4PawPower]

Dave

Andrew suggested the following web site: www.rctech.net

That's one that Andrew visits frequiently. He just bought a SLASH Truck, 2-Wheel Dr. Short course truck.

We both have a mini and Andrew has a TT01 and the Slash truck. I don't think I will be driving the slash much. The track is in the back of the community center, bathroom access, for me, is not great. But I will go and watch Andrew sometimes. Right now we race the mini's and TT01's on Saturday nights. They want to practice the outdoor course saturday morning/afternoon and race Monday nights.

[Wheelin Rev]

Dave

Andrew suggested the following web site: www.rctech.net (http://www.rctech.net)
Thanks for the tip. Looks like a very active site. Dave

[4PawPower]

Yes, it is. Andrew is 'notsominiracer'. :)

We were racing last night. I came in last in the C Main race. But that's ok. I improved my overall lap count. It's baby steps. Right now I'm just trying not to crash so much. At least no car was broken last night, at least between Andrew and I.