This guy, Tony Nijhuis is a serious RC airplane designer and builder. A Burt Rutan of the RC airplane world you could say. He designs and builds RC airplanes. From the small stuff to the big stuff.
Like the worlds largest electric RC airplane. It's a B-50 bomber, with a wingspan of 19 feet and a weighing in at 80lbs. You could say it's a big girl.
If you haven't heard. I decided to start RC car racing. Choosing the stock short course truck class as my starting point.
Recently I gave my Team Associated SC10 a spin over the weekend that I brought off eBay. First impressions. The look of the truck is fully sick with awesome scale looks and nice paint job. The quality of components are top notch. A nice touch to the overall appearance of the RC truck is the mud flaps at the back of the truck.
(the things in the middle don't come with the kit :)
The RC truck handles like a tilt train would do ( I reckon anyway ). With the soft suspension, you can see the body roll side to side. At full throttle on a sloping surface turning hard it did not roll at all. It is a brushed motor so the speed isn't insane but it still has good speed. After the test spin I could see where the tires had been rubbing on the body during hard turning. This was solved by raising the body on the body posts.
Overall a fully sick RC short course truck. That has heaps of tuning potential and hopefully a bit of patience for a beginner RC car racer! I can't wait!
Stay tuned!
What do you do if you have a love for RC airplanes, computer programming and a aerospace engineer by day? You combine all three "loves" and make a RC flight simulator that plays on a Xbox 360 of course.
This is exactly what Tim XNA creator did. He created RC-Airsim, which is one of the most popular games on the Xbox LIVE indie chart. Here's a interview.
This guy at HaddadRC, seems to have a natural talent to make stuff fly. From a 14foot B2 Bomber to a flying carpet.
His choice of material is foam, both depron and EPP and a wild imagination. That breaks the laws of aerodynamics and physics to construct these RC flying contraptions.
Every wondered or wanted to see how a big RC airplane with weapons on it or otherwise known as a UAV see's and then destroys the designated targets?
Here's a bit of a history lesson for the weekend......
The early 1980’s were the golden years for the 1/10 scale off road RC car. Leading the way was Team Associated’s RC10, which was the buggy to beat.
The RC10 dominated the off-road racing scene worldwide and won the first ever IFMAR Off Road World Championships held in 1985, in Del Mar, California. Jay Halsey ‘Jammin Jay’ ran away with the race, becoming the first ever IFMAR World Champion.
This 5 part video series gives you a look back at two decades ago to what RC cars use to be like.
Enjoy!
Getting air to air video of RC airplanes with a chase RC airplane is bloody hard. At the best of times.
But this guy planevideoart got it! He managed to capture two giant scale RC P-51 Mustangs in formation and it was in HD.
Enjoy!
P.S the actual air to air footage starts at 2 minutes
Here's another case where RC is in the news again for the wrong reasons. A simple case of "look before you shout" needed to be taken into account.
I found a interesting article about the possibility of fuel injecting small engines today. That will give the engines better fuel economy and performance.
The defense companies are the primary one's interested in the development of small fuel injected engines, to power their UAV's (unmanned aerial vehicles).
Hopefully this technology will be coming to us soon , so we to can go harder and faster!
Forget trying to shoot your RC opponent with a "little" laser to knock them out the sky or stop them dead in their tracks. These guys use compressed CO2 and metal ball bearings to shoot at each other!
Here's yet another example of RC saving the day...or someones health in this case. A Japanese farmer is using his RC helicopter to spay his crops with pesticide. Instead of having to lug around a back pack full of the stuff and pump it.
It's like hitting a bird with two stones. Having fun and getting the job done!
The UAV industry is MASSIVE and growing. With little wanna be Boeing's or Lockheed Martins sprouting up like weeds. Saying they have the smallest UAV on the market, the best camera technology on the market or they biggest guns.
Well Popular Mechanics have nailed down five potential UAV's that might walk the talk.
Check it out!
This may be a old video and one of many on YouTube, but it has to be one of the best one of RC jet flying around.
It's common to see or do 3D flying with prop driven RC airplanes but not RC jets. Why? It's a expensive bit of hardware you're throwing around and it's not your simple 4 channel RC airplane either.
Enjoy!
With the economic nonsense that is happening/happened. The first things to go are the "toys" in our lives. From the big fancy boat to your RC jet.
One thing though remains quite cheap. The types of foam we use to build cheap fun RC airplanes out of. Such as depron,EPP, fanfold or anything else that's light and glueable.
It's easy enough to build a foamy but do you know the do's and dont's of putting a killer paint job on you pride and joy?
Team Associated has claimed the official world record jump by a RC car at 137.3 feet. Thanks to pro RC driver Richard Saxton and a unbreakable Team Associated RC8B Nitro powered RC car.
I have a feeling this record won't stand for long, with electric brushless motors advancing by the month!
Well I have decided to "give it a go". Give what a go? Racing RC short course trucks! One of the biggest growing class's of RC vehicle racing. So big that this class has it's own Nationals.
So I have just won a "slightly used" RTR (ready to run) Team Associated SC10 RC truck off eBay. Plus 4 extra tires. It is the same body type and color as the picture. But I may get another body and give it a RedBull theme. So I can fly over those ramps with grace :)
I chose the ready to run version, because one it comes with everything except the batteries and charger. That I have. Also I plan on running in the stock class for know before I start putting bigger motors etc on. Stock class is usually full of the newbies so hopefully I will have a chance......
For know the local club is closed. So a bit of bashing and getting to know the truck will be in store for now.
If you are interested in the European off-road RC car scene. Then check out this website for the latest coverage of their Championship, that has just been held in Spain.
Remember the guy who managed to land his RC airplane when a wing came off? Who was then approached by Discovery Channel to pull it off again for a show?
Well now that the show has aired. Jim Bourke the RC airplane pilot has written about his experience and all the work involved to get a few minutes of "actual" footage. Only us the RC'er can really appreciate this fully sick "moment"
For all you RC helicopter fanatics out there don't forget the IRCHA Jamboree is on! If you can't be there check out here and here for coverage of the event.
Driving on-road cars can be boring and easy. In my opinion. Sure they are usually faster than the off-road cousins. But you still can't bash them like you can an off-road one.
But one thing that takes some skill is drifting a RC car. With movies like To Fast to Furious and the like bringing a underground form of racing to the masses. It wasn't long before RC car drifting also came to the masses and become a serious form of RC fun.
Feel like reaching for the stars this weekend? If so check out this article. That shows you how you can send a soda pop bottle hundreds of feet into the sky. Using various forms of propellant.
Remember the post about a six year old prodigy that could fly RC helicopters 3D unbelievably well?
Well know he is turning his RC skills onto a RC airplane!!!
Here's a video showing behind the doors of RC car company, Team Associated. Plus you also get a glimpse of their very own top secret Area 51!
The next generation or 4.0 version of using a RC boat to catch fish has been released. This RC boat comes with heaps of upgrades. Such as a 2inch screen that displays fish saturation and depth.
Plus once you have found a school of fish. You then have the option of dumping 4lbs of chum in the location to get the fish all exited!!!
Check it out!
Remember back in 1997 when the sound barrier was broken on land by Andy Green and his team? Remember the car that did it? The Thrust SSC. That had two huge jet turbines strapped together with the driver in the middle. Remember how fully sick that looked.
Well, CHECK THIS OUT. A guy called Rick Kelly who's a V8 Supercar driver in Australia built a RC 1:10 scale version of the Thrust SSC!!!!! Including RC size Jet engines. To try and break the RC land speed record that Nic Case still holds.
He failed. But man, just looking at those pictures would make a RC'er stiffen up :)
One of the biggest RC jet airshows is happening right now! For those of you who are not there.
Check out these High Definition videos of all the flying action!!
Check out this video series that shows you how to go about building a proper RC track to race on. Hope you feeling ambitious this weekend!
If you have never heard of Short Course Truck racing. Then frankly, go back to bed. It is and is continually becoming the most popular form of RC racing.
They even made nationals for this class!!!
All the big name NASCAR champions have a few "side" enterprises happening. For the day when they get old and their reflexes slow done a little. They still need to put the food on the table.
NASCAR legend, Tony Stewart has heaps of enterprises happening. From promotional work, to a public relations company and even a RC company!
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