Magnify Your RC Work
There are a lot of tiny, tiny parts involved with building an RC. (I hate e-clips!) Even if you're not building a kit, any hobby-grade RC is going to have a bunch of little screws that will need tightening, removal, or replacing over time.
Enter to Win an RC Airplane (US Only)
Precision Aerobatics is running a sweepstakes (US only) and giving away a lot of cool, high-flying prizes. Enter by December 1, 2009 for a chance at the Grand Prize of an Ultimate AMR plus a Thrust 40 Outrunner 867KV, a CNC Machined Prop Adapter, and a Quantum 45A ESC (total value of $392.55). First prize is not bad either -- an Extra 260 ARF. Read the details for all the prizes at Model Airplane News.
Put a V8 Engine in Your Electric RC
Ran across this when I was looking at the RC4WD Subzero. It's a very realistic, silver edition 1/10 Fracture V8 Engine with built-in Transfer Case into which you can insert a 540 motor. Stick this in a scale RC for some major realism inside and out. Heck, I'd want to run my RC without the body to show off this engine.
RC4WD Subzero RC Truck
Christmas is fast approaching so I was browsing around the net to see what's new and different in the RC world. I came across the RC4WD Subzero 1:10 Scale Truck Kit. The Subzero is one mean-looking machine with a nice dose of realism and details -- some of which come as upgrades rather than standard.
Wear Your Transmitter: RC Cars With Wrist Watch Control
Tired of lugging around big, bulky transmitters? Motormint has a couple of 1:32 scale diecast remote control cars (about 7 inches long) with wrist watch infrared control. When you aren't playing with your 1996 Dodge Viper or 2000 Ford Shelby Coupe use the watch as a regular wrist watch with alarm. It's also a stop watch. The cars are cool too with realistic detailing including working horn, headlights, and brake lights, doors that open, and a burglar alarm system.
RC Prototypes in the News
A Better Way to Climb the Walls: I've written before about anti-gravity cars (specifically the Air Hogs Zero Gravity R/C cars). Cute novelty RCs but not near so cool as the prototype car in this MajicWheels video. Check out the way it can go from vertical to horizontal, flip over, and hang by two wheels. Sticky wheels?
Buying an RC for an 8 Year Old
In the forum Nals102 writes, " I'm looking for a radio control vehicle for my eight year old grandson. Of course he wants fast and runs forever but I'm looking for something that won't break after a few times..." Read more...
My Adventures in Building the Scorpion Rock Crawler
I've been on an RC kit building binge over the last several weeks. And it started with the Scorpion. The Axial AX10 is a 1:10 Scale Competition Rock Crawler comes in four different configurations or levels of completeness from ready-to-run (just add batteries) to a kit where you not only supply the electronics, you build the rock crawler.
With a kit, you assemble everything from putting together the gears and axles (step 1) to assembling the transmission (steps 15 through 18) to mounting the tires and body (steps 35 and 36)
RC Driving Over the Web
I recall hearing about this awhile back but the other night I stumbled across it again and spent a short time driving a little RC car via the Web. The batteries were low but it was still fun to try to control these from a much greater distance than your typical radio controls will reach. Read more...
Real Remote-Controlled Beetles
At this time of year we see the RC tarantulas (compare prices) on the store shelves. But the U.S. Army could be getting a different sort of radio controlled creepy crawler. The Army's Remote-Controlled Beetle is a real project, using live bugs. Read more...