On Tuesday I was in Target looking around at what they had to offer in the way of RCs. A lot of stuff is fun right out of the package but I'm always on the lookout for that next new toy that I can hop-up, modify, or otherwise do something to that will make it faster, more powerful -- without spending a fortune. That's one reason I liked my XMODS and why my wife and I have been buying up all the available upgrades now that RadioShack is clearing the shelves of them. I've found a potential substitute at Target. I've looked at them with interest every time I've been in the store but this week I took a closer look at the 1:24 scale Radline RC line. The initial kit costs about the same as the XMODS, you put them together yourself, and there are all kinds of parts and accessories you can purchase both for repairs and to modify and upgrade your Radline RC.

There are currently two series with three vehicles in each. You can pick up some of the accessories at Target -- which is the exclusive retailer for these RCs -- or purchase online from the Radline site. Now the manufacturer refers to them as hobby-grade. Not by my definition of hobby-grade, but they are high end toys. Although recommended for ages 8 and up, a lot of the modification and upgrade fun is probably best left to teens and adults.

Aside from the upgrade potential, one feature I like is that although these RCs come in the standard 27MHz and 49MHz frequencies, you have three band selections within each frequency so you can race up to six racers at a time... With my five kids -- OK, six if you count me as the biggest kid -- we can all race together just like when we played parking lot tag with our XMODS. Another bonus, all the batteries you need come in the package.

While I was checking out the Radline RC line, my wife and daughters were looking into some other RC toys. All these RCs come from fairly well-known RC toy manufacturers. There are some flashy cars from Jada Toys and Maisto, flying insects from SpinMaster, and another odd-little flying contraption from Wow Wee (the Robosapien folks). Have a birthday boy or girl to buy for soon? See what interesting RC toys are on the shelf at Target right now.

In a recent response to an older post on building your own RC airplane, a reader writes:

I’ve always been a huge collector of these RC planes especially vintage model airplanes … I just started a website to help people find Vintage Model Airplane Kits so they can build their own vintage airplanes too.

I checked it out and the Vintage Model Airplane Kits site appears to be an ebay affiliate auction-based store where you can look specifically for vintage airplane models and radio controlled plane kits. Spotted a helicopter or two as well.

I recently had to buy a new set of tires for my personal vehicle. Ouch... and here I'd been complaining about how much a new set of RC tires was going to run me. With my full-size truck and car I usually get a certain set of tires and those don't come off until I catch a nail or I've worn the tread off to the point I can't pass inspection. But with an RC we can pop tires off and on, changing out the type of tire and tread patterns at most anytime to suit the type of driving we'll be doing that day.

For best performance you might want different tires for loose dirt, packed dirt, pavement, racing, bashing, etc. -- and a set of nice-looking rims would be cool too. But before you go buying the first set of knobby tires and shiny rims you see -- especially if you're fairly new to the hobby RC world -- learn a little more about tire parts and types of tires.

The Tire
• What is the tire?
  • Tire bead
  • Tire wall
• What are RC tires made of?
• How do on-road and off-road tires differ?

  The Wheel

• What is the wheel or rim?
• Why do tires need to be glued to the rim?

  Between the Tire and the Rim

• What are tire inserts?

Also see: RC Tire & Wheel Hop-Ups and Mods

In addition to screws -- lots and lots of impossibly tiny screws -- there are other types of fasteners holding your RC together. On a hobby RC you'll likely be taking it apart and putting it back together often. These little pieces are easy to lose so its always a good idea to have a few extras in your toolbox. Drop one in tall grass or have a piece fly off while at the track and you'll probably never see that little fastener again.

• In a pinch you could use paperclips or other short pieces of wire to replace some lost cotter pins, typically used to hold the body on a hobby RC.

• Depending on where they are used, e-clips are more difficult to find a substitute for.

Tuesday evening I took a little trip to Wal-Mart. My wife, my step-daughters, and I each scoured the toy aisles looking for RC toys that caught our interest.

Daughter Lyla beat my wife to the Speed Racer RCs (Go Speed Racer, Go has been her theme song lately) but they both zeroed in on Hot Wheels R/Cs. Sarah went for a big truck (despite being a wired model aimed at 4 year olds) while Sam spotted a flashy sports car that turns out to be from a company that specializes in collectible diecast vehicles as well as RCs with really nice paint jobs and good details.

As for me, with my renewed interest in things that fly I was drawn to an indoor airplane with a cool kind of oontroller. Instead of buttons or sticks, you control it with a flick (or more properly a twist) of your wrist. Tilt the controller left or right to make the plane fly in circles. Aimed at age 12 and up, I think kids as young as seven or eight -- with help from mom or dad -- would have a lot of fun making this RC fly around in circles. Older kids and adults could add some figure 8 flying. Check out this selection of RC toys that we found on the shelf this week.

Have you tried out one of the Estes planes with the motion-sensitive controller or any of the other RC toys mentioned? Tell us about it.

After you've been running your electric RC for awhile you have to stop and have a cool down period. Even if you have an extra battery pack charged up and ready to go, you need to give that motor a little rest. That's something my son has trouble comprehending sometimes. As a result, I've had to replace some internal components that got overheated. One of these is the electronic speed controller or ESC. Just like the battery pack and motor, the ESC needs a rest too. My son's Traxxas Stampede has a had a couple of meltdowns that resulted in replacing the electronic speed controller. His ESC has a heat sink designed to draw off heat from the delicate electronics inside but that's not always enough.

Remember, in the long run you'll have a lot more runtime if you include sufficient downtime during playtime (my wife came up with that clever line so blame her if it makes you groan!).

I love the idea of flying RC helicopters. I can do OK with the little toy versions. But as long time readers of this site know, I am no pilot. I have a hobby grade electric RC helicopter but I can't do much more than lift up off the ground and land again -- not always gracefully. But I have a trio of books from Traplet Publications that all focus on RC helicopters. The most important one for me right now, and any beginning or wanna be pilot, is R/C Model Helicopters - A Guide for Beginners by Malcolm Messiter. I'm not one to sit still for long to read a book but this one gets my attention -- in part because it's short, but fairly thorough.

A family member recently bought his first RC boat. Just as I recommend in Best RC Boats for Beginners, he got "a ready-to-run electric sport boat with a deep-vee hull design." Specifically, it's the Traxxas Blast, one of the models I suggest for beginners. It's just the right size for large swimming pools -- like at his apartment -- but can also be taken out to a pond or lake. The only real issues he's had with the boat are that it has no reverse -- so you better slow down and start turning or leave plenty of room for drifting to a stop before hitting the side of the pool or other obstacle and there was a little problem with water. The electronics are waterproof so that's not an issue, but it still kept getting water inside the hull. We addressed that problem with a quick fix of silicone.

Want to get your kid hooked really early on RCs? Now days there are several kinds of radio controlled toys that are easy enough for even toddlers to operate. Toys Guide Dipika Mirpuri gives decent marks to the My First R/C GoGo Auto line from Kid Galaxy, calling it "a soft, easy to use and uncomplicated R/C car for your little ones."

Trying to remove a glow plug with a pair of needle nose pliers is possible but a glow plug wrench is specially designed for the purpose and can be easier to use (and you'll get a lot less grief from your dad or your wife or whoever you keep borrowing tools from). But don't think that just because it's called a glow plug wrench that you can't use it for other jobs as well.

As you'll discover, there are plenty of other ways to use that handy multi-purpose glow plug cross wrench -- even if the only RCs you have are electrics.