this guy owns a private SR-71.

[Lionus]

and knows how to fly it too.

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[Navy Chief]

Now THAT makes me want to get into RC models!!!

NC

[OBIO]

Very neat aircraft...but someone should tell him that capri pants are for women and don't look good at all on a middle aged man.

OBIO

[bushpilot]

Pretty cool, usually RC jets sound more like a vacuum cleaner, but this was something else.:icon29:

[Mr.Mugel]

I guess that is Friedhelm Graulich, he usually was on scale meetings at our local R/C club, knows how to show off his aircraft, on some passes one would have needed a wide-angle lens to get it on a photo.... Those planes he flies are constructed fully from wood, no fiber plastic or anything, amazing craftsmanship!

[jakegazzard]

I fly RC, i highly recommend it as it is great fun, put a .40cu two stroke engine and you have yourself some fun!

[TARPSBird]

Pretty cool, usually RC jets sound more like a vacuum cleaner, but this was something else.
Yeah, the start-up sequence sounded almost identical to a real F-8 Crusader, though probably not as high a decibel level.

[Dain Arns]

Beautiful model work. Love how he can't fly until the ball cap is on!

Maybe that's my problem flying the indoor electric helicopter I have, need a good ball cap... :icon_lol:

[hey_moe]

Yeah buddy...now that is nuthin but ssssweet...Mike

[cheezyflier]

awesome! excellent post lionus :applause:


obio, i totally agree with you :wavey:

[Lionheart]

Man...

What an awesome toy! Goodness....

I love hearing those things winding up..



Bill

[Navy Chief]

I am not handy with building things from scratch; i.e. wood models. How much would it cost to get into RC flying?

I always like the looks of the T-28. That would be cool.

NC

[Dain Arns]

I am not handy with building things from scratch; i.e. wood models. How much would it cost to get into RC flying?

I always like the looks of the T-28. That would be cool.

NC


There are lots of low cost alternatives on the internet, my advise; Stay away from them.

Find a good local owned Hobby store and ask for help. Your good local ones will want to answer your questions, find the store you 'click' with the folks behind the counter. Your good local guys will give you honest answers about products.

May not be the cheapest route, but good hobby folks stand behind their sales. And actually, some guys are willing to match internet specials as well, just ask. They'll also be able to tell you about local clubs as well.

Choices for entry level RC flying is really good these days, thanks to more affordable radio equipment, and very light weight electric motors. Way better than even a decade ago. I'm sure someone has a T-28 kit available.

That's my advice. Go to the local mom & pop hobby store, get some "hand's on" what they have to offer. See what interests you! :wavey:

[jakegazzard]

I fly RC, go to horizonhobby.com, start on this http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=HBZ7100
I have it and its a good starter plane, i must admit flight sim has helped, if u want 1 with an engine, i reccomend this http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/Default.aspx?ProdID=HAN4400

[jakegazzard]

I dont recommend fighters for first rc plane!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[OBIO]

I came across a video on Youtube some time back of a guy flying his newly built twin-jet powered RC plane for the second time. The right wing airelon stuck, causing the plane to develop a very bad wobble. The plane drifted into some pine trees and exploded into a nice big fire ball. I won't type the first 20 words out of the guy's mouth as they would get me banned, but once he stopped cussing he said "There goes 15 grand!" 15,000 dollars...and that was not the most expensive jet I have come across. One poor guy lost control of his large scale 8-jet powered B-52 in a strong cross wind. The Buff nosed over and dove into the ground...also creating a nice large fireball. Those small jet engines are not cheap...the cheapest I have seen were small ones for 3 thousand dollars....and I have seen them advertised for as much as $10,000 per engine. Even if the B-52 guy had middle of the road engines...say $7,000 each...that is $56,000 for those 8 engines. Then add in the cost of the plane, the electronics, the time spent building, detailing.

My wife keeps telling me that I should get an R/C plane and go outside and fly for a while. I keep telling her that I don't want a $25 Walmart toy plane...that if I am going to have an R/C plane it is going to be a pretty costly item...and I know me, I will do something stoopid and crash the plane....because that is the rule of R/C planes....it's not IF you crash, it's WHEN you crash.

OBIO

[TARPSBird]

Obio, the guy who crashed that giant R/C B-52 put the aircraft into the same kind of near 90-degree bank that caused a spectacular (and fatal) crash of a real B-52 at Fairchild AFB in 1994. The plane lost lift and headed for the ground. Ya can't do fighter turns in a big doofus bomber, either scale model or 1:1 size.

[bushpilot]

This isn't too shabby either:

<object width="425" height="344">


<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/c5FjTcctkC4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></object>

[FengZ]

A bunch of us working on a film one day got bored and bought 2 R/C helicopters at about 300$ each. Took it back to the parking lot....30secs later...600$ gone! LoL...doh! The motor still worked, so we ended up making it into some crazy engine that flew around the office tearing up everyone's desks....

-feng

[TomSteber]

I am not handy with building things from scratch; i.e. wood models. How much would it cost to get into RC flying?

I always like the looks of the T-28. That would be cool.

NC

As a former (but hopefully returning) R/C pilot, I can tell you this.
You can spend as much as you like getting into this hobby. But, you can also get in pretty cheap too. For the ease of it, I recommend going electric power. I still have my glow powered stuff (.46 both two stroke and 4 stroke) but electric takes away the cost of fuel and ALL the clean up after your done flying for the day.
I think you could get yourself started with a ready to fly set-up for anywhere between $120-$300. Again, it all depends on what you want to spend.
Now, here's the deal though, if you don't have someone teaching you how to fly, you might as well just flush the money down the toilet bowl because I will guarantee that you will crash. It's harder than it looks.
But once you know how and get some time under your belt, you'll be hooked. Go to your local hobby store and get info on your local R/C club and give them a call. They'll be more than happy to help you out and get you hooked up with an instructor. By the way, you do need to start out with a trainer before you go for the T-28. But there is a nice little electric T-28 available from Parkzone.
Personally, I just ran out of time. Flying field too far away to drive to from where I live and still have time to fly. That's why I started to fly small electric planes. You can fly them in your local park/school yard.
Now, to just find the time to fly period!
Lot's easier to hop on the old flight sim when I get home at night.
Go give it a try and have fun!
Tom

[FengZ]

how complex do these R/C planes get? That video linked to a bunch of other cool R/C jets, including F-18s, F-16s, and even F-22s! But a lot of these planes in real life depends on computers to maintain control or they'll crash (at least according to the history channel).

Do these R/Cs have little computers inside them too? Or are they flying purely because the thrust ratio to drag/weight is much greater on R/Cs....making them into mini-rockets with wings essentially.....

-feng

[Mobayrasta]

http://www.realflight.com/new/index.html

Real flight is a must for begginers and a lot of fun to mess around with. It really teaches you how to fly these things. Heck i play real flight almost as much as FSX. Great Great SIM!!!!

[Tom Clayton]

Feng, I don't know about the planes, but some (if not all) helo's use gyros wired into the radio systems to stabilize them. I once knew a guy that raced an electric 10:1 dirt modified. That type of racing requires power slides while counter steering - hard enough in the real thing, but tougher when you can't feel your way around the turn. Well, this guy got inventive. He put a helo gyro inline with the steering servo. Once he had that working, all he had to do was tell the car which way to go and the car did the rest. He told me that you could watch the front tires twitching and jittering to make corrections all the way around the turns! Of course, once the rest of the guys caught on, they quickly enacted a new "no gyros" rule and informed him that he was no longer welcome at that track!

[Lionus]

some stuff I've found from youtube has been pretty crazy. like some guy building High Alpha/Angle of Attack-capable foamie, as well as tailless X-36 look-a-like that flies like a dream. how, you ask? three gyros and lots of patience and studying ones mistakes. :icon_lol:

[TomSteber]

The foamie stuff is all power to weight obviously.
They can get really, really complex. But no on board computer help flying it that I know of other than the prementioned gyro stuff.
They have on board computers for some cooling and fuel things but this is only on really high end stuff. I rememeber a guy who had a large scale model of the Flying Wing back in the 80's that was unbelievable. The scale stuff that's out now is truly amazing! It was either this year's or last year's "Top Gun" scale competition winner that really blew my mind.
An F-16 in Thunderbird paint. Other than size and lack of afterburner, can't tell the difference. EVEN UP CLOSE! Amazing detail.

[Dain Arns]

Feng, I don't know about the planes, but some (if not all) helo's use gyros wired into the radio systems to stabilize them. I once knew a guy that raced an electric 10:1 dirt modified. That type of racing requires power slides while counter steering - hard enough in the real thing, but tougher when you can't feel your way around the turn. Well, this guy got inventive. He put a helo gyro inline with the steering servo. Once he had that working, all he had to do was tell the car which way to go and the car did the rest. He told me that you could watch the front tires twitching and jittering to make corrections all the way around the turns! Of course, once the rest of the guys caught on, they quickly enacted a new "no gyros" rule and informed him that he was no longer welcome at that track!

They've gotten so small and lightweight, I've seen other guys do that on RC cars as well.

Lately, I've seen guys are using the heli gyros to stabilize their high powered rockets these days too, for fin control and even gimbaled engine mounts.

This guy is is building one that is a little different, but has devised a unique gimbal engine mount:

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[cheezyflier]

Of course, once the rest of the guys caught on, they quickly enacted a new "no gyros" rule and informed him that he was no longer welcome at that track!

i don't understand why that's wrong. i think innovation should be rewarded. once everyone installs gyros, the playing field is level until someone figures out something else. i thought that's what progress is all about.

the other way, you end up with crap like the way nascar is. incremental changes with very little overall gain. everyone trying to figure out how to successfully cheat/beat the rule book. anytime there is a real inovation it gets squashed. it's not racing. it's high speed advertising.

[Tom Clayton]

This racing group had a rather uncanny resmeblance to the old NASCAR anyway - it was a tight-knit bunch of "good ole boys" and the guy I knew was an outsider. They didn't like someone else coming in and showing them different way!