Any R/C folks out there? Some folks are just as nuts about that as we are about bikes

[Saab2000]

I don't do R/C but once lived with a guy who made R/C airplanes. He introduced me to it and I watched that world with curiosity. No particular interest in it myself, but it is pretty consuming it would appear. Like bikes.

Canadian Man Excavates His Basement Using R/C Trucks Over 7 Years! | Singularity Hub

[AntLockyer]

Oh I absolutely love that. What an awesome and crazy project.

[WayneJ]

I built, flew and then crashed an r/c plane about 30 yrs ago. It was a short-lived, but fun experience.

Does this Canadian fellow have an end result in mind?

[Dancingbear]

My 13 yr old son has been flying for 2 years now, and has become pretty good at it. It's been a fun experience and we early on became very adept at putting a plane back together with gorilla glue and packing tape. I did my research when we got into it and made sure the trainer was easily repairable with cheap parts. He is still flying electrics, but who knows how far he may go with it.

[ultratoad]

There is a county R/C park about 15 miles from my house. I frequently stop at the park on my rides for a snack. They have serious pilots and air races at this facility. I have seen big$ jets that exceed 200 mph, 4 engine WWII bombers with fully retractable gear, and commercial helo's shooting video. A really great place to hang-out, someone is always up....

[xjoex]

I love that guys project... its crazy but its cool.

-Joe

[962]

I had an original RC-10 (with the gold anodized aluminum tub and original transmission) that I converted to mid-mounted motor by building the transmission backward and hacksawing the motor mount plate. I was trying to copy the same that I saw in a magazine with a Ferrari F40 body and little five-spoke wheels and foam tires—never bought the body and just ran the chassis around bare until I sold it to a younger kid. Futuba pistol grip radios rule! I also had a 550-motor-powered sailplane that has sat in my parents' basement for 17 years, all filled, sanded, and ready for Monokote, but never finished.

My buddy is pretty nuts about RC helis. He can do flips and inverted hover and stuff like that. Helis I remember were pretty uncommon back in the day but now they come in all sizes and degrees of complication. Li-ion batteries now are also pretty amazing compared to the old 7.2V C-cell Ni-Cd packs.

[xjoex]

I had an original RC-10 (with the gold anodized aluminum tub and original transmission) ...

I knew I liked you! I had a Tamiya frog, but then the TQ-10 came out. A full "graphite" chassis version of an RC-10. It was awesome. I wonder whats on tower hobbies....

-Joe

[Fourflys]

I have an original RC-10T sitting in my garage right now... as we as a carpet car based on the 10L but with a full carbon chassis (from around '88) and magnesium hubs...

[cs124]

I knew I liked you! I had a Tamiya frog, but then the TQ-10 came out. A full "graphite" chassis version of an RC-10. It was awesome. I wonder whats on tower hobbies....

-Joe

Frogger here too! Fun cars but seriously outclassed by the RC-10. Man I wanted one of those when i was 12.

[jhat]

I do a little RC heli flying. They are fun but rather expensive to crash. Lots of moving parts hitting terra firma.

[Nierman]

I need to dig my Tamiya Hornet back out. Saved up for 2 summers, potting mums at the neighbor's greenhouse operation and working for my other neighbor surveying and soil perc testing for lateral sewage systems. Driving it was a blast, but I had just as much fun during assembly with tiny O rings, oiling/assembling shocks & servo linkage... it was like expensive legos for a 12 yr old.

Rock crawlers fascinate me but I think I'd get bored after a while.

[962]

I knew I liked you! I had a Tamiya frog, but then the TQ-10 came out. A full "graphite" chassis version of an RC-10. It was awesome. I wonder whats on tower hobbies....

-Joe

Ha yeah spent my summer before 8th grade, and more probably, poring over Tower Hobbies and issues of R/C Car Action...

Tamiya Hornet was probably the first 1/10 scale I saw... Love the boxes they come in (still do right?). Thought of picking one up to build it. Something about those ABS injection-molded parts that fit together just so... The original RC-10 manual was all typewritten with hand-laid photos... Had to get my dad to help me solder the leads onto that ghastly mechanical speed control with the ceramic resistor...

[ChristianSLC]

I was way into R/C cars from about 12 to my mid-20s and did some off-road and on-road racing, even though I was never that good. For years pretty much every Saturday night was spent at the off-road track, which was an old store (grocery store maybe?) in a crappy part of town. Good times. Eventually, I got tired of it and sold everything off.

I went through some ridiculous number of cars during that time: Tamiya Hornet, Tamiya Fox, original RC-10, AYK Radiant, some Schumacher 2wd buggy, another RC-10, RC-10T, Losi XX, Losi XXT, Yokomo YZ-10, and then a couple of Yokomo on-road cars (YR-4 Sport and a YR-4M). Even though I usually sucked at racing, I kicked some ass with that YR-4 Sport.

[xjoex]

I continually fight the urge to get back into RC cars as an adult. But I can't, there is a painful image in my mind of me, in the park playing with a car, being asked questions by little kids.

Somehow electronics are ok in my mind. I just picked up a tamiya dual motor gearbox for my robot project.
Attachment 39243

Clearly this is somehow socially acceptable.

-Joe

[Saab2000]

Adults ride $5000+ bikes all over the place, wearing spandex. Clearly R/C is also OK. I know guys who play with boats and cars and airplanes in their spare time. It is all the same.

[xjoex]

Adults ride $5000+ bikes all over the place, wearing spandex. Clearly R/C is also OK. I know guys who play with boats and cars and airplanes in their spare time. It is all the same.

When you say it like that... Time for me to start looking at the RC mags.

-Joe

[962]

Ahh, 1988. Do you remember the smell of the balloon tires?

tamiya-hornet-kit-1633-p.jpg

I remember this one too, though never saw one. Maybe on family trips to Asia.

Tamiya-Avante.jpg

legtin_58489_17.jpg

[longlegged]

I went through a phase when I was in highschool. Dumped alot of money into playing with toy cars that I controlled from a relatively safe distance.

Bicycles are actually practical. Thus my obsession with them is more justifiable.

[Scott G.]

A lot of former R/C types are working at General Atomics,
they make some really big R/C airplanes.