New Store Open!

The Scale Model Aircraft is no longer just a blog. Now we have a store! All transactions are handled through Amazon so your peace of mind is guaranteed.

Visit the store >>

Brief Introduction to the Workings of RC Models

RC Helicopter FISHING! Dave tries hand at “Heli Fishing”

Enthusiasm for RC Models has exploded in recent years. Many new models have appeared on the market including some fantastic RC helicopters, rc tanks and even a range of UFOs.

And RC models are no longer considered toys, although there are still plenty that are aimed at the younger market. The most typica RC model enthusiast these days is likely to be a middle aged man with a keen interest in vehicles and engineering.

To get the most from an RC model it’s useful to have an understanding of how they operate. Every radio control system has the same basic components. These are the transmitter, generally held in the hands; the receiver, which is contained within the model; the drive motor which powers the wheels or propeller; and the steering system which may be a rudder or control of a vehicles wheels or tracks.

The transmitter or controller is the handheld device that you hold. It usually provides one or two joysticks which are used for control of the speed and the steering. This device transmits radio waves over a relatively short range. These are picked up by the antenna attached to the vehicle or craft. These signals are modulated with control information which tells the motor how fast it should run and the wheels or rudder which way they should be pointing.

All of these electrical components need power and this is generally provided using rechargeable batteries. In RC aircraft these batteries need to be small and lightweight so they can need to be recharged regularly. RC Cars can sometimes use tiny nitro powered engines, rather than electric motors, but they still need batteries to power the electrical circuits.

Although RC models are very simple there is a lot that can be done to tweak their performance. It is this aspect of the hobby that can make it very engrossing as hobbyists attempt to get the most from their systems by customised engineering.

Technorati Tags: radio control, RC cars, RC Helicopters, RC Models

Top Model Collectors

So many people out there will actually call themselves model collectors, gurus or whatever you like but what actually makes one of these? Is it the amount of models that they actually own or the passion that they have for making, painting and enjoying the models when they are made. Why Not Take A Look.

Money

When it comes to the collection you have as a model collector it is very safe to say that this is important but I do not think that do be an ultimate model collector that you need masses amounts of models anyway, why do you need more than around 1 or 2 I do not understand. You do not need money to become a big model collector and I think at the moment it is the money side of things that is putting so many people off. When it comes to the Hornby trains it would seem a lot of people can simply not afford to build up the big ones.

Passion

To be an ultimate model collector it is more about the passion than anything else. If you have taken the time, hours, days, weeks even to build a single model then in my mind you are certainly worthy of an ultimate collector. It takes a lot of patience to build any model and a lot of skills to use some of them like the RC helicopters and other RC Models. painting the things in all of the right colours is a mammoth of a task in itself and this makes you a great model collector roo.

You need not to be worried by all of the people that have loads of models, it really does not matter at the end of the dya. You do not need loads of models to be a great model collector, not at all.

Technorati Tags: hobbies, models

An End To Scalextric?

Hornby actually own this brand and if you did not know what Scalextric is then it is a form of the once popular slot car racing hobby and it was introduced back in the late 1950s, interesting stuff. Most of the Scalextric that people buy are actually 1:32 in scale but other scales have been on the market, the problem people find is that you cannot merge any two scales together.

A lot of people used to use the models, a lot more than the people today, it was such a great hobby to get into when it was popular. The problem with it nowadays is that there are just so many things out there that can compete with it very easily indeed. Video games and other things like this have really contributed to the downfall of things like this and it is a shame.

Not all hope is lost though as the company has pulled out all the stops in trying to attract the market back again my making a program available for free download that lets anyone design a track that they want to use which they can then order the parts for so they can build the track that they have designed. Lego has actually done something very similar to this.

Die Hard Fans

There are still many fans out there that buy all of the new releases when it comes to things like this and I personally feel that it is this that is keeping the hobby alive at the moment. People seem far more interested in RC helicopters than Scalextric sets which I feel is a great shame because they really are worth playing around with just to have a laugh.

If you have never used one of these model kits I would really recommend actually trying it out.

Technorati Tags: hobbies, models, slot racing

Seven Things to take into consideration Just before Purchasing Model Ship Kits

Whenever you make any obtain it’s important to take into account what you might be purchasing. Whether purchasing for your self or for somebody else being a gift, you must examine your selections and believe via what you’d like to purchase. Buying model ship kits is no unique. Additionally, simply because model ship kits can be rather expensive, it’s occasionally even far more important for you personally to very carefully contemplate your selections prior to committing to just one kit or a different. Here are some items to contemplate prior to you commit your funds on a model ship kit.

Budget. This can be often the 1st consideration anytime you obtain something, such as model ship kits. Since you will find kits that expense tens of thousands of dollars as nicely as those that expense less than $100, it’s important to know how much you might be willing to commit.

Talent Amount. Various model ship kits are for men and women of unique expertise levels. Make positive you know regardless of whether you need a beginner, intermediate, or sophisticated kit prior to you obtain. It isn’t so bad to give just one that is under level, but the outcomes can be devastating when the expertise level is too sophisticated.

Motorized or Not. Some model ship kits come with motors so that they are able to self-propel via the water. These can be expensive to fuel and preserve, so make positive you comprehend what’s involved prior to purchasing a motorized ship.

Time Period. You can find ships from many unique time periods. Model ship kits provide you with a wide range of time periods from the background of sea travel. If you or somebody you might be purchasing for has a choice, you must make sure that the kit you obtain meets that choice.

Specific Ship. Not just is it achievable to purchase model ship kits that fit a time period, but it is also achievable to create replicas of ships that actually existed (or even now do). So find out regardless of whether you or your friend requirements a particular ship for a collection, and then obtain that ship.

Excellent. If you might be concerned about good quality, make positive that you just obtain your model ship kits from the reputable organization. You can find a lot of hobby shops and on the net kit purveyors that may help you find a great good quality ship, typically at beneficial prices.

Support. The very best hobby shops and other sellers of model ship kits provide you with assist and advice. Some even provide you with warrantees on their products. If you might be looking for beneficial service, make positive you obtain your kit from the organization that presents assist and support from professionals.

If you liked this article, You could also check out boek bestellen , online boeken and engelse boeken

Technorati Tags: model ship kits

Why Do People Learn How To Use RC Vehicles?

Big RC Plane

RC vehicles are important to many people across the world and this is because it is of course a major hobby across the world.

Lot’s of people out there feel that all of the people that get together to use these in big groups are a bit geeky but the thing is it can be a very good and healthy social event for people to take part in and they meet up a fair number of times during a year. Although sports such as football prove to be very social they are also prone to injuries, disagreements and even fighting.

Getting together and flying your favourite remote control helicopter is not going to cause anyone any harm at all. At an event like this one I have to say that the only thing that could actually go wrong is that you may crash the vehicle which of course would cost a lot of money.

So how do you then take your love of this and make is a professional hobby? Well one of the first things that I would advise you do is actually drop the plastic model kits although these have helped you to understand how to build things you will find that putting together parts of a machine is slightly different.

learn how to do this kind of thing by getting an RC car and ripping it apart, then put it together again. Once you have done this then go after RC tanks and then move up to the planes and helicopters as this is where the real challenge lies.

Once your first model has been aquired is is best to learn how to fly it, do not think it is a simple task to do. There are many computer programmes out there to help people with this kind of thing and it is a good thing to learn from.

The main thing to learn from this is that you should enjoy them!

Technorati Tags: fun, hobbies, Model Kits

What Is Custom Model Building?

Lego Star Wars

There are a lot of people out there that like going to stores and picking out one of those model kits that they like and simply build it and stick it on their shelf but are there many people out there that have all kinds of parts and build them to their liking? Well of course there are and this is what is known as custom model building.

Where Does This Occur?

It would seem that most of this occurs in the film industry and this is because they need model kits for all kinds of things and the problem is you cannot simply go out to a store and buy the kind of thing that they are after. Could you imagine what movies would be like if they were simply limited to packs that you could get in stores, all of the Sci-Fi movies would look identical, certainly the older ones anyway!

Film companies will often have the opportunity to have access to all kinds of parts and pieces and it is these that they use to put together the massive models featured in movies. Helicopters are created with RC helicopters and the same goes for things like RC aircraft. On many old films you can really tell that the things they are using are models but with more recent technology it can be very hard to tell the difference between models, CGI and real life.

Of course on top of this you will see a lot of people that just build up various things for a bit of fun. The best examples of these actually come from Hornby train sets and things like this because people build up the sets to go around the track and some of these really do look fantastic.

There are people that collect much of same thing to build up a collection like the video at the top of the post!

Technorati Tags: Model Kits, models, movies

Model Kits Are Helped By Sci-Fi

Well when model kits first hit the mainstream market in the 60s it has to be said that they were mainly about getting together as a family and building whatever model you actually bought but things have changes a lot since then.

It would seem that after people realised that a lot of these model kits were kind of the same thing they had started to get a bit bored with it all and this meant that the industry started to see a fall in the sales of their model kits but it all changed when something big happened. This is until major television programmes such as Star Trek which was first released in 1966 started to ship model kits to stores. Because the fans felt so strongly about the franchise they actually would always rush out to buy the newest models. On top of this it would seem that when other franchises came along such as Star Wars, more and more people started to get interested in model kits.

Has Sci-Fi Saved Model Kits?

I think that it is more than true to say that without selling many Sci-Fi model kits there would be no way that some model companies would still be around today. Although there is nothing wrong at all with people actually going out and getting models from their favourite Sci-Fi flicks, what happened to building model ships?.

Now there are all kinds of models around that are out there because of Sci-Fi franchises such as RC helicopters and RC tanks from the terminator films to crazy figures from movies such as Star Wars. Even big companies like Lego are finding themselves to be doing things like this and even though they do not want too they are selling best.

Technorati Tags: business, Model Kits

Scalextric Rocks

Scalextric

When I was a bit younger I had not heard of Scalextric sets This is until one of my uncle’s actually popped round with his entire collection and decided that it would be a great idea to assemble a track so we did and there were corners all over the place and the track went around every room in the downstairs area.

If you are not sure what Scalextric is then it is basically just slot car racing which is of course racing small cars that are powered by grooves or “slots” within the track itself. The user of the car will actually control the small model using just one button, squeezing hard for fast and soft for slow. Usually the tracks come as sets but you can mostly combine different tracks as we did to make a massive track.

Many people feel that Scalextric is actually a pretty boring thing to do but if you don’t get one of the simply circle tracks you can actually find that you will have a lot of fun with the stuff. The more corners, bridges and twists you have in the track the harder it is to successfully race without falling off so bare this in mind.. Once you go around a very tight corner you are going to have to slow down or you are off.

Although many people think that racing Scalextric cars are a bit of thing to do if you are kids this really is not the case and to have a proper race with them takes a lot of skill indeed.

Of course if these are not your thing why not look into something like RC cars or perhaps RC helicopters. Take into consideration that all of these are very hard to use in the right way.

Technorati Tags: Family, Model Kits, scalextric

And The best RC Vehicle Is?

RC Finals

There are so many RC vehicles out there that it can be pretty difficult when it comes to deciding on what to buy. The decision ranges from RC tank to the radio controlled helicopter.

For The Skilled

If you are used to RC Vehicles then have a look at getting a RC helicopter, it is the one for people with experience. The reason that these are so hard to learn how to use is because they behave in the same way as the real things, it is best to have training with these. If this is something you do not have you will be throwing away money when you crash it like I did.

For The War Heroes

The tank is the one for the people that love to have a bit of power. The tanks actually move like the real thing and they can even fire, its pretty cool.

For Fun

Although there are many remote control cars championships across the world on the most part they are part by the younger people for a bit of fun. The great thing about these is that you can start off cheap and small and then slowly as you get better you can start to spend more money on them. Once you get to the really expensive ones nearly every single part within them can be customised to your liking.

If money is something you have a lot of then why not think about buying a few of them and just having a huge battle with some friends. It is really up to you when it comes to what you go after, do not forget the other options that are out there such as blimps and boats

Technorati Tags: fun, hobbies, RC Vehicles

Does Owning Too Many Models Make You A Geek?

So many people think that Sci-fi models like the Dr Who ones and models such as Star Wars and comic book ones are really geeky but is this true or something that is just ignorant?

The Models

If you take a closer look at some of the fantastic models out there you will see exactly why people buy them. When you look into some of the detail on these models there is no doubt that a lot of work has gone into it. From the RC cars that feature in the many Batman movies to the remote controlled helicopters that you see in films such as Avatar and Transformers.

The makers of these models really spare not cost when they are making the models themselves. They look at all of the initial plans for the vehicles from the creators and it will take close look at the drawings and the images from the films and then they will work hard to make the model the best it can be.

It is certainly true to say that models can be a bit geeky but this is only if you are filling up rooms full of them and you do not ever open them. If you like to have a couple of models from your favourite movies then I really cannot see a problem with this at all. Surely these people are often just jealous and simply call these people geeks because they have very rare and expensive models. How about something like a light up with sounds Back To The Future car, that is certainly awesome. 88 MILES PER HOUR MARTY!

So there you have it, are models like RC tanks really that geeky or is it only if the person has loads of them? Does it matter what people are thinking if you are a collector of the models, you most likely could have a lot of money if you sold them.

Technorati Tags: Geeks, hobbies, kids, models, RC Models