Daniel Switkin

The 2008 Neat Fair was held at the Peaceful Valley Campgrounds in Downsville, NY. This three day, annual autumn event is the biggest gathering of electric RC pilots in the Northeast U.S. I spent the day at the show on Saturday, September 13th. Read on to see our photo coverage of the event.

Continue Reading NEAT Fair 2008 Report

When looking for a new power source for my RC Bug, I ran across a very unusual motor from Dualsky. This tiny outrunner contains a 6 amp brushless speed controller in the motor housing. That means you get a matched motor and ESC with no hassles of soldering bullet connectors or checking which way the motor spins, and less wire clutter when installed. Read on for our review.

Continue Reading Dualsky XMotor Review

E-flite has announced the Blade Micro-CX helicopter, an indoor coaxial model with a main rotor diameter of only 7.5 inches. The MCX features two coreless motors which are powered by a single cell, 110 mAh LiPo battery. It operates using Spektrum's 2.4 GHz spread spectrum technology, and will be available ready-to-fly with a transmitter for $129, or in a bind-and-fly configuration, with everything except the transmitter for $99. Both versions offer proportional, four channel control and should be capable of all the same maneuvers as the larger Blade CX2. Horizon Hobby's web site indicates late September availability for both.

Continue Reading E-flite Blade Micro-CX Coaxial Helicopter Announced

The FMA Direct Cellpro 10s is a balancing lithium battery charger, capable of charging a single battery up to 10 cells, or two batteries simultaneously up to 5 cells, with power up to 10 amps. It can handle lithium polymer, lithium ion, and the M1 lithium cells from A123 Systems. Let's dig in and put it through its paces.

Continue Reading FMA Direct Cellpro 10s Charger Review

The Santa Clara County Model Aircraft Skypark (SCCMAS) airshow was held July 12th and 13th in Morgan Hill, California. This free annual show spans a wide range of radio control flight, from gliders to gas powered acrobats, and helicopters to turbine powered jets. It's a great chance for existing pilots and those new to the hobby to see a little of everything that RC has to offer in the air. Keep reading to see these planes and helis in action.

Continue Reading SCCMAS 2008 Show Report

One way to get into night flying is to fill a plane with LEDs. You can do that by connecting them directly to the motor battery, or to a dedicated second pack, but neither approach gives you any control. Here's how to reuse an old servo to drive your LEDs, with either on/off or variable brightness from the transmitter.

Continue Reading How To Build A Servo LED Driver

If you've never been to a radio control show, you're missing out.

Continue Reading Attending A Radio Control Show

Eagle Tree Systems has announced two new sensors in their line of data logger products. What makes these unusual is that they can be used either with a logger like the eLogger V3 or stand-alone, using the built-in LED display.

Continue Reading New Sensors From Eagle Tree Systems Announced

Some people have incredible creativity and imagination. A guy named Iwei has created a family of three robots based on the eCCPM swashplates of an RC helicopter. Check out the photos and other videos of these amazing creations. I like the looks of SwashBot 1, who is both cute and resembles Darth Vader at the same time.

Continue Reading SwashBot, The Swashplate Robot

The Align T-Rex 450 series is perhaps the best known of the mini-size electric helicopters. Many reviews are available online, including this thorough one at T-Rex Tuning. In this article I'm going to sum up the positive and negative experiences I had building the 450S aluminum kit, and include a list of tips to help you out.

Continue Reading Align T-Rex 450S Build Notes