Seriously, how the hell do you land one of those? How do you know where the hell to line it up? Do they stand at the end of the runway to make sure it's on target to hit concrete instead of in the grass and/or crowd? Inquiring minds want to know.

iPhony

aaah, where is a good radio jammer when you need one, SERIOUSLY NEED ONE!!!

Crescent

I know how the prop planes work, but how do the jets like the Mig and the SR-71 work? Do they really have little jet engines for thrust?

EBone

/ looking around, nervously /
Where's Blakely? [gizmodo.com]

BTW, nice video!

Bos'un's Mate

now that is some cool shit I don't care who you are....

BigViper

Crap. It's 155 miles. And I've got finals to study for. CURSE YOU EDUCATION!

SonOfMagicFact

As I sit here in Gainesville, FL, I'm currently trying to determine how far Lakeland is from my current locale. This looks bloody brilliant, and I won't miss it unless I have to.

SonOfMagicFact

I'm gonna bring my Party Pants too, then!

nincompoop

Miniature bombs!?!?! Awesome...

N@tedog

you're dangerouse!

Tayng

Hhhhhhhmmmmmmmmm. . . now what did I do with that RC scrambler?

riqgeez

Ready the mini AA guns!

liveinvt

pack

1. binoculars
2. telephoto lens
3. crash hat

flyboy

Yes, mini jet engines. About $3000 each.... Spendy little buggers.

Barry99705

@EBone:
From watching the video, it does seem like they have mini-turbines available, as well as during the show they are having a session on "Turbines Explained." Wow...

avidgator

@Fuzz: Of the eight, how many are still intact?

Bos'un's Mate

@EBone: You could consider us both right. Jet turbine engines do have blades that propel air ... just operating slightly differently.

That is of course so long as none of the models have a ram-jets ... then Cobolman2 would be wrong ;) Mmmmmm ram-jet model ... that would be crazy fast.

[www.rcturbine.com]

aelver

RC planes are a lot of fun. I got into it last year, and am hooked. I went from 1 plane in the summer, to having 8 now. Good times.

Fuzz

what.... no Kenny Loggins?

geekinky

@Cobolman2: @aelver: Alright you two, now arm wrestle for who gets to be correct...

EBone

@EBone: Yes

aelver

@EBone:

They have props, but they're internal.

Cobolman2

Am I the only one that clicked on the video and was dissapointed not to hear "Danger Zone"?

vertigo

@iPhony: You land RC planes the same way you get to Carnegie Hall; practice, practice, practice.

Fzzt

thats so bloody badass...

Although I'd hate to see one go down...

Or would I? lmao

NeoXY

@Fuzz: I have no idea who you are, but I can picture the look on your face when you realized that you were no longer in control of the little lost waif. :(

But you still have seven planes! Rock on!

Bos'un's Mate

@Bos'un's Mate:

7 :)

I lost one flying to far away. Lesson learned.

Fuzz

@iPhony:

You get used to it after a while. That's why it's recommended to start with cheap planes. My first few landings were a bit, well....rough. Generally, you stand to one side of the runway at about the halfway point, which gives you the best view to approach from either side.

RC is a lot of fun, and pretty geeky. I love it.

biker_ray_pa

@flynboarder07:

I'm aware of one RC Harrier jet.

[cpl.usc.edu]

If you a Harrier can be done, I would have to think that an F35 could be.

diverguy

imagine an F-35 model, doing a vertial takeoff, that would blow many minds

flynboarder07

@EBone:

They don't all have "internal props" as suggested. Those would be Ducted Fans in any case (not props). These are the types of jets I build and fly.

At these scales though, they are REAL jet turbine engines. They are powered by either propane or kerosene.

The are close to $3k each.

diverguy

In RC, you've got gas engines, electric motors, and turbines.

There used to be (USED to be) a turbine powered B-52 model. Follow the link to see someone waste at least $24,000.

+ Watch video

Synthfilker

I have a video of a Mi-26 and it's bigass..and badass.
[www.metacafe.com]

akmarksman

@Synthfilker:

Oh, God. The pain. I don't even build or fly these things, but I don't care. The pain.

sierran

Thanks for this Jesus. Really nice pictures. Boy I wish I were in the area.

apeguero

@diverguy: Very cool.

EBone

I wish I could fly one of those.

BTW the smoke from that crash is the cherry on top.

redkamel

Speed limit for RC in the USA is 200 MPH. Watched a video of a guy that went down to Mexico to break the world speed record for the size plane he had. Something like 278 MPH in level flight.

thebear91

I love everthing about that video - not least the music. Nice.

(gotta love that bomber with the mini-bombs!)

cbdsteve

I curse Florida for being so far away :(

Kaiser-Machead

Yes - my uncle builds and designs RC Jet's - they are insanely cool. However, if the structural integrity isn't damn near perfect on those things, the engine can end up ripping through the whole model.

After all, they are made out of BALSA wood.

Creibold

So awesome... The detail is just incredible.

MooseDesign

Nitro, gas, propane, kerosene, electric, you name it, there's probably an R/C engine for it.

I guess I forgot all about this event. I pretty much stay to the R/C helicopter side of things though.

fsusmithc2

Now I need to go home and hug my SlowStick. For anyone who is interesting in getting started - there are lots of relatively inexpensive, easy to fly electric models available these days. And to some extent crashing is fun. :) Getting stuck in trees on the other hand...

Jim

I live in Lakeland! But i just got sick today, and i have to work on saturday and sunday all day. I'm going to see if i can go atleast on one day. Even if i have to get out of work.

Fmunkey

Yes thease are ram jets !!! But they are limited to 200 miles per hour by the Acadamy of Model Areonautics,you have to be licensed to fly these jets!

chribrian

To answer your question do they have little jet engines or props . The ones you are looking at (the jets) and (all the jets) that will be at top gun do have mini turbine engines!!! They run on the same fuel and operate just like the ones in full size jets!!! But what a lot of modelers have are just what we call ducted fans wich are small nitromethane powered engines that have a fan in a ducted area in the plane.The mini turbines cost alot of money the cheapest i have seen was 2000.00 dollars for just the turbine engine but like this A10 plane you see he has 2 turbines and probably at least 15 to 20 thousand dollars in this plane if not more!!!!! I fly the prop planes and have several helicopters but no jets i cant afford that much but my helicopters operate just like the full scale also ! By the way landing thease things isnt all that hard but even the best fliers crash them sometimes!!

chribrian

Blackbird.......by far the most awesome plane ever!!!

FatesShadow

@Synthfilker: at the end of the vid I literally went: "YEAH BABY!!!"

completely unintentional, fo real

Crescent