Boys will be boys – until they become men. But even then, there’s a boy inside every man who holds to their childish self tightly, as much as most of us want to suppress it from coming to light because the world puts a lot of unfair expectations on men. Even though I’m in my mid-twenties, I don’t want to let go of computer games and hobby cars, and why would I? I still adult on an everyday basis, but just because I prefer to do something like drive my RC car around my yard or play World of Warcraft in my free time instead of getting piss drunk and watch cricket, that somehow makes me less of a man? I don’t think so, and if you do – you couldn’t be more wrong.
I have a large collection of RC hobby cars that I value very much. Most of them I bought myself, but some were presents from family and the wonderful, local RC community we have here in Sydney. We gather together every so often and race, do obstacle riding and whatnot, and I’ve made many lifelong friends thanks to that. It’s true what they say – the best way to make friends is to get a hobby and find other people who enjoy the same hobby as you. If you’re someone who wants to start a hobby that’s fun and engaging but doesn’t require a ton of expensive equipment to participate in, perhaps joining an RC club can be a great opportunity to do just that. But before you join such a community, it’s a good idea to get some basic knowledge about RC vehicles.
Types
RC vehicles come in a variety of types, the most popular ones are RC cars, RC trucks, RC truggies, RC buggies, and RC crawlers. RC cars are your flat-surface racing type, and they typically go quite fast. RC trucks, on the other hand, are the bulkier type, and they include a few sub-types, such as Monster Trucks and Stadium Trucks, and they’re typically used for non-flat surface driving and rough terrain driving. RC crawlers are for crawling over rocks and obstacles, while truggies and buggies are an in-between of cars and trucks, and they’re typically meant for dirt driving.
Motors
Regardless of their type, RC vehicles can either have an electric brushed, an electric brushless, or a nitro motor. In terms of performance, nitro motors are typically more powerful than both electric motors, but they aren’t recommended for use indoors. Brushless motors are more powerful than brushed motors, but they’re also more expensive. However, keep in mind that more power isn’t always necessarily better, especially if you’re a beginner who isn’t too good with the controls.
Scales
When shopping for your first RC vehicle, you’ll notice that every model has a 1/10, 1/8, 1/16, etc on it. This basically implies how smaller the RC model is when compared to the real vehicle it’s based on. So if a model is listed as a 1/10, it means that it’s 10 times smaller the size of the real thing.
