Model Airplane News - RC Airplane News | Radio Control Plane & Helicopter News, Tech Tips, Reviews

Happy Thanksgiving to You and Yours

This Thanksgiving weekend we wish all of our dear readers the blessings of family and friends, good food and health, and fair skies and smooth landings. We are incredibly grateful for you and this wonderful hobby we share.

RC Space Shuttle Gets a Lift

You have to see it to believe it: in this terrific video, an RC Buran space shuttle flies from the back of an 11.5-foot-span RC Antonov An-225! Hans Bühr designed and built both of these electric models (and the An-225 has been flying since the mid ’90s!). Thanks to RCHeliJet for the amazing video he captured […]

New for Premium Members — Demystifying Soldering

For expert advice on soldering, don’t miss John Kauk’s article, Demystifying How to Solder Connectors” on our Premium Member site. John writes, “Setting up a new electric-powered model, and sometimes maintaining an older one, often requires installing new motor or battery connectors. Previously I discussed some of the different types of connectors available, so this […]

RC Airplane Lights

Why not customize your aircraft so that night flying will be as simple to do as flying during the day? (That is, for those of you who find it easy to fly during the day!) I decided to give night flying a try and I have outlined here how I went about installing lights on […]

Easy Scratch-built Skis (fly off that snow!)

Now that many flying fields parts of the country are covered in snow, it’s the perfect time to add skis to your favorite flier! This classic how-to from our good friend Roy Vaillancourt provides a great project that will not only use up some of those leftover pieces of wood in your workshop and but also let […]

Wintertime Flying with Skis!

Oh yes! Winter RC flying will soon be upon us! For some rugged souls there’s nothing better than getting out of the house in the Winter and getting into the fresh crisp air with deep blue sky’s and plenty of sunshine. When the white stuff is on the ground all the skis come out. Here are […]

RC Scale Flak Damage — Weathering Gone Wild?

While searching for cool stuff at the recent Warbirds over the Rockies event, MAN contributor Rich Uravitch found something extraordinary. Here’s what his report revealed. Since the theme of the event was Warbirds, the models entered were scale replicas, some of them in the “sport” scale, fly-it-every-day category, while others were clearly competition-capable. They had […]

Wing-to-Fuselage Fillets

Advice from expert scale designer and builder Nick Ziroli: Instead of adding the fillet after the wing and fuselage are built, I make the shape of the fillet areas as part of the fuselage formers themselves. This requires having at least the wing center section built and attached to the fuselage, but to make sure […]

VQ Warbirds BeechT-42 Cochise

With great scale looks and a 69 inch wingspan, the new Beechcraft T-42 COCHISE is a twin engine EP/GP ARF. It features fiberglass cowls, working flaps, painted pilot and a detailed cockpit. Optional VQ electric retracts with oleo strut will be available. With a generous sized battery hatch, you can easily set up the T-42 […]

New for Premium Members — Making Landings Easy

Many pilots think that stick time and getting better at making corrections are the main requirements for better landings and, therefore, give little thought to how they land or whether they’re flying correctly. As a consequence of flying without a plan and reacting to the airplane, most pilots end up making four to five times […]

Getting Started with E-Power

Today, our hobby is enjoying a literal “Golden Age” of RC electric flight. The amount of quality motors, batteries, controllers and connectors is just about limitless as are the types and sizes of airplanes you can fly with E-power. Even though there are plenty of plug n play packages out there where you get everything […]

E-Powered Me 163 Komet

When you want to wow them with an RC scale model warbird, you can’t get any hotter than the Me 163 Komet. This electric powered version has true rocket plane performance. First encountered by U.S. Army Air Corps bombers in July 1944, the advanced speed and maneuverability of the Luftwaffe’s new Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket […]