Radio Control

Things can get ugly and inefficient when a ground effect vehicle accidentally skims the water, adding significant drag that can drastically slow it down, wrench it sideways or just cost energy. One inventor is solving this problem with paddle wheels.

No props, no jets, no rockets – Spencer Lisenby just broke the world speed record for remote controlled aircraft, going transonic using nothing but the wind, and an incredible degree of skill in a highly dangerous technique called dynamic soaring.

In our rush to accept multicopter drones into our world, have we forgotten the advantages of the humble helicopter? One Canadian company says its single top rotor helicopter drones are as stable and easy to fly as a multicopter, but with several key advantages.

A couple of years ago, UK-based product designer Witek Mielniczek turned to Kickstarter to fund B – a combination radio-controlled car and quadcopter. He's now created B-Unstoppable, which swaps wheels for neoprene tank-like treads.

A new system called Real FX aims to bring the fun we all remember from slot-based racing to the modern era with tracks that promise to be easier to set up, cars that actually assist the driver, and even AI opponents to race with when friends aren't around.

We enjoy our quadcopters here at Gizmag, and recently we had a chance to try out a somewhat unusual style of quad in the tiny Proto X from Estes. It may not have a laundry list of features under its belt, but it does hold the distinction of being the smallest quadcopter we've ever reviewed.

B is a combination RC car and quadcopter, which can be driven or flown.

The Tone Tank is an armed, motorized tank sporting a microphone adapter for remote-controlled precision positioning of studio mics.

Of all the ways to catastrophically break a Sega Rally Championship Arcade cabinet, Artica's hack at Portuguese hackathon Codebits earlier this month must surely go down as the most creative.

The world's smallest production supercharged four-stroke V8 engine is designed for scale model RC cars.

The Vehicle Protection Jammer is designed to block radio signals being transmitted to roadside bombs.

The Traxxas XO-1 is an all-wheel-drive electric radio-controlled car, with a claimed top speed of over 100 mph.