RC Related Organization Sites
Academy of Model Aeronautics – Official national body for model aviation in the United States
Bartholomew County RC Fliers – RC Club located in the Columbus Indiana area.
Indianapolis RC Modelers – East side Indianapolis area RC Club located near Morristown, IN
Indianapolis RC South – South side Indianapolis area RC Club located SE of Greenwood, IN
Screaming Eagle RC Club – West side Indianapolis area RC Club located in Plainfield, IN
Johnson County RC Flyers – Central Indiana area RC Club located South of Indianapolis, in Edinburgh, IN
Madison County RC Flyers – Central Indiana area RC Club located Northeast of Indianapolis near Elwood, IN
Monroe County RC Club – Central Indiana area RC Club located North of Bloomington, IN
RC Tool links
ECalc – Ecalc is widely reputed to be the ultimate tool for calculating needed power systems and props for RC aircraft of all kinds. I resisted spending the money for a long time but am now completely hooked on the tool and have found it to be “as advertised”
Servo/Linkage torque calculators – on line calculator
Favorite RC Related Vendors
Horizon Hobby and Tower Hobbies – All owned by Horizon. They have a large selection of RC Products and typically have had great customer service. The Tower site specifically used to be a great source of information as well as a pleasure to shop on. Unfortunately the web site has been “downgraded” to Horizon standards since the acquisition. The company is a great RC vendor but their web pages are truly awful for such icons in the industry. Hint – search for their merchandise using google… don’t go to their search engine on the web page as it is useless (in my opinion).
Value Hobby – Value has a mix of RC aircraft and related merchandise. I particularly have purchased a lot of my LiPo batteries here (Gforce branded) as well as a number of low cost speed controllers and motors.
Buddy RC – Buddy is another vendor with a fairly wide variety of products. I’ve mostly bought their Glacier line of LiPo batteries as another lower cost alternative. They also carry the ISDT charger line and a variety of parallel charging boards, etc…
For Vinyl Graphics, fuel tanks, plane and prop covers etc… – B & E Graphix is an excellent source.
Another great source of Decals and Vinyl is Callie Graphics. Callie is awesome to work with and does just about any kind of customer work you can imagine at very reasonable prices.
Extreme Flight – Extreme carries several lines of ARFs including 3D Hobby Shop, Legacy Aviation and of course their own along with Xpwr motors and accessories. One of my top all time favorites to fly is my Extreme Laser-EXP V2 with the Xpwr 35cc Electric Motor.
Hacker – Hacker is a German ( I believe) based company that makes what are widely reported as some of the finest Electric Motors for RC aircraft. I have only one Hacker in use on my aircraft but I do love it.
MPI – Maxx Products International is a company that has a wide variety of RC equipment available. Especially of note is their line of switches, charging jacks and the like as well being a reseller of Himax motors which have an excellent reputation.
An affordable and excellent performing Ignition Battery Eliminator Circuit (IBEC) is made by Tech-Aero
For a good canister or tuned pipe you should check out Plane Bender Products
Favorite RC Battery Info
The folks at Hangtime have a lot of good info on batteries, chargers, etc…
Excellent info especially on NiCD, NiMH batteries and a lot of basic info on switches, wiring strategy etc… can be found at Red’s Battery Clinic.
Radical RC has some good products and there is also some excellent info on the site. Unfortunately it is often well hidden so you will need to dig around to find it. There’s a great FAQ on battery selection under the LiPo section, a section on how to solder batteries… worth digging for.
Other RC related sites – I am adding sites here that I’ve run across but either have done no or little business with so can’t comment on their products or services in a meaningful way.
Andy Clancy Designs – Yep, the venerable Lazy Bee lives on and has expanded into some new forms. Kits and more available here.
Wings – A very inexpensive RC flight simulator.
Chief Aircraft – Chief sells both RC and full scale airplane related items. They may be the only supplier of Pilot brand RC models in the US.