Finding Your RC Passion (and Sharing RC with Others)

One of the amazing things about the radio control hobby is the variety of vehicles available. If you like air, there are gliders, jets, helicopters, giant planes, mini planes, military planes, civilian planes, aerobatic planes, and more fun flying things. Prefer to stay surface? There are even more choices! From boating to rock crawling, drag racing to bashing, the possibilities are endless. If you’re already in the radio control hobby, you may already know what you enjoy. But what about introducing someone new to the hobby? You may have a friend, child, or partner who you’d like to go ‘play’ with on the weekends and share your enjoyment with.

How do you help someone find their RC passion? Or if you’re here just thinking about the hobby for yourself, how do you start finding your own RC passion? Don’t worry – I’ve been there myself and I’m going to walk you through the process of sharing RC with others or finding that right niche for yourself.

Start With What You Like Full-Scale

Just like saying ‘play’ with RC, enthusiasts will roll their eyes if you say ‘in real life’ but the reality here is that you will have the greatest advantage by starting with what you like at full-scale, or what already exists around you. Do you or does your loved one like monster truck rallies? Polished muscle cars out cruising? Or adventuring to a museum for a static military air display? This is going to help you narrow down your favorite RC product category.

Here are some of the major categories of RC:

Now that you have a product category or two in mind, the next step is to think about the activity you or your loved one will enjoy.

Note: This one isn’t as obvious as finding the product category you enjoy. Let me explain…

If you think you’ll enjoy an RC airplane, maybe you even think you’d like to go with scale-military models, there is still the question of if you’d enjoy leisurely flying, precision flying, or fast flying? You may not have an answer to this without watching someone else participate in the activity or even trying it yourself. I’ve been out at the airfield many times and while I think there’s nothing cooler than watching aerobatic and 3D flying, others enjoy the jets more. For example, if you’re trying to get a teenager off their phone and out in the fresh air, chances are good it’s the jets that will captivate them more than anything else from what I’ve seen. The last time I was at the airfield with a group of guests, the jets had all the teens pulling out their phones to video the excitement. Passion is a funny thing. It’s a powerful motivator, but we’re all drawn to different things.

Start by showing your loved one which activities you enjoy and let them have a try. If you’re looking for yourself, check out social media for local clubs or ask at the hobby store about any demo products they might have or if they know of a local track or airfield for radio control. Check out the Horizon Hobby YouTube channel for inspiration, too!

Example: Passionate About Surface RC

If you’re looking to start with a surface vehicle, I always recommend starting with a basher to find your favorite activity. Bashers are incredibly durable (read: harder to break if you’re learning) and can participate in many activities. Many bashers are fast and can race at a track or in your street like a buggy, they can jump and do tricks like a monster truck, and they usually have enough clearance for light rock crawling. RC bashers are fantastic if you know you want to go with surface but you’re not sure which activity will be best for you. Go check out the bashers from ARRMA for the best selection! I thought I’d love rock crawling, but it turned out I enjoyed designing the course more than running it. I’m also pretty bad at navigating rocks and found more frustration than passion. A true-rock crawler instead of a basher would make it easier, but I could see it wasn’t my passion after trying it out a few times with my basher. The good news? Many bashers are meant for beginners and come bundled with a transmitter, battery, and charger for a good price. So I was off to the next activity: racing at full speed! As someone new to RC, I found the speed thrilling, but again it didn’t entice me enough to want to go buy a street basher for racing.

After you learn the basics of controlling your RC basher and find your passion, you will be ready to choose a radio control vehicle that is perfect for you!

The winner for me turned out to be jumping! When I discovered that, I bought the Pro-Line ramp set and upgraded my vehicle. I love taking a nimble little buggy and launching it through the air – it never gets old and always makes me smile. I took the time to experiment and find what I enjoy. Like I said before, passion is unique to all of us. I still plan to learn 3D heli flying someday, too!

I found mine, now go find yours!