Hello..

I'm back again and this time it's for you that want to start into RC hobby - in specific, RC aircraft hobby (coz I suck in land type). Many of you will ask "Is it an expensive hobby?" and I would say probably yes. But hey, you can start up with just as cheap as around RM400+/- for a complete set of RC foam plane. No no this is not the small toys which you fly inside the house, this is the real 'hobby' grade item that you fly in fields. A good trainer (and cheap) plane is the Skysurfer shown below.



Add a camera and you are ready for some serious FUN!


But all the hype is with 'drones' nowdays. Those little flying things with propellers that people stick in camera and fly all around buildings houses and stuffs. Now, we as responsible hobbyists does not like that our 'hobby' aircraft to be called as 'drones'. And responsible hobbyist fly in designated fields and places, not on top of houses. This is wrong and leave us a bad impression. It's like we own some destructive or spying illegal aircraft. So let me make it clear, it is not a drone, but is a 'quadcopter' or a MULTIROTOR (depends on how many propeller it has). A famous and good for beginner quad is the DJI phantom as shown below



But the phantom is expensive, the cheapest you can get is around RM1900, up to nearly RM5k for the high end type. But flying the phantom is easy, so does the assembly part. If you have the money, and just want to enjoy flying.. go for it!

Here's one of my Phantom 3 video along with the Inspire 1


However, I can't afford a rm5k set. And I believe many won't be able to afford too (LOL finally bought the Phantom 3 some months ago). So, what's a cheaper alternative? You can get a basic quadcopter for around RM1000+/- and it would be great for those who are new in the hobby to get something cheap. Because you WILL crash sooner or later. So a basic one will look something like this



This is actually mine, with added lightings and landing gear. Those LEDs are cheap around RM10-20. Again, you can add a camera to it for some serious fun



You will need a transmitter too. You can either go for cheap ones like the Turnigy 9X cost around RM300 picture as below



Or you go with branded and more reliable + range type such as the Futaba. Cost around RM1300.



If you are afraid of flying a big sized quad (like the one above), you can also get this mini quadcopter below. This is me with my son. He doesn't know how to fly yet, but will soon



If you think this little thing cost less then the big ones above, then you are wrong. It costs around the same. But double the fun and lower risk of injury (These things are not toys, they are hobby graded items and you can injure yourself or others if not careful with it). It flies really well too, like how the big one flies!

Snap a camera, and snap on a video transmitter - you are ready for some awesome rocking good times!



So you want to join the hobby? There are lots of resource for you to dive in and lots of people to share knowledge and interests. A good start will be the famous local RC forum 'Malaysian RC' (google it!)[ Updated: Malaysian RC forum is really dead nowdays - onboard the FB train everyone! ] then in Facebook there are 'Malaysia RC Pilot' [ Updated: Go to 'Dunia RC Group Malaysia' instead - more ppl there. ] Tons of people to answer your queries and to get you started! It is far too long for me to write in details here, and my focus was just to expose our hobby to you guys.

Again, starting up it is not that expensive (although it CAN be expensive if you decide to really spend you cash) and hey, at least you got something healthy to do on weekends, go outside meet new peoples, breathe fresh air, catch some sun, have a good laugh and not just sit in front of your PC and play games. At least that is what I told my son but he like to play PC games more.. haiz..

UPDATE 11/11/2016 : Do you need any permit to fly drones?
At the moment no for non commercial and small lightweight drones (eg. Inspire, Phantom, racing mini quads).
Just look out for no fly zones (eg. Putrajaya, etc).
Ask around the community in FB if unsure.
The best is to avoid crowded areas and fly at your local park would be wiser choice.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

This post has been edited by neato4u: Nov 11 2016, 03:20 AM

Nice england

Any good online shop for RC in Malaysia you can recommend?

expensive hobby

started and end stop already..now provide drone as target for army..

last time i always buy at amcorp mall..

pm me if anybody want to buy futaba 2.4ghz remote ok.

If you are going online, why not go straight to the source? http://www.hobbyking.com
I rarely buy local stuffs online, although a friend did buy a plane for me from www.allanrc.com
For walk ins I go to Amcorp Mall PJ, few RC shops there.

Still ok then some other hobbies. A friend have this magic the gathering card collector hobby, lagi expensive, and it's just for a CARD!

Eh retired aldy bro? What happened lah...
Tried FPV yet?

need drone with High Quality Cam for erk... surveillance.

lol, get the phantom. And meet up with some RC people, you will forget about your surveillance and remember the fun

i saw that day friday night at masjid putra

got this drone terbang2 . i wonder is that u playing ?

anyway how much is the drone ? that one can control by iphone rite .. gps and video thingy rite .. prolly birthday mau beli satu

Well every hobby is expensive bro

want tu start, buy transmitter 1st
more channel more better

more channel more rc u can play
for me turnigy 9x already ok
but if u got extra can get turnigy 9xr

i'm actually trying somehow to convert these RC things into UAV for my aerial mapping project.

anybody can guide me through it?

forgot
for transmitter many plane flyer use mode 1
while heli, multirotor using mode 2

No not me, that fella who fly on top of people, on top of big crowd summore, is not a responsible RC hobbyist. Just imagine if the copter fell and crashed into those people. It will surely cause a scene and people will point fingers at us instead!

You got that right.

Add just a little bit more money and get the Taranis. Worth it!

mapping?
big area = using plane
small area i prefer using multirotor

It's a hobby, non profit. If you want to make profit out of it then I am not the person you would be speaking with
Anyway, get the phantom, it might suite your need.

taranis is very expensive yo~~

Roughly 173USD onli at hobbyking. Far cheaper than Futabah 8FG, got telemetry summore gooding yo!