Without exception, everyone wants a fast, maneuverable, cross-country, perfectly controlled and obedient radio-controlled car. To drive in the snow, mud, puddles and sand, jump from the hills, not break, sound realistically, be inexpensive and not require recharging… Alas, to combine all the wishes in one model is almost impossible. Let’s try to understand the main features of radio-controlled cars which are worth paying attention to.

Evaluating forms and types

As you know, we judge a book by its cover. So the choice of a RC rock crawler should start with the visual impressions. If you have a low-mounted copy of a racing car in front of you, you will not be able to ride such a car along a country road and rough terrain. A massive SUV with large wheels will look ridiculous in an apartment. External differences are not limited to form. Of great importance is the size, or rather the scale, in which the radio-controlled model is made in relation to the full-size analogue.

Inexpensive and easy-to-drive small cars (1:24, 1:18, 1:16) are suitable for children, collectors and beginners. SUVs and road racers on a scale of 1: 8, 1:10 can be full participants in sports competitions. With them you can participate in races, various individual or team tournaments.

Among 1:5 cars, models with ICE prevail, which are not inferior in terms of complexity of service to full-size cars. Owners of such cars should be prepared for the need to often “delve” into the engine and perform laborious inspection.

Varieties of radio-controlled cars by body type

All cars on the radio control are divided into on-road (racing, highway) and off-road. The type of the car defines its basic skills and capabilities depend.

Buggy is a great racer with a recognizable sports design. These nimble cars often perform in competitions on prepared dirt tracks and are perfectly adapted for driving in extreme environmental conditions. The special lightweight chassis design and reliable shock absorbers allow them to deftly overcome barriers, easily maneuver and enter steep turns. And their spectacular pit or springboard dives will leave no one indifferent.

Truggies have a very similar construction to buggies. This is a kind of hybrid between buggy and monsters. It can strike with speed, easily overcome obstacles, but nevertheless one should not expect faultless passability from it.

Radio-controlled monsters – here they are, the real lords of dirt roads, forest potholes, sand embankments, small streams and low snowdrifts. The most spectacular of all radio-controlled models. The whole essence of these formidable cars with large wheels and high suspension is reflected in their name. The creators of these radio-controlled SUVs were inspired by American truck shows, so driving a monster will not be devoid of entertainment, excitement and showiness. Monsters do not need a track, they make their own way.

Built on elastic suspension, short corsa also claim the title of conquerors of impassable routes and dirt tracks. They can easily cope with extreme obstacles in the form of dirt, sand, pits, potholes, bumps or stones, and finish the race with minimal damage.

Crawlers are cars with a very powerful engine and a special “moving” suspension design. Like spiders, they can climb winding climbs, big and small rocks. But no matter how hard you try, it is difficult to find a crawler able to drive at a speed of more than 15 km / h.

To feel completely at the mercy of speed, you will need a highway car – a small copy of a racing car with low ground clearance and special tires. For acceleration over 100 km / h, such cars will last a few seconds, which is beyond the means of many full-size cars.

Drift models are race cars for special competitions and demonstrations, where the “driver” needs not to lose control while sliding in a drift and maneuvering at high speeds.

No matter what kind of a car is in your hands, you will get an excellent generator of good mood and bright entertainment.

The content

Choosing which radio-controlled cars is better – with an electric motor or ICE – is the same as arguing who is cooler – Batman or Superman. It is too individual and depends on the personal preferences of the pilot. Each category of cars has its own fans and opponents.

At the dawn of modeling, ICE cars more often attracted the attention and preference of professionals. The reason for this was the imperfection and low capacity of the batteries, which were not able to provide the necessary engine traction. Therefore, models with electric motors were perceived as toys. The rapid development of technology today allows us to choose from a huge number of powerful electric motors and miniature batteries with a large capacity. Now it’s up to you to decide which radio-controlled car to buy:

Pros of models with ICE:

• The relatively low cost of the engines themselves (if you do not take into account professional sports models).
• Realistic motor sound.
• Long riding time (especially for models with a large fuel tank).
• Moderate fuel consumption.

Cons of models with ICE:

• The engine tuning process is quite complicated and requires certain skills. An error in starting the engine can lead to a chain of malfunctions or problems in operation.
• Over time, the model will have to be washed away from the remains of unburned gas, road dirt and dust, which stick not only to the body, but also to the car chassis.
• Models with ICE are quite bulky. The minimum scale in which cars of this type are produced is 1:18 (but the choice here is not as great as on a scale of 1:10 or 1:8).

Pros of models with an electric motor:

• Small size and lack of exhaust do not interfere with riding indoors.
• To start, you do not need to configure the engine (just charge and install the battery).
• Exhaust fumes do not spoil the appearance of the car.
• Minimum operating costs (no need to buy fuel).

Cons of models with an electric motor:

• Short duration of races, non-linear traction (power drop during battery discharge).
• Speed ​​controllers and lithium-polymer batteries significantly increase the cost of a car.
• You must have a high capacity battery or several spare batteries. Compliance with the algorithm and safety procedures for charge / discharge of LiPo or NiMh elements.
• Dependence on the temperature of the environment.

The comparison is rather conditional and is not 100% true. In each class, there are exceptions when certain pros of the model can be neglected, and the cons cannot overshadow the pleasure of racing.

Knowing how to choose a radio-controlled car, you can easily get used to the assortment of stores and buy exactly the model that will give you aesthetic pleasure and satisfy all your wishes. Perhaps this will be a powerful car that overcomes any off-road, not noticing obstacles in its path. Or a tenacious all-terrain vehicle that is not afraid of bumps and collisions. Or maybe you want to feel like a participant in a rally, just like Formula 1 or Paris-Dakar. The choice is yours! And you can always rely on the support of the employees of the specialized stores. They will not only help with advice, demonstrate the model in action, but will also select the accessories you need: batteries, chargers, internal combustion engines and electric motors.

Sooner or later, every person involved in boxing has a need to purchase their own boxing gloves. Buying your own gloves is very important because not all boxers are given gloves. Of course, you need to make the right choice. Nowadays, there is a wide selection of boxing gloves. It will be difficult for a person who has recently started boxing to choose the right gloves, as the choice is really wide.

The history of boxing and boxing gloves

Boxing is one of the oldest types of martial arts. Someone considers it a real art, someone considers this sport to be an exclusively bloody fight. To understand the essence of this male hobby, which is included in the program of the Olympic Games, you can only learn more about it than an ordinary person who does not engage in boxing knows.

The history of boxing originates in the distant past. The history of boxing gloves dates back more than 3 thousand years. For the first time, something similar to boxing gloves was used in ancient Greece, where soft leather dressings were used as hand protection. Fisticuffs were part of the ancient Olympic Games. There is also a legend that the founder of fisticuffs was Heracles. Then, just as now, the battles were fought on a square plot, which was fenced with ropes and sprinkled with sand. The fight ended with the final victory of one of the fighters or a plea for mercy. In the gladiatorial battles of Ancient Rome, they sought to increase the force of the blow, so metal pads were put on their hands. Fisticuffs were part of the training of warriors. The Orthodox Church, in spite of relaxed rules, considered fist fights an inhuman sport, and therefore forbade them.

The Rules for Boxing with Gloves was developed and published by Marquis John Douglas of Queensbury in 1865, which was the foundation for creating modern boxing rules. But even after the creation of such rules, bare-fisted fighting lasted a quarter of a century. In 1889, the last gloveless fist fight between Mitchell Kiprivipp and John Salpivan took place in America.

The organizers of the 1st and 2nd Olympic Games considered boxing an inhuman sport, and therefore it was included in the program of the Olympic Games only in 1904, since at that time boxing in America became a very popular sport. After 4 years, in London, boxing was included in the program of the Olympic Games. But only since 1920 has boxing officially become a permanent Olympic discipline. At the same time, the popularity of this sport is sharply increasing.

The most expensive boxing gloves in the world are considered diamond gloves worth $20,000, which are inlaid with white (10 carats) and black (35 carats) diamonds. Gold is also included in these gloves.

Types of boxing gloves

As this website states, here are several types of boxing gloves. Boxing gloves are divided into types depending on the purpose:

• professional;
• training;
• gloves for the trainer;
• bag gloves (used to work with various equipment (punch bags, sacks, etc.).

Professional boxing gloves

Used in professional fights. Basically, these gloves are made to order by a boxer. Fixing exclusively on the lacing.

Training gloves

Training boxing gloves are used during amateur boxing competitions, as well as during training.

Bag gloves

Bag gloves are designed exclusively for working with different equipment. These gloves have a more dense filler. Fixing – with Velcro or elastic.

The main characteristics of boxing gloves:

• weight (measured in ounces);
• filler;
• material of manufacture;
• fixation.
  

Depending on the purpose, the weight and material of the manufacture of boxing gloves may be different. They have a foam filler inside to soften the shock.

Filler

There are two types: cotton and professional (air-foam rubber or foam rubber). Cotton will eventually get into lumps, which can cause injuries.

Fixation

Fixing the boxing gloves is done using Velcro or lacing.

Lace-up boxing gloves are a great choice as they provide a solid fit. Lacing runs from the beginning of the palm to the wrist. Gloves with this type of fixation are used in professional competitions. The only drawback is that you cannot put on such a glove yourself.

Velcro boxing gloves are the most popular ones. Despite the bad fixation (compared to lacing), it is pretty convenient to wear them, and this does not require additional help.

Gloves weight

Weight options for professional and training gloves: 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 oz (ounces).

The weight of professional gloves is determined by the rules of the competition (mainly 8 and 10 ounces).

Training gloves should be selected depending on the weight of the boxer:

• 4-6 ounces – children’s gloves;
• 8-10 ounces – youth;
• 12-14 ounces – when boxer’s weight is 80-100 kilograms;
• 16-20 ounces – when a boxer’s weight is 100 kilograms and above.

The size of the gloves depends on their weight. It should be remembered that the greater the weight of the boxer, the harder the gloves should be – this rule should be followed in the preparation for the competition. The requirements for gloves and other sports equipment for competitions are determined by the rules of their conduct.

Bag gloves and trainer’s gloves have sizes S, M, L, XL (depending on the size of the boxer’s hand).

Boxing gloves are distinguished by the material from which they are made: leather or leather substitute.

Important tip! When choosing boxing gloves, you should wrap your hand in a boxing bandage so as not to make a mistake with the size, since the training will take place with bandaged hands only.

Hands inside gloves must always be bandaged. A boxing bandage with a length of 2.5 m to 4.5 m, which is mainly made from cotton or cotton with elastic, protects the hand from injury and absorbs moisture (this will keep the gloves dry). The entire hand (except for fingers) should be bandaged.

P.S. When choosing boxing gloves, pay attention to Everlast products. Since 1910, it has been producing boxing gloves that have gained popularity around the world. Wearing the boxing gloves of this company, Muhammad Ali, Joe Fraser, George Foreman, Mike Tyson entered the ring. The brand offers customers training (for example, Everlast Protex 3 Elite EVPXSGV), professional, and amateur (Everlast EVAGU) gloves.

Prologue

I already tried to make steadicam for a camera, but I must admit that it did not live up to my expectations. I imagined that I could use it to shoot in motion, while simultaneously tracking the movement of the subject, but I did not succeed.

The first attempt to shoot in motion (which I conducted in the field) failed miserably. But it revealed the main drawback of the pendulum type steadicam – the imbalance of the camera, with constant acceleration or when moving along a curved path.

The center of gravity of steadicam

For all stabilizers constructed on the basis of the pendulum principle, the center of gravity is located slightly below the fulcrum, which leads to a displacement of the camera position during prolonged acceleration or curvilinear movement. Moreover, the smaller the mass of the moving part, the lower the stability provided by the inertia of the system.

Another, no less significant drawback of the traditional steadicam pointed in the iPhone gimbal reviews, is the lack of convenient control of the camera position. Simply put, the videographer does not have an ordinary handle using which he could quickly direct the camera to the subject. I also tried to solve this problem in my first design, but the control was not very convenient, and completely useless when shooting in motion.

I feel like virtuoso camera men are capable to simultaneously:

• 1. Follow the road.
• 2. Hold the subject in the frame.
• 3. Gently hold the camera mounted on the Steadicam during acceleration and deceleration.
  

But I hardly manage to implement the first two points. It is enough to focus on the road (when it is not smooth asphalt), as the subject immediately falls out of the frame. Therefore, I had already abandoned attempts to shoot a reportage video, but due to the surge in fashion for three-axis electronic steadicams, I returned to my dream again and tried to make it come true with budgetary funds.

Of course, it would be interesting to build a stabilizer with microprocessor, servo-drive control, especially since the electronic-software part is relatively inexpensive. But the total costs, including sensors, servo motors and power are already comparable to the cost of a budget video camera. To build such a system for the filming of amateur clips is certainly not worth it. It’s more advisable to save up more money and buy a more or less decent camcorder, which has a built-in electronic stabilization system.

In general, I wondered if it was possible to make smooth shooting in motion using an amateur camera… After all, at first glance, a modern camera has only a couple of significant differences from a video camera.

Analysis of the differences between the photo and video cameras in terms of shooting in motion

The first difference is the lack of an electronic stabilizer. But no one forbids applying software image stabilization to an already finished video. In addition, when there is an original video, this operation can be performed taking into account the peculiarities of the footage. For example, part of the clip can be stabilized, and some can be fixed so that the video image does not move at all, as if shooting was carried out using a tripod.

Do not rely on the optical stabilizer which is available in modern cameras. It can only worsen video results in motion, and it is better to turn it off. In any case, both of my cameras with the optical stabilizers turned on add twitching to the video shot in motion, although they do pretty well in slow shooting.

The second difference is the lack of image size reserve needed for post-processing using software stabilization. The fact is that with software stabilization, part of the original image is lost.

In video cameras the image is formed with a margin (for the needs of stabilization), so the resulting, already stabilized image retains the specified resolution.

In the photo camera, this drawback can be partially compensated if, when shooting, a deliberately smaller focal length of the lens and a higher image resolution than required for the final frame are selected. Indeed, for amateur video a certain decrease in the maximum resolution is not as critical as the instability of the image on the screen.

If the shooting is conducted in a resolution exceeding the resolution of the final film, then the losses will be completely insignificant. Indeed, each successive resolution of the video image exceeds the previous one by 1.5 times.

But even taking into account the above, it is not possible to get decent shooting results in motion. The reason is the loss of a significant area of ​​the image necessary for program stabilization, and due to the too large amplitude of camera shake. In addition, sudden changes in camera position create noticeable image artifacts that the image stabilization programs cannot usually handle.

I never had a professional video camera, but I always observed with great interest how professional videographers make the camera soar in space, changing the shooting angle. They change the position of the camcorder, as if in their hands a sleeping baby. And thanks to the stabilizer built into the camcorder, the smoothness of movement is no worse than when using the most sophisticated electromechanical steadicams. And although, such miracles of balancing act as operators usually do not work in conditions of fast movement, anyway, it becomes clear that there are other differences between a professional video camera and an amateur camera.

Consider the less obvious differences between amateur cameras and camcorders, taking into account the features of professional camcorders.

The third difference is the low weight of the amateur camera. While a high-end video camera can weigh 1.5 kilograms or more, an amateur one rarely reaches 300-400 grams.

In addition, unlike the video camera, the camcorder’s weight is distributed along the optical axis of the lens, which significantly improves inertial image stabilization at no additional cost.

The fourth difference is the lack of a handle. Professional camcorders have a handle located on top that allows you to smoothly move the camcorder with one hand.

Suspecting that this very handle is one of the important components of the camera’s stabilization system in motion, I set up some simple experiments to check it. You can easily repeat them before buying ready-made gadgets for image stabilization.