RC Model ‘Jargon’ Term
 

Meaning
 

RTR

Ready-to-Run. An RC car or RC truck that is supplied ready for use. Note that a starter pack (engine starter + Nitro fuel) may be required but may not be need to be purchased separately in order to make you model ready for first use.

RTF

Ready-to-Fly. An RC helicopter or  RC plane that is supplied ready for first use.

ARR

Almost Ready-to-Run. An RC model that may require a small amount of ‘build’ work in order to make it ready for first use.

Kit

A kit of RC model parts to be assembled in accordance with supplied instructions

ESC

Electronic Speed Controller (often just called ‘speedcontroller’).

Nitro

A type of fuel used to power an internal combustion engined RC car or RC truck.

Gas

In the RC model world, Gas means 2 stroke petrol which is used to power internal combustion engined RC models.

Glow Engine

Nitro powered engine.
 

Engine Sizes

Different manufacturers are now mixing Cubic Centimetres with Cubic Inches when describing the engine sizes on their Radio Controlled models. This can cause confusion, so below we have produced an ‘equivalence’ table:

Cubic Inches
0.12
0.15
0.18
0.21
0.25
0.26
0.28
0.30
0.32

Cubic Centimetres
2.1
2.5
3.0
3.2
4.1
4.3
4.5
5.0
5.2

Comment
1/10th Racing Size
1/8th Racing Size
1/8th Racing Size
1/8th Racing Size

27 MHz RC Frequencies

By law, only certain frequencies can be used for Radio Controlled model use. The transmitter and receiver frequencies are set using pairs of crystals that operate at slightly different frequencies within the same frequency band.. For general use, the 27 MHz frequency band is used. The 35MHz band is used only for aircraft but some aircraft use the 27MHz band.

The use of crystal of slightly different frequencies within the same band ensures that when a number of rc models are being used in close proximity, there is no interference between the sets of radio gear.

The table below shows the colour code of the crystals and their frequencies within the 27MHz band:

Colour
Grey/Brown
Brown
Brown/Red
Red
Red/Orange
Orange
Orange/Yellow
Yellow
Yellow/Green
Green
Green/Blue
Blue

Frequency (Hz)
26.975
26.995
27.025
27.045
27.075
27.095
27.125
27.145
27.175
27.195
27.225
27.255

Comment
SPLIT
Channel 1
SPLIT
Channel 2
SPLIT
Channel 3
SPLIT
Channel 4
SPLIT
Channel 5
SPLIT
Channel 6