Gizmodo: top gun 2008

Top Gun 2008, the Movie (Without Cruise, Fortunately)

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:30:00 EDT

Not everything was about the stunning A-10 Warthog at last week's Top Gun 2008 competition, the largest R/C event in the world. 10,000 people watched the 120 invitation-only R/C airplanes competition—which included everything from from World War I Fokker fighters to WW2's Mustangs and Lightnings to Vietnam War's Phantoms, and plenty of civil aviation models. Gigantic gallery of this year's edition after the jump.

[Video and images courtesy of Bob Parrish]

A10 RC Model vs the Real Thing at Top Gun 2008

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Here's the 1:5 scale A-10 Warthog remote control model in some video action at Top Gun 2008, in Lakeland, FL.—the biggest remote controlled airplane competition in the world. And to match it, a real A-10 appeared on the scene, taking off from a parallel runway. We interviewed Mike Selby, one of the model creators, and got all the technical details about this amazing $12,000 beast, with two jet turbines, three on-board microprocessors, 24 servos, a 1" OLED display in its cockpit and a fully-functional gatling gun. Jump to see all its amazing details in a 26-photo gallery. [Video and images courtesy of Bob Parrish]

Top Gun 2008: Biggest RC Airplane Competition in the World

Jesus Diaz — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:30:00 EDT

They may not be made of LEGO or Star Wars-related, but if you like amazingly detailed, huge aircraft models—like the SR-71 above—head to Lakeland, Florida, and Top Gun 2008: the 20th anniversary edition of the biggest RC model competition in the world. It starts tomorrow, five days of pure nerdgasm watching the most stunning remote control aircraft in the world. More details, plus a gigantic gallery from 2007 after the jump.

"This year we have 125 partipants," show organizer Frank Tiano told us, "with 40 hobby vendors and coverage from 35 magazined from all over the world." In a good weather day, Top Gun gets 10,000 drooling spectators.

Looking at the detail and size of these beasts, we can understand exactly why.

Frank also confirmed to us that the A-10 featured in Popsci.com was going to participate in the competition, as well as many other new entries. So if you are around, it's a complete must, Maverick's glasses not required (but recommended.) [Top Gun—photos by Palmer Johnson, DVD video available from Wildberry Productions]

NOTE: if you're planning on assisting the Top Gun 2008 event, contact us at tips@gizmodo.com if you want to collaborate with us.