Indoor Flying Toys

In the not to distant past flying toys were restricted to the realm of the dedicated enthusiast, as they tended to be large, expensive and required a large amount of space to fly them in. But as technology has moved on, flying toys have both shrunk in size and price, just like everything else.

Nowadays flying toys are easily within the reach of the average household, with prices starting at around £15.00, you don't even need a large garden, or any garden at all for that matter. Some flying toys have been reduced in size to a point where they can now be flown safely in your own living room such as the Picoo Z range of rc helicopters.

The Indoor Flying Toy market has exploded recently with a whole plethora of new designs entering the market including radio controlled helicopters, aeroplanes robots and even fairies.

Helicopters are probably the most popular indoor flying toy as they especially suited being flown in smaller rooms, as they are able to take off and land vertically and hover in the air. If you have a large open plan living room or garage, then mini aeroplanes are great fun. So lets take a look at a closer look at some of the indoor flying toys available at the the moment.

Indoor RC helicopters come in a range of styles and complexity from basic 2 channel models to the more sophisticated 4 channel models. The number of channels a helicopter has relates to the amount of control you have over it in flight.

With a 2 channel indoor rc helicopter, 1 channel controls the speed of its main rotor while the other channel controls the tail rotor speed which allows the helicopter to turn.

In a 4 channel rc helicopter more control can gained over the flight, with the first 2 channels still regulating the 2 main rotor blades. The 3^rd and 4^th channels control forward and sideways movement by altering the angles on the main rotor blades.

They are basic examples, but you can see that the more channels the indoor rc helicopter has the more control you will have over it's flight path.

You may have also noticed that some indoor rc helicopters have one single main rotor and others have 2 (Coaxial) rotors. The coaxial varieties tend to be more stable in flight, single rotator helicopters create a lot of angular momentum and need a tail rotator to keep them flying in a straight line instead of just spinning helplessly in the air. The twin rotators rotate in opposite directions canceling out each others angular momentum which means they have no need for a vertically aligned tail rotor.

The main difference with indoor rc aeroplanes and helicopters is the amount of space needed to fly them. Whereas a helicopter can hover and take of vertically, an aeroplane needs to be continually moving forward so in small rooms you will find the plane is constantly hitting the walls. For most indoor rc aeroplanes you would probably need somewhere like a sports hall to fly them, but some of the smaller and slower versions you may be able to use in a large open plan living room or large garage.

There aren't so many factors to consider when purchasing an indoor rc aeroplane as there are with helicopters, the main points are the size of the plane, it's speed and the amount of room needed to fly it safely.

If you don't have access to a sports hall or have a massive lounge but still want an indoor rc aeroplane you could consider something like the V22 Vertical Take-off aeroplane. This merges both the helicopter and aeroplane into a single flying machine, giving you the best of both worlds.

If you thought indoor flying toys were limited to just helicopters and aeroplanes then you would be mistaken, as there are other styles of rc flying toys available to you. While I'll admit the majority are based around either the aeroplane or helicopter, such as flying robots, that utilise the the helicopters rotor blades to give them flight, there are other toys that seek to imitate nature with flapping wings such as the “I-Fly Vamp Bat” or the “I-Fairy”.

These natural flight indoor rc flying toys or ornithopters actually flap their wings in order to leave the ground and fly. The I-Fairy's flight tends to resemble that of a humming bird and is even able to hover. It's suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, so now you really can have fairies at the end of your garden.

The “I-Fly Vamp Bat” with its glowing eyes has it's flapping wings positioned on the top of it's back and has a more horizontal flight. It's revolutionary design allows it to be turned whilst either flapping it's wings or gliding and can be flown in relatively confined spaces.

If you have plenty of room and are looking for something a little more unusual then you may want to try the “Duck Hunter“. This amusing flying toy has no remote control as the idea is to shoot the flying duck out of the air using the infra red pistol. Simply charge the duck up and toss it into the air, where it flap it's wings and fly straight or randomly, depending on how yo set it up, while you try to shoot it down. Highly addictive fun.

Flying toys are fun and addictive and have come a long way in a fairly short period of time. No more are they restricted to wealthy enthusiast or people with plenty of open spaces to fly them in. Some of these indoor flying toys even allow you to have flying battles with robots or helicopters equipped with infra red lasers which allow you to shoot your opponent out of the air.

These tiny fly machines are suitable for children and adults alike. In fact it's often the parents that get more out flying these than the kids do.