About me

Here I am : first day with the UM J-3. I had no idea of what I did get into!

Hello and welcome to RCLab.info!

My name is Giovanni, I was born in Italy back in the early 80's, and I am a designer based in Lyon, France.

I have many passions in life: guitar playing, photography, travelling, but the one I am discussing here, and probably the one I am the most fond of, is RC.

When I grew up, dad had some beautiful airplane models from his youth, when he was into RC in the 70's, and I always fantasised about, one day, restoring them and learning to fly them.

One day, in 2011, I decided to buy a Parkzone UM J3 cub and start what I did not know what would have been an obsession. The beginning has not been easy: I did not know anyone in the hobby and the learning curve has been pretty steep; but after crashing the cub countless times, I started to understand the basics of piloting an RC airplane. I was hooked.

Me, trying to smile while losing control of the Blade mCPx

Needless to say that many planes followed the little cub, and almost all of them got destroyed.

In 2012 my girlfriend gave me a little coaxial helicopter, and that blew my mind! I was finally able to fly around the house on windy and rainy days. A Blade mSR followed quickly and I slowly learnt how to pilot fixed pitch helicopters, all while I was learning about RC helicopters in general.

The real game changer though, was the Blade mCPx. That helicopter is still with me today, and I think is what taught me a lot about flying an RC helicopter.

As I was learning to fly circuits and all, I got a Blade 400 and I remember being scared sh*tless of that giant helicopter. I still have that one too and sometimes I give it a spin for the sake of memories!

I really wanted to build a kit, so I got a T-rex 250, then a 450, a 500 and a 550, not to talk about airplanes. Some I built, some I bought. Have a look at my fleet as of today, I try to keep it up to date, but it really is getting out of control ! You have been warned : there is no end to this hobby!

An after race pose with my IOM Arrival yacht

About at the time when the addiction started, I decided to put together a simple web page to keep track of my RC journey, and to post some of the upgrades, mods, and information I was getting from people I was starting to get in touch with, or from the internet. RCLab.info was born.

Today, I keep flying RC helicopters and airplanes; I tried FPV quad racing, but it never sparked my interest too much.
I really enjoy my Mavic Pro 2, which I carry with me basically wherever I go as a photography companion.
Recently I also started RC yacht racing, mainly in the IOM class together with a group of local sailors, and it truly is something fantastic.

I have no idea what is next, as long as it is radio controlled I will try it and probably fill up my apartment with more models, spares and tools!