Hello all, and Happy Holidays. I have not posted lately, things have been quite hectic, but I still enjoy this great forum and all your posts.
Rand, and later Ace R/C, sold quite a few of their actuators. What follows is a document to describe all the versions they made, and how to identify them, along with the features and accessories and packages that were sold. A little history is included as well, so enjoy!


Summary of Rand Actuators and Variants.


This document will describe the different models and versions of actuators made by Rand Take-Off Products, and Rand Manufacturing. Later on (1970) Ace R/C also sold these products as they bought out Rand’s line of Galloping Ghost actuators and servos.

To simplify things, we will begin by with some basic acronym terminology applicable to Rand actuators:
PPS stands for pulses per second and describes the rate at which these systems pulsed.
L is for low rate, typically 3-14 PPS.
R is for Rate, in PPS.
H is for high rate, typically 12-20 PPS.
RO is rudder only
REM is for rudder, elevator, and motor/throttle.

To apply this to Rand actuators, lets look at the LR-3 and decode it’s model number: LR= low rate
3= 3 function
Thus we have a 3-function low rate actuator. The HR-1 would be a high rate single function actuator.

Rand released the LR-3, HR-1, and HR-2 initially in 1965. The first versions featured brass gears on a phenolic base, and for all intents and purposes they were hand made in low volume. The HR series could also be used at low pulse rates as well as high pulse rates. Rand offered an optional lower tension centering spring for high rate to lower the current draw.

The LR-3 was a 3 function actuator which offered rudder, elevator and motor control, at low pulse rates.
The HR-1 was a single function actuator for high rate systems for elevator, or it could be used as a rudder only (RO) actuator in a low pulse rate system.
The HR-2 was a two-function actuator for rudder and throttle in high, or low rate systems.

The HR-1, and HR-2 could be used together in a high rate system with a pulse rate decoder to give independent interaction free control of rudder, and elevator, along with positionable throttle control.


The second generation of the Rand actuators were produced using injection molded plastic for virtually all the pieces including the gears, base and output arms. All motors used were of the Mitsumi type, and were designed to use a 2.4-volt power supply. The very first batch of these actuators had a white pinion idler gear, which was prone to breaking in a hard landing or crash, so it was changed to a black plastic which was presumably stronger. The bases of these actuators are black plastic with two small pins on the top rim of the base near the throttle arm. An early version of the HR-1 had a shorter plastic base with the centering spring looped over to attach to the base. This was quickly replaced by the same base as used in the HR-2, and LR-3, presumably to simplify manufacturing, thus a later HR-1 can be converted to an HR-2, or LR-3 by adding additional parts.

Rand also produced some “OEM” versions of the LR-3, and HR-1 and HR-2 for Min-X Pulsmite systems. The LR-3 that came with the Min-X SH-1R receiver had a 3.6 volt motor to work with the on board switcher built into the receiver, thus the “R” designation of the Min-X SH-1R, which was specifically for the “OEM” version Rand LR-3. Additionally, Min-X had a high rate decoder to drive the HR-1, and HR-2, so these too were made to Min-X’s specifications.


Like Min-X, Hallco also used Rand Actuators exclusively in their 103 and 123 systems and Rand made OEM versions to their specifications, the main differences were spring tension and hash filtering.

The very first Rand servos, and later versions as well, all had some sort of noise filtering in the form of capacitors and chokes soldered to the motor of the actuator to reduce interference with the receiver operation due to the motors electrical noise, which was significant. Later on Rand simplified this filtering by soldering a small circuit board to the bottom of the motor, which contained a couple filter caps and two RF chokes. There were several iterations of this board, and some only contained two filter caps, while later ones had the chokes as well.

Rand actuators with black bases and the filter boards came next, and lacked the two small pins on the rim of the base, and the rim was thickened by eliminating a couple notches in it close to where the pins has been. One other difference is some of these actuators say “Rand” on the bottom of the base, whereas others do no. The ones marked “Rand” were sold retail, the others were OEM as supplied to Hallco, and Min-X, for use with their systems.


By around late 1967 Rand’s engineer Herb Abrahms responded to many modelers building their own transistorized switchers for his actuators by having Ed Fisher design one specifically for the LR/HR series actuators. This then allowed the use of a single 3-cell 3.6-volt NiCad battery pack, and eliminated the need for an additional actuator battery and a relay in the receiver as well. This significantly simplified the system wiring, reduced weight, and improved reliable performance. Rand introduced this as the “GG Pak” which had a modified LR-3 complete with wiring harness, on/off switch, 600 MAH NiCads, and plugs. The actuator had a red base, which contained a pocket on the underside to hold the small six-transistor switcher board and wiring. Additionally, it now used a 3.6-volt motor.

The “GG Pak” was a sensation, and so it was offered by all other OEMs for their Galloping Ghost systems; Ace, Controlaire, Bonitron, F&M, Logictrol (Digi-Ghost) all came with the GG-Pak, and later the optional high rate “Dual Pak”. This leads into the next Rand offering, the Dual Pak. The Dual Pak was as stated a dual actuator system complete with wiring harness, switch, plugs, rate decoder, transistorized switcher, and battery pack. It was designed for high rate only, and offered what was touted as “steady” or low dithering of the control surfaces. Put simply, it pulsed so quickly that the control surfaces effectively just quivered. Of course, your transmitter had to be a high pulse rate type, and many had a switch to select high pulse rate. In response to this, Controlaire, Ace and others offered retro fits to convert earlier Galloping Ghost transmitters to high pulse rate. Hallco called their version of this “Steady Ghost”.

The actuators supplied in Dual Packs also had the red bases with pockets for the electronics: the HR-1 had a rate decoder with switcher, and the HR-2 had the same switcher board as in the LR-3 GG-Pak actuator. A cable and connector from the HR-2 switcher board plugged into a mating cable on the HR-1 to supply power and signal to it. Both HR-1, and HR-2 actuators as supplied in the Dual Paks had 3.6 volt Mitsumi motors, and lighter tension centering springs.


Last, but not least, Rand also offered their switcher, and decoder/switcher separately as replacements, and as retro fits for earlier actuators. There were do-it-yourself kits offered as well for the switcher, and decoder for the electronics minded hobbyists. Rand additionally offered a version of the LR-3 that was similar to the GG-Pak version without the switcher, but the base included the pocket for the switcher, and these can be identified by their black base. These were sold separately as replacements, and also re-packaged by Ace as part of a complete do it your self-kit. You could buy the completely assembled GG-Pak, or Dual Pak, or get them as kits. The black base with pocket distinguished these kit version actuators from ones sold exclusively in factory assembled Rand Paks and Dual Paks; for warranty reasons they were not the same. The decoder kit came with a lighter spring for high rate, and instructions on how to convert an LR-3 to work as a high rate HR-2, or HR-1.

Rand made several servo/actuator trays to mount the actuator in, they had two rubber grommets that cushioned and damped them. There was also a dual actuator side-by-side tray that was sold with the Dual Pak, and separately for mounting dual actuators. Along with these, Rand developed and sold their own line of snap links and clevises for making connections to threaded and solid wire pushrods that were specifically tailored to use with their actuators. Rand also made a line of control sticks for Cannon, Larson/RS, and Ace, The Ace RO Pulse Commander transmitter used a special version modified for rudder only.

Sometime in early 1970 Rand made the decision to sell their Galloping Ghost line of actuators to Ace R/C, who was at the time the leading distributor of inexpensive single channel and pulse proportional systems and accessories. The units produced by Ace came in the same packaging, but with all references to Rand removed. There is some variation in the parts used too, as Ace used whatever they had on hand. Thus some of the Rand actuators built by Ace have parts from earlier versions, for example: we have seen them with the early filter board that had but two caps, and no chokes. It is apparent Ace used whatever they had left to build up the last sets of actuators.

The advent of digital proportional, the introduction of silicon transistors, and the first commercially available integrated circuits changed the landscape of the model radio control so drastically that by the end of 1969 all manufacturers but one discontinued making Galloping Ghost systems. By 1972 the last holdout, Ace R/C, had discontinued the Galloping Ghost Versions of their venerable Pulse Commander series and only offered their RO rudder only system which used the Adams type magnetic actuators. The cost of digital proportional equipment had come down in price to the point where Galloping Ghost systems were no longer competitive in price, or features, thus ending this chapter in pulse proportional R/C. Ace did continue to sell out the remainder of their Rand actuator stock for replacements and repair of existing systems, but no longer advertised them in the catalog or price sheet.