boat vids from RC plane?

[cc1000]

Anyone familiar with this?

A friend of mine, who is somewhat mobility impaired, wants to shoot boat videos from an RC plane. Just wondering if anyone here has done this or seen it done. Looking for any info to help. Seaplanes where looked into, but they all seem too slow. Helicopters seemed a little hard to control and not suited for near the water in case of accidental landing.

We were looking closely at a predator type craft.

[mrcrsr]

keep us posted, i just bought seaplane floats for one of my planes!!

[cc1000]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I think the direction we are heading now will take us to a cub type plane with added sea plane floats. Looking for something with a little toughness and more power that what the sea planes offer.

Will keep you all posted, thanks.

[LittleProps]

We tested this out in our club just to see what it would come out like (used a nitro heli). Do have plans of getting someone with a plane or a heli flyer thats a little more daring to get some closer footage.

http://boatvideos.webdrgraphics.com/onboard%20test.wmv

[mr fun]

the plane got me a little woozie at first! :thumbsup: good job :cheers:

[mrcrsr]

that is sweet!! what camera did you use?

[Jetboat Jared]

you should buy one of the cheaper electric rc helis then put that cam on it then you wont have to wory about wrecking it as much as say a 600 dollar one

[houston]

Hi, my name is Houston and I was the guy CC was referring to.

what my plain is for my plane is simple.

I am going to use either DCH-2 beaver 25E or a Senorita both would be out fitted with pontoons for water take offs and landing.

now for "further information" about what I will say here that you will not believe is possible please check out this: http://diydrones.com (http://diydrones.com/)

here you will see, how you can have not one but two....or more cameras on a board a "platform"

two seem to be ideal, one for your pilot, and one for the "camara" operator which his camera would be on a tilt and pan platform and the Pilots would be on a fixed. The pilots "view" would have a heads up display that is fed from a GPS speed, altitude, and heading, and direction for "return to take off"

Now, it get better, where let's say your looking into doing what I want to do, record video of boats from this, if I would make a air field on a lake I would have to mark out where it was with markers....and then take a chance at haveing the boater be in the right spot at the right time.

Auto-pilot:

here is how you can tell your plane once it has taking off, where to fly ...A...to B....C... and at what speed and altatude. it is called geared up auto pilot and in the above link you can learn more about lego's Minestorm (yes the kids toy) and other system that are used for this.

The auto pilot will monitor the system and return the plane to the point it took off, if a problem is detected (low battery)

useing a auto pilot system now alls you wouuld need is a pole with a flag on it...on both sides of a lake and the simple instruction to the boater to stay to the right...or the left of them as the plane comes in for fly by, and to match the planes speed.

while that happens again your camera man would manualy operate the camera to record the video.

He can use a system called "Field View" which is a set of goggles with a sensor that will detect how he turns his head while sitting, for that all's he has to do..is...look up..down..to the left..right to get the video.

a completed plane and system would cost around $1500.00, less if your good at building "stuff", as an example the plane coat $250 to 300 as an ARF (almost ready to Fly) where as a kit cost $89.00

hope this helps, let me know if you need further info or found something I may like..

it rather odd how.and why I ended up looking into videoing boats this way, but I hope it may help others that may need it.

H

[houston]

Sorry for the double post but, forgot a little further information.

Once you have, the equipment, for the camera's and their transmitter, Receiver and the "controllers" for the "Pan and tilt". Depending on how you mount them and the connectors your using well make your "system" more versatile.

If you make your Build for everything is drop in with quick disconnects then this system can quickly be transferred from a RC Plane to a Helio ....Car...Boat or a Submarine, wanna record catching that big one?

Some Youtube searches to do are:

rc FPV

fpv rc plane

replace, plane with car, boat, train, sub......

you will get a better Idea at what your capable of doing, and if speed is a "factor" look at the newer models that have ADF's on them (Air inducted Fans) they ....Scream and they do Fly.

H

[Slider]

There is a whole section for aerial photography over on RunRyder (http://www.runryder.com/). Flying a helicopter isn't that difficult anymore. The smaller they are, the harder they are to fly. They have autopilots for them too.

Just buy this one and be done with it.

http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/t483135p1/?highlight=joker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN17uHtJSQo

[Tom Foley]

There is a whole section for aerial photography over on RunRyder (http://www.runryder.com/). Flying a helicopter isn't that difficult anymore. The smaller they are, the harder they are to fly. They have autopilots for them too.

Just buy this one and be done with it.

http://www.runryder.com/helicopter/t483135p1/?highlight=joker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN17uHtJSQo

I'm assuming you have flown one ?:D

[houston]

my estimated cost for the complete "package", is 1,000 to $1500.00

there is an issue of weight with all this equipment, fine talking in grams but the DH-2 beaver or the senorita as a "kit" range 89.00 to $150.00

a rc helicopter that is capable of handling and has room for the "gear" and can be used on water....starts at $1600.00.

another factor to look at would be the "camera man" who needs to keep a shot "framed", having a stable, level platform for him to work off of is better than one that is tipping and tilting and spinning around...

another thing to take in to consideration is the freq of the camera equipment and the transmitter and the receiver...with the plane your working off of 3 to 4 channels in the mhz, with a helo or up in the 2 gig hz range messing with 6 channels, that happen to be in the same freq as the camera equipment.

the helo's lately seem to be blowing out there rear bearing on the tail rotor with out warning, watching $3,000 bounce off CC's boat would be a bummer, leaving me with nothing but a controler and some good film footage of the look on CC's face.....na it wouldn't be priceless.

:leaving:
H

[Slider]

Flew helis for a couple years. Never had a crash. Take care of the equipment and it will take care of you. Thinking about getting another one. The electric helis are now mature enough and there are enough used ones to make the leap. The simulators have also come a very long way in the last couple of years. For $200 you can get RealFlight G4.5 (http://www.realflight.com/) and it comes with a controller. Practice on the sim and then go do it at the field. $200 is going to be cheaper than your first crash.

As far as floatation, a lot of people just use those foam noodles that people use to sit on and wrap them around the skids. Camera ships also run longer mains at a slower head speed, so I would doubt any bearing failure unless they were not lubed up after a day of flying over water and got rusty.

If a small budget is an issue, helis are pretty much out. The Beaver with flaps might be slow and stable enough to get some good shots. A 4 stroke swinging the right prop would pull it through the air nicely.

There is still some really good info about the camera equipment and mounts used on RunRyder. I wouldn't hesitate to ask those guys. I'm not sure how RCUniverse is doing these days or if they even have an aerial photography section for airplanes. It has been a really long time since I have had an RC airplane.

[houston]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/

http://www.rcgroups.com/aerial-photography-128/

http://www.rcgroups.com/video-piloting-fpv-rpv-469/

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10597170&highlight=Final+Game+At+The+Old+Yankee+Stadium#post10597170

the last link is about how a picture you all have seen was taken from a RC quad helo, a "quad" helio was built just for aerial photography.

One issue I been brushing across is local "law enforcement" will fine and "ground" you if your are using a "Gas" RC off of a RC selected field. this is one of the reason there has been such a big "boom" in what is termed a "park fliers"

the one big benefit with the electric is being able to "power-off" the motor and guide to conserve the battery. As in an example of what I am looking to do with the plane's shooting area would be from point...A-to-B where at "B" it would then be programmed to climb and turn to C, where at "C" it would power off the motor and dead stick back down to "D" power up the motor as it heads for "A" to repeat the cycle.

Helicopter or airframe, big budget small budget, everything has it effect on any project, in my case the airframe would serve what I am looking to do, and fit my budget.

if anyone has picked up the difference between a "kit" and an ARF, you can buy the Kit and build them and with out adding anything and them resell them for 3 to 4 times as much.

The Simulator has been suggested to me very strongly, and I would have to also suggest it to anyone who wants to get in to this to get their feet in the air, there is on one EBAY that sells for 20.00 bucks that I use down at my RC shop that they recommended.

[merctech1979]

caught this thread a little late but here just another hobby of mine....fpv flight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29AZrntXh8o&feature=email

[merctech1979]

i always get a kick out of this one. all done with wireless camera, and video googles. video range of 8 miles with my setup.....i am limited to the range of my transmitter approx. 2 miles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRrGJEN8sjk&feature=channel_page


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQMn2TZ_520&feature=channel_page