Saturday Morning Hijinks Out in the Shop...It Works...

1/2A Nut wrote:How heavy is it? The pics came out great good investment.

The 'Session' version weighs in at 2.6 ounces, which is what the Hero 3 weighs without it's water proof case. The Hero 3's weight goes up to 5.5 oz if I use it's case, so it's only been used with a stand:

GOOD LOOKING PICS. CAN'T WAIT FOR SOME VIDEO . There has been some really crazy winds around here also. Eric

Figured I'd crunch together a video of the Mud Dabbers adventures the other day if, for nothing else, the bouncy landings in the wind:



https://youtu.be/6kCcp4TJVyg

WOOO-Wee!.  First flights of spring, sounds like a tradition?  I haven't been to the "New Years day first flight of the year"  at the RC Field this year, as the weather was so bad.  
Man, you have a lot of faith in what looks to be regular scotch tape, To hold your new camera to the Mud Dauber. It must do a satisfactory job, as you've posted some really fun videos for us to watch. THANKS!

Thanks Kim. Great entertainment. That's a good ol' plane too.

Thanks guys...I have a lot of fun making these videos...in case it's not obvious!

I started using scotch tape several years ago when I got my first 'Key Fob" cameras and discovered the how strong this stuff is. I've never come close to losing a camera in flight, though my Go Pro did get knocked loose last year...with help from a stock gate...







Yep Rusty, me and this old Kadet have been together a long time. We're both heavier and faded than back in the day...too bad I can't be as easily rebuilt.

Having assured my buddy Al that we WILL, someday, get some quality aerial footage of his scale electric flying machines, I decided to use another windy morning to build up a new camera mount for Mud Dabber. Most of my camera mounts are designed to showcase the plane that's packing them, but this one is aimed more toward capturing other planes.

I went simple, no servo rotating the GoPro, with a mount that will allow the camera to be manually adjusted, with multiple flights to get some footage from different positions.

Now that's a camera tower there , Looks good and should give some good shots of other planes I assume for the S.M.A.L.L. Event ? You going to leave it clear / I am sure some test runs are in order! Hope it works out OK for U. Eric

getback wrote:Now that's a camera tower there , Looks good and should give some good shots of other planes I assume for the S.M.A.L.L. Event ? You going to leave it clear / I am sure some test runs are in order! Hope it works out OK for U. Eric

Thanks Eric!

No, Mud Dabber's O.S. .35FP is above the displacement limit for S.M.A.L.L R/C...so one of the B.O.T.'s will be videoing that action. First chance I get, I'll do some test video and see if there'll be a vibration problem with that tall mast...I was trying to keep it super simple, but we'll see how it works out. A guys prop balancing REALLY shows when doing something like this !

Now, got to get in the mood to fix the 3 Meter B.O.T.'s busted wing....

Kim wrote:Figured I'd crunch together a video of the Mud Dabbers adventures the other day if, for nothing else, the bouncy landings in the wind:



https://youtu.be/6kCcp4TJVyg

Thanks for the rides!!!!!  Kim.. your videos are always a treat! Where is the mic on the cam? I'm wondering if you attached a small pad covering it, made from foam air-filter media might augment some of the wind-noise? It might also help with the vibration issue on the new pylon-mount if you wrap it around the cam.

[quote="roddie"][quote="Kim"] It might also help with the vibration issue on the new pylon-mount if you wrap it around the cam.
quote]
Thanks Roddie!
I'll try to remember to try that on the next video. May try it with a piece of tape also. I usually cut a pad of foam for the camera, as much to keep it from sliding around on the pad.
And...it may still get modified with a servo to swing the camera around.

Later ! GoPro Kim

In the last couple hours of daylight, the winds settled into a southeast breeze, just the ticket for landing on my southeast-facing, up hill runway, so I strapped the cubical GoPro 'Session' camera to it's new mast, and fueled up Mud Dabber for a test flight.

A downwind takeoff is not too dicey if I don't get in a big hurry to lift the old trainer off the ground, so the plane is really hauling as it heads out across the road and cow pasture. I cruised it around for little bit, then landed and reversed the camera for another run, and pulled off another easy landing as the light went away.

The camera works fine, and I got some pretty good video, though my procrastination had used up a lot of daylight.

Gonna pack the whole deal with me to work tomorrow and maybe head down to Painton Aerodrome afterward, to video some of Al's planes.

We need to commission you to spy on drones lol.

Love your work bro!

Ron

Thanks Ron!  May have to design a 'Drone Net' to drop on them!

Gambling that the wind would give us a break, I headed down to Al Painton's little country airfield for some air to air videoing of one of Al's fantastic scratch-built electrics.

'Panton International Aerodrome' has it's name for good reason:  Al's selected airplane was his British Armstrong Whitworth biplane, resplendent in it's 1930's Chinese markings.  The wind eventually smoothed out, but was still there, at least at a bit of altitude, causing some problems with our formation flying.  We managed not to hit each other, though we nearly got together once.

Guess I'll have to move the GoPro out on a wingtip again, at least for chasing this model, as dragging Mud Dabber around nose-high to stay with the slow biplane put the camera down in the 'Castor Slipstream'.  But, we got some fair video anyway, and got to laugh again that we've been trying to do this for more than ten years now, with no really breath-taking video, but also with no busted airplanes....

Al's plan for our next outing is to choose a plane with a little heavier wing-loading and a bit more speed.

Good Times.

Al preps his Chinese-marked British biplane, while Mud Dabber waits to chase it:







------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mud Dabber comes diving across the roof of the hangar as Al's lightly loaded biplane leaps into the air.



What we were sorta shooting for:



Though not this:



A strafing run over the flipped biplane:



Drone Pilot Ed eyes his machine with some suspicion at it searches for it's satellites:



And so, sends his son Jim into harm's way to investigate:



But they got it going:

That's a nice bipe. Probably flies at a scale-like speed too. Were it's wheels a little too small for the height of the grass that day?

The only vid I have of me flying is one I shot with a HUGE camera... that actually recorded onto VHS (full-size) cartridges! It was in the side-yard where I used to live.. and the airplane was a little self-designed C/L bipe with a Cox reedy. Circa 1992.

Was a lot of the forward-facing vid blurred by the Dabber's exhaust? Maybe a belly-mount would be the way to go.. at least for slow-fly captures.

https://www.rockskymarket.com/camera-mounts-quick-releases/330-gopro-swivel-mount-flexible.html



It's kinda' EXPENSIVE.. but you'd certainly put it to use.

roddie wrote:That's a nice bipe. Probably flies at a scale-like speed too. Were it's wheels a little too small for the height of the grass that day?

The only vid I have of me flying is one I shot with a HUGE camera... that actually recorded onto VHS (full-size) cartridges! It was in the side-yard where I used to live.. and the airplane was a little self-designed C/L bipe with a Cox reedy. Circa 1992.

Was a lot of the forward-facing vid blurred by the Dabber's exhaust? Maybe a belly-mount would be the way to go.. at least for slow-fly captures.

https://www.rockskymarket.com/camera-mounts-quick-releases/330-gopro-swivel-mount-flexible.html



It's kinda' EXPENSIVE.. but you'd certainly put it to use.

Hey Roddie,
It really is amazing to watch the tech around video cameras develop. MY first outfit was one of the two piece sets---packing a big camera that was plugged into a portable recorder on a shoulder strap. The definition was the best at the time, put to shame now by a tiny GoPro or even key fob camera.

Yeah, Al's known for his highly detailed, off-the-beaten-path models. This one is very lightly loaded, and Mud Dabber had a high pitch angle trying to fly with it, and was getting castor up over the fuselage.. I can get around it by putting the camera out on the wing (and probably will on our next run), but like seeing that old O.S. out in front.

Al's current project is a B-17 'Dumbo'---the Search and Rescue version with a big, droppable life boat...which his will have.

I've wanted to shoot film or video from model planes from the beginning...with mixed amounts of success, and costing me a nice Lazer 300 ARF that cartwheeled on takeoff. I finally got some passable footage with a Hi8 Tape Camcorder that was strapped on top, or the belly, and finally inside my Mud Duck. The camera didn't like the vibration from the O.S. .90, but some of the footage wasn't bad.

The old Duck is gonna be back on line before too long, and it won't even know when a camera is onboard!

I hope that we get to see Al's B-17 too! Sounds like a really cool project! As far as Utility models go.. I'd love to see someone build an operational crop-duster! Maybe "bubble-soap" could serve as tracer-mist spraying out through nozzle-rails under the wings! A pump could be powered by a lightweight LiPo-pack and operated via a spare RC channel/switch.

Yes.. I'm a crazy man..

roddie wrote:

Yes.. I'm a crazy man..  

Well, maybe to some, but you seem to be wired pretty normal to me...