/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>>306627

Well, you COULD do that through the use of a buddy box. For those that are unfamiliar, a buddy box is a feature of all advanced RC TXs (Radio Control Transmitter units) that allows a second RC TX to be connected to the first with a cable that will allow a second person to control either the entire rc craft, or just a few functions. In this case, the pan and tilt camera functions.

Of course, the only problem with this idea is that I am flying the RC plane THROUGH the camera while wearing video goggles. So if someone else is controlling the camera, it would make it really hard to pilot the plane.

I simply mapped the tilt and pan servos to two of the variable pot controls on my TX and controlled pand and tilt that way. it also allowed me to adjust the angle of my camera so that when I was flying with a lower sun angle I could tilt the camera to minimize glare.

The disadvantage of a setup like this is that I have to take my hands off of the control sticks to pan and tilt the camera. So many FPVers use head mounted motion sensors connected to the RCTX through the "buddy box" port, and them mapped to the pan and tilt servo controls. This gives your the same result as using a buddy box and another person to control it, but it uses motion sensors on your head instead. So where you look, the camera looks.

It's not fool proof and has some technical drawbacks in addition to being expensive, but it does work well enough that many FPVers use it.

One last video. This was my first ever FPV video, taken with my truck. It's a raw video taken straight from the GoPro. No fancy music, no editing effects. I just added text overlays using YouTube's overlay system. Yeah, more of my ugly mug too. Sorry about that. :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx_OJSNeGnY&feature=g-upl

>>306214

A blimp is interesting. Haven't heard of anyone doing that yet. I would be concerned about wind though. Unless you had a REALLY powerful drive system on it, you would pretty much be at the mercy of even a light breeze. If you haven't done FPV yet, I would really suggest starting out with something like mine, a Multiplex EasyStar with an upgraded motor/ESC kit from ReadymadeRC and some basic FPV equipment. Start small and work your way up. FPV can get CRAZY expensive. Trust me, you do NOT want your first experience flying FPV to be kitting out a $1500 plane, taking it up and having it either fly off on you or smash into the ground and obliterate all your gear. Start small with a basic plane and cheap gear so if you lose it or (like me) crash it you won't be out thousands of dollars.

As far as shopping goes, I buy most of my FPV specialized equipment from readymaderc.com, although there are plenty of other places:

nghobbies.com
futurehobbies.com
getfpv.com

and lots more. For basic RC stuff I have bought from Tower, from HobbyKing, from Amazon.com and, of course, my Local Hobby Shop.

For info I prefer fpvlabs.com. There are also the FPV forums over at rcgroups, but most of the best people from there have moved over to fpvlabs, which was founded to get away from the oldfags and rulefags over at RCG who troll the FPV boards there.

Here is one of my FPV truck doing some "speed runs" up and down my block. Please excuse my ugly mug.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj4Dybpdr9k&feature=context-gau

>>306247

Thanks Bro! :)

Yeah, It was my first build too, so I spent probably about 3 months building the first plane. The second one I had together and painted in about a week. Once I had done it once, repeating it was much easier.

Here's another one:

Soccer Field in the Morning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPRKcv3SGME&feature=g-upl

That's all I have of my plane right now. I actually have one last video from that plane I just haven't put it up yet. Sadly, the video from the flight where I crashed got corrupted when the recording camera impacted the ground. So that one was a loss. Too bad, I had some nice barrel rolls and loops in it too. :(

>>306233
Sure. They aren't any great shakes, (I'm not much of a video producer) But I can link a couple...

I should note, these are all from my old plane. I haven't had the chance to get out and fly the new one since I built it, it's either been too windy or I've been too busy. But here you go:

Flight from the Old Schoolyard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05VEXavN4tI&feature=g-upl

(It's a bit shaky. It was borderline too windy and the lower air currents were really turbulent. So I had to keep correcting or get flipped over by sudden gusts.)

>>304598

Lol. That would totally NOT work. The amount of delay (not to mention data charges) would be ridiculous.

Besides. I ALREADY transmit video via my 5.8 ghz video transmitter (the little one on the tail)

There are a very limited range of available unlicensed spectrum available in most western countries. It varies by country, although 2.4 and 5.8 are pretty universally available as they are Wifi spectrum. Of course, the disadvantage is that they are also very "noisy" with all the other consumer items out there.

Also available (in varying countries) are UHF, 900mhz, 1.2 & 1.3 ghz. Most of the "long range" guys use UHF for control and either 1.2/1.3ghz or 2.4ghz for video. Since I don't do long range (I keep it inside a mile/2km) I don't need those frequencies. Yet.

>>304872

Not sure what you mean. No fancy sensors on my plane. Just a camera for piloting through.

>>304685
No, I'm standing next to the trees. The small saplings are roughly the same height as I am and are throwing similar sized shadows on the ground. So it looks like 3 blobs all the same size.

>>304660

I'm on 2.4 for control and 5.8 for video. Can't afford UHF right now, but eventually I will look into that. I have a 1.3 video tx and rx I'm planning on using for my Truck as 5.8 for the truck really didn't cut it.

Just using a pair of Fatshark Aviators (with the built in 5.8 receiver) and my RC TX right now, no fancy ground station yet. Just an old '80's era camcorder box as a carry case for my gear. So nothing worth taking pictures of.

>>304569

nope. I am actually near the center of the image. just to the right and below the right lower corner of the parking lot you can see three light blurry blobs. these are two small tree saplings and me.

>>304391

Nah. The cameras these planes can carry are WAY too low rez to do anything like that. If you can even see people they are like tiny little specks on the ground. Even the GoPro isn't any good at capturing detail at range. Keep in mind I'm usually flying at a few hundred feet. From up there you can't see any ground detail. Just the pretty view. Which is why I fly. It's just so damn gorgeous up there and flying RC like this is such an adrenaline rush, but completely safe.

For an example of how you can't see anything, look at the attached screenshot. (Ignore the date, it's wrong.) That shot is from one of my flights this past summer. I am IN that screenshot. Can you see me?

>>304380
I have actually seen this. On the RCGroups.com forum there was a guy with a glider that he had modified with a section of PVC pipe mounted vertically inside the fuselage and flush with the bottom. Inside it was a retract mechanism and his flight cam. Saw some videos of it retracting, it was really cool. Dunno if he's still around though.

Heh. I just did a quick google and found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAk4Lc1s9vc Guy with a retractable belly cam on his Easystar clone body. (I think that's the same body as my new plane.) So there you go!

Depends on the type of plane you are using. Planes like mine that belly land, you really can't put the camera on the bottom. You could cut off the tip of the nose and put the camera there, and I have seen some people do that. My original plane (The one that crashed) had a pan and tilt mechanism for the camera. I could actually look down over the side of the plane while flying. Sadly, that was obliterated in the crash. So I just went with the wide-angle GoPro in a protective case for the second plane.

I have seen a few belly-slung cameras, but they are almost always on planes with landing gear. And having landing gear means that you need smoother landing strips than with a belly lander, so your flying areas are more limited.

ReadymadeRC has a plane with two camera mounts. one on top and forward facing, the other on the bottom and downward facing, with a clear lexan bubble and a landing skid to protect it. Some people are wiring up teo cameras with a switch and they are actively swapping back and forth between them.

Last shot. Gotta go wrangle the spawn now sounds like my two eldest are getting into a fight.

Another angle.

Also missing from this picture is the video wire from the GoPro to the Vtx on the tail so I can see out of it when piloting. (Yes, I actually pilot it using the camera with the video signal beamed to some goggles I wear)

And the (mostly) finished plane!

I added a couple things after this such as chrome pinstriping between the black, white and orange areas, and a plastic front skidplate for landing on, but this is pretty much what it looks like now.

GoPro camera on my /diy/ mount made from the packing material the GoPro came in!

The GoPro comes on a black plastic "plate" mount in it's lexan packing box. Normally you would toss that mount as it is not meant for regular use, but I found it's perfect for making a camera mount for my FPV plane!

Cockpit area with light spruce ply for reinforcement and velcro to help hold on the camera mount. I don't use magnets here as there isn't enough structure to hold on to them. Also, the heavy duty velcro helps dampen vibration from the prop a bit, resulting in a smoother picture.

Belly bay and more magnets to hold it on. You can get these at a hobby or craft store. They are very small and light but are so strong they will pinch your fingers if you aren't careful. So they are great for holding parts on that need to stay secure in flight, but be easily removable without tools when needed.

Bottom of tail section and the hole that the tail screw goes up into. So I end up with a sandwich:

Vertical stab
Horizontal stab
Fuse tail

and a metal screw driving up through all three.

This way I can disassemble the tail for transport. (The main wings are held on by magnets and spars.)

horizontal stab and another wall anchor for the long screw to pass through.

neodymium magnets and a wall anchor to hold the vertical stabilizer on.

closeup of the integrated antenna mount for the 2.4ghz rc receiver. I mount a skew planar wheel antenna on this point. Similar to the cloverleaf, but with four lobes instead of three