FAQ
How feasible would it be for me to get an RC Heli
to do some aerial shots? I've never flown a RC heli
or plane before, so this would be my first one.
Welcome to the base of the learning cliff! My first advice would be to
get a good RC Heli simulator before you take
another step. The simulator will save you thousands of dollars in
replacement parts that you would damage while learning to fly a real model.
I would suggest that as a minimum, you buy a heli
at least the size of an Align Trex. Stay away
from the ready-to-fly micros, as nothing from them will be usable as you
upgrade. Budget-wise, this aspect of the hobby is not cheap. Be prepared to
spend upwards of $500 for the bare minimum, but probably more realistically
$1000 if buying a radio worth keeping and components which are not scraping
the barrel in terms of quality. Many heli addicts
have learned the hard way that the expression "buy once buy
right" is true. Buying a cheap version of anything tends to cost more
in the long run, as you finish up replacing it with what you should have
gotten in the first place.
Learning to fly a heli is a challenge in
itself, so aerial photography is going to be on the back burner for quite a
while. Go through the past pages in the helicopter forums and read read read! You are not the
first one to come along and ask this question. Go get some education by
reading the other questions and answers on this forum and then you will be able
to ask knowledgeable questions, and will better understand the answers
after you get a little background on the subject. There is a document that
assists with the learning phase:- "Electric Helicopter
Beginners Guide" by Toshi Morita (you
can find it on RCGroups) also, read Radd's School (find it with Google). The
information in these files will help a lot. Download all of Finless's instruction
videos. Even if you don't buy a Trex, the
videos will give you a solid understanding of how model helicopters go
together and how to set them up. Enjoy the journey!
Can I make a profit with my AP hobby?
We know several people who have made money in AP. If you form a
business, all the equipment is tax deduct able as a business expense. The
key to making money is good marketing. Commercial construction and real
estate companies are more likely to use AP than home real estate agents. A
person we know went door to door in a shopping mall with his portfolio,
mentioning that would be doing AP in the area and got several hundred
dollars of work in a few hours. You should enjoy doing AP, rather than
thinking of it as an income source. Successful people are those who enjoy
doing AP. They frequently make enough to pay for the hobby and bit more.
Several forums have had threads dealing with AP business practices. Here's one that is very
informative.
How can I limit my liability when doing commercial AP work?
You should research local law and methods of limiting liability on your
own. Many in the AP business have formed either an LLC or a Corporation to
limit liability. Since we are not lawers, you
should not rely on our comments to be correct. You should consult with a
qualified attorney to be sure you have taken all the steps need to best
limit the potential for a law suit. Remember that even though you have
incorporated, you could still be sued individually if it was suspected that
your negligance caused injury or damage. The
insurance offered by the AMA does not cover commercial AP work. Commercial
AP insurance coverage is available through the Remote Control Aerial
Photographers Association. The agent is Hill & Usher Insurance.
How much Should I charge for AP work?
Charge a fair amount and don't undersell yourself. Act
professional and be proud of your work. You can do promotions and may be
even a sample shoot if the prospect is good with the potential of a
return. Use watermarks on the pictures in these cases to be sure they
are not used without you getting paid.. Be
sure to let the people know that any promotion is for a limited time as
well what a full price would be. For good rule of thumb, go by what auto
mechanics charge for car repair. They are about $85-100/hour at a
shop in my area. Studio Photographers charge even more,
so do some research in your area..
Remember you are providing your own equipment as well as taking
risks. Include travel time in the job as
well as material cost. If you offer post processing,
include that time as well. You can always give one time discount,
but it is hard to raise prices once they are set. A tank of gas cost
50 dollars or more today.
AP Strut System: How strong are they?
Our AP struts are designed to be strong and light. The strut will handle at least a 10G
force landing as long as the machine is level on ground contact. It will
not handle a nose down crash as well, so it is best to keep the helicopter
as level as possible, even if you are crashing. That will minimize damages. Besides that, All parts are design so that
it can be easily replaced or rebuilt. These spare parts are available upon
request at a reasonable cost.
Camera Mounts
On all AP systems, we recommend a preflight check for loosened screws or
bolts. Even with locktite and locknuts, a
preflight inspection is good practice. Any damages should be repaired/replaced as recommended. An emergency strap
should also be used if possible. (usually a camera wrist strap zip tied to
the frame works well)
The AP series mount uses ball links as part of the gimbals. If these
links are stripped or damaged, they should be replaced. The screws are 2-56
(5/16") on all links. There is no need to be concerned with the
strength of the hardware as the design has passed my 16 lb bowling ball
static load test. I recommend a payload of 250 gm because the elastomer damping is tuned to the load of 250 gm.
Presently, I am running a Sony camera that weighs 260 gm plus trip servo
and tilt servo. Even so, we recommend using an emergency strap on the
camera to heli/SS as secondary precaution. We
take pride in the durability and quality of our mount but take no
responsibility for damages caused by failure due to crashes and abuse.
Procam and HDcam series mounts are designed primarily for Helicam applications. They can handle larger load.
The passive oil shock damper may require occasional service after initial
setup. In a normal environment, this should be a rare occurrence. If you
are running an active gyro system, always check for proper function before
flight.
What is a Gimbal
Our camera mount typically designed as a gimbal.
APcam mount allow 360 degrees of
self stabilization based on gravitational forces. Gimbal allow freedom of movement
along the axis so that camera can face several direction. (as many as 3 axis) With self
leveling, undampened gimbal
can allow the camera to "over swing". To reduce this over swing,
foam rubber dampers are used in Apcam series and
oil shock dampers in Procam and HDcam series. In addition to self stabilization,
gimbals are designed with vibration isolation of the camera,
resulting in a clearer still image capture. Gimbals can be used in airplane
application without issues, but in small helicopter applications, they do
have a downside. If a relatively large payload is carried compared to the
size of the helicopter, any movement in the heli
will be transmitted with reactive force to the camera. This is very
apparent during heli flights in windy condition
when using the FMA Copilot CPD4 stabilization system. In smaller
helicopters, this movement can make a steady hover hard to achieve, and
will result in some loss of shots.
Vibration control
In an airplane like the Slow Stick, vibration is a small issue as you
can always turn off the power and glide, but with a helicopter this is not
possible. To achieve good result, You need to be very thorough when you
balance the blades and eliminate vibration.. For
some helicopters like the Corona,
I highly recommend certain upgrades like the 7 mm shaft kit. All our helicam mounts are designed with a floating camera
mount system. The camera mount floats on an elsatomer
which helps dampen the vibration. The thickness of elastomer
can be increased by the user if more damping is desired. Here is link
to a forum discussion that provides a lot of information on a vibration
control in a heli. ">link to a forum
discussion that provides a lot of information on a number of different
video glasses.
Adjusting damping on the gimbal
Change the damping on the 2 axis self leveling gimbals is easily done.
Obtain several pieces of 0.75" foam rubber with varying firmness.
Replace the original using the trial and error method to determine which
piece produces the desired result. Different materials can be mixed on the
roll and pitch axis. Lighter loads require softer foam rubber while heavier
loads will require firmer foam. The ideal dampening set up does not bounce
or over swing while changing the attitude of the platform. I find that it
is better to fly with a bit stiffer damping than have it under damped. If
using the oil shock damper, refer to the oil shock instruction
sheet linked on the Procam page. The amount of
damping can be tuned using various valves and weights of oil. Tension can
be tightened by using a stronger spring. The trick to adjusting damping, is to fly your vehicle in video mode. Adjust
until most of the random swing goes away. It is usually better to have the
dampening stiffer rather than too soft.
Recommended equipment
A good brushless motor and ESC is a must for any electric helicopter.
The ESC (Engine Speed Control) converts the DC voltage of the battery to
three phase AC current to power the motor. The ESC varies the frequency of
this AC current to control the speed of the motor to provide variable power
output to the motor depending on the demand of changing flight conditions.
In a smaller helicopter, most ESC's contain a BEC
(Battery Eliminator Circuit) which reduces the main battery voltage to 4.8
volts. This lower voltage is used to power the receiver, gyro and servos
and eliminates the need for a separate battery pack. These BEC's have sufficient power for the helicopter servos,
but not enough for the additional servo(s) used to control the camera.
Larger helicopter ESC's do not even have a BEC
due to high voltage they use for the motor, but instead, use a separate
battery pack(best, but not handy) to power the receiver, gyro and servos.
When using a camera mount that has servos on a smaller helicopter, it is
necessary to use an additional BEC to add increased capacity for the
additional electrical load. We recommend using a switching BEC like the UBEC or ParkBEC
and a good ESC.
Another option is Kontronik Jazz ESC with a switching BEC. These BECs will make sure that you have plenty of good clean
power available for your radio. A good dual conversion receiver or DSP
receiver like the Berg is a must in any AP platform. Also, consider getting
an FMA
Copilot. The Copilot is a flying assist device that can help you keep
your platform level without pilot input. It is available as stand alone
device or better yet, with the F8 receiver combo, these are great products.
The F8 has a fail safe mode which can provide some insurance against a loss
of signal.
How do I Trigger the Camera Shutter?
AskmanAP carries the RC Flysoft
line of IR and electronic switches that can be used to trigger the camera
shutter. Another alternative is the Hexpert Systems PRISM Photography Radio-Infrared
Shutter Module which will trigger any IR capable camera with a single
radio channel. We have used the Pentax Optio series
camera which has an IR (infrared) triggering capability.
How do I Set up a video downlink so I can see what the camera
sees?
Video downlinks are a big subject. Several options are available. Blackwidowav.com is best the known,
but even cheap Hong Kong video setups that
are frequently available on EBay will work. The best system is
2.4ghz 4 channel or 8 channel transmitter/receiver
setup. There are small button camera/transmitter combos that
could be mounted on the gimbal or higher powered
transmitter (200 mw or higher) available. The higher power setup requires
an amateur radio licence to operate. A good patch
antenna will do a lot for range and quality of image returned.. The button camera has a 5 mw power output
hence, limited range, but is usable in open area.
The image can be viewed by the pilot or camera operator using video glasses
which are also known as HMD"s, The Ingenio
SAS Eyetop Centra
is most commonly used. It is a "cyclops"
(one eye) type single LCD viewing port that is viewed using one eye
glass. It does have some downside due to poor glass design, but still
useful if you are flying
solo (without a separate camera operator). The cost is about $350.00 There are also higher end HMD's for one eye viewing. If you are using
another person to operate the camera, That person can the the full wrap around video glass designed for an ipod or game boy since it is not necessary for the
camera person to keep the helicopter in view at all times. The
best known wrap around device is the now discontinued Sony glasstron. These glasses start at about $150.00 and go
up from there. Here is link
to a forum discussion that provides a lot of information on a number of different
video glasses. At some point, the weight penalty becomes prohibitive
especially if you are flying a T-Rex. If you are starting with larger
helicopter, you have a lot more options as far as weight limitations are
concerned.
If I start with a T-Rex as an AP platform, but later plan to
upgrade to a larger helicopter, can I select equipment that will allow me
to upgrade without having to buy all new electronics?
Yes. A good gyro selection would be the Futaba GY240 or even better. the GY401. These will work on both small and larger
helicopters and can be moved easily. If you plan on moving up to Logo
10/14/swift, a Futaba 9650 servo would be ideal with Castle Creations
HV45 ESC. An external BEC or external battery pack is recommend on all helicopters.
I'm thinking of starting AP by using a GWS Slow Stick - Park
Flyer airplane. Since this machine has no ailerons, how hard is it to
control?
The Slow Stick is a very controllable and stable machine even without
ailerons. The key is large control surface movements. The Slow
Stick can be used with FMA
Copilot connected to the rudder. It is a very good AP platform for
low
wind condition.
Contact Information
You can contact me through Private Messaging on RunRyder,
RCgroups or RCuniverse.
My handle is Askman at these forums. also, you can contact me at askmanAP@hotmail.com. This is my
secondary business, so it may take several hours for me to get back to you.
I live in Oregon in good ole USA with
wife and two kids.
Becoming Part of AskmanAP R/D team
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