Homemade RC Electric Planes & Onboard Cameras To Scout For Detecting Sites. How's That For Merging 2 Hobbies I Love?:biggrin:Flight Video...

[Critterhunter]

Got other scouting videos in the works that I need to edit to post, but here's the first...

http://youtu.be/m0vjN-ilbM8

It has many advantages over using satellite images, such as particular times of year to scout when the leafs are gone, or when say a drought will outline buried foundation stones under the grass due to the grass drying out quicker that grows over it (even mowed grass will do this). Or, say when the apple or other fruit trees are in bloom, which stick out like a sore thumb from the air in the woods, and often indicate a possible old homestead site. I can also get down real low and see into the edge of woods at an angle looking for the opening of some old trail that wouldn't be visible from a completely vertical view, or say to more easily see a slight rise or depression in the ground to indicate a possible long lost foundation location.

Many of these things, such as the slightly more brown grass during a drought or the ever so slight rise or depression in the ground aren't often noticeable even when standing right on top of them, but from the air they stand out more in some situations. Even faint outlines of long since gone old trails or wagon ruts can be hard to see with feet on the ground right on top of them, but for some reason with a bird's eye view they stick right out.

Other perks to it as well to me over satellites, and besides it's combining the best of both worlds hobby wise. Now if I could only figure out how to combine all that with wine making I'd be all set. Well, in fact I already do. Nothing like drinking some cheap and good homemade wine while building a plane out of construction foam (cheap and easy to do, and durable), or kicking back with a few cold ones and watching the video I filmed or looking over still high resolution shots I took to see if I can see any hints to old prior human activity.

 

[Critterhunter]

Just finished editing volume 2 of using RC electric planes to scout for detecting sites with video or high resolution still shots...
http://youtu.be/-hRy3XVrXb8

I can do live ground feeds for "first person view" like I was in the pilot's seat, record onboard or even on the ground for later review, or just take high resolution still shots via activation on my plane transmitter when I want them for better detail on an object of interest.

 

[cosmic]

SWEET !!

 

[Critterhunter]

Thanks. Check these high resolution still shots out...These were taken over a old farm I had permission to be on. Note the old red barn and the trails through the fields to indicate how old foot trails from eons ago can be very visible from the air. Depending on how faint they are, they can be hard if not impossible to see on the ground standing right on top of them...
[attachment 256502 1.JPG][attachment 256503 2.JPG][attachment 256504 3.JPG][attachment 256505 4.JPG][attachment 256506 5.JPG][attachment 256507 6.JPG]

One of the best thing about using RC for aerials versus satelites is you can always get the view your looking for right up to date on that day with the change of seasons you want for no leaves on the trees and such to see into the canopy easier, or in the spring for say spotting apple trees in bloom in the woods which is often a sign of an old homestead long since gone, or even during a drought to notice the slightly browner grass that may indicate foundation stones under it.

This bird's eye view can reveal details and clues to old activity in the area that would be very hard if not impossible to notice from on the ground. Old roads or trails that the forest canopy shows you slight evidence of when older versus newer trees are in different stages of color change, old foundations that just have very slight elevations or depressions to outline them compared to the surrounding ground that an angled low view from the air might reveal where as feet on the ground standing right on top of some of these things might be very hard to notice, and so on.

With these high performance brushless motors and lipos, depending on the design and wing loading I can lift some pretty hefty payloads into the air on certain planes. One plane I designed specifically for housing my digital pocket camcorder/camera. I can either do still shots triggered remotely by my remote control plane transmitter control, or I can also do live video recording along with live video feed to the ground so I can watch the view as if I were the pilot and also what I'm filming or taking pictures of.

A friend has taken the video fly by wire to the next step. He's gone onto what they call FPV (First Person View). He built goggles with LCD screens in them so that he sees with his eyes and has the experience of actually being the pilot in the plane. He can turn his head left or right and the camera on the plane will pan in that direction just like you are looking out the window. He even has GPS on the screen to note where his plane is at. Very cool stuff.

I could do that but the only problem is if you should lose your video feed and need to remove the goggles to find the plane, it's very hard to find an RC plane in the air once you've taken your eyes off it from experience talking. And also, often he flies his plane so far off in the distance that you could never see it by the naked eye anyway should there be a video feed problem. He has had to land a plane way out of site but was able to then use his GPS in his car to drive to the location. I prefer to keep my real eye on the plane at all times and only take small glances at my display screen to see what the plane is seeing to line up shots and such. I can always land the plane and review the recorded video or still shots for any hints of possible metal detecting sites.

 

[Critterhunter]

[attachment 256508 7.jpg][attachment 256509 8.jpg]
This aerial AP design above has a bulky body because I wanted my camera well protected in the event of a crash. The body, like my other builds, is solid foam, with a chamber hollowed out for the camera. See the camera viewing port on the side? The camera sits with a slightly down ward pointing angle so it's naturally looking at the ground with just a little bit of the horizon in the picture for perspective on things. That way I don't have to fly with the plane turned sideways to take pictures of the ground.
[attachment 256510 9.jpg]
The red dual boom pusher is another design I really like to fly for it's stability as well and it's unique abilities to turn on a dime and get out of a closed in situation, like misjudging the height of a tree in it's path. Thanks to it's large control surfaces such as the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, along with it being a pusher prop configuration to blow air over the controls on the tail, it's got very good control and stability at even almost walking speeds with little air flow over the control surfaces, and it literally seems like I can pull the nose up on that plane and kick the tail around and it will stop and spin around on a dime in one spot. For it's fantastic manoeuvrability I think it would also make an excellent aerial platform and may build another in similar design for aerial video specifically down the road as well.
[attachment 256511 10.jpg]
The delta wing stealth looking plane is the only one I didn't build the body for. It's my speed demon and will do close to 100mph or so. Scares me to fly sometimes and hard to keep an eye on and figure out orientation at full throttle sometimes. It will spin so fast that all you see is a blur. We custom winded the brushless motor with a friend's own specifications and it really gets up and goes with some very efficient amp draw for how fast it'll go.

My favorite type of flying is with a motorized glider I built with a 6 foot swingspan. I glassed the foam wing for strength at that kind of length instead of using carbon tubes to stiffen it up. That huge plane will climb straight up vertical with the nose pointed to the sky. My other planes will do that but it's something to see a huge glider do that too.

Anyway, reason why it's my favorite is I can turn off the motor and ride thermals with the buzzards. If you catch up drafts off and on you can fly all day without ever turning the motor on again or only using it to run over to the next thermal for more lift. I watch the buzzards to find them, and the neat thing is if you aren't running your motor those buzzards will let you fly right beside them. My friend got them on film sailing beside his planes. It's the most relaxing form of flying and I really enjoy it, as opposed to flying that delta wing which when I land that thing my hands are shaking from how fast it will go.

I hotwire my planes from construction foam, and then greatly re-enforce things like the wings with carbon tubes and glue a single sheet of balsa to the bottom of the foam fuse (makes it very strong) for added strength mods/crash protection. A bit of Tyvek tape in strategic spots and it's pretty much bullet proof. The electronics I just sink into the foam via melting out chambers and also channels for the wiring to hide them.

I can get a good half hour or so of flight time with throttle management. Full throttle mostly about ten to fifteen minutes or so. All depends on how much you gun the electric motor and the size of the lipo battery your using. These brushless motors are very powerful, creating a lot of torque and speed, and very efficient, so using high capacity lipo batteries you can get some very long run times out of them.

Great thing about foam is it is cheap, easy to work with, fast to build with, and you can hot wire out pretty much any design you can think up in your head, along with it being very light, very durable, and it repairs real easy with a little Gorilla Glue. Gorilla Glue will foam into the crevices of the foam and make a really solid repair, and it's light like foam too once dry due to all the trapped air in it.

 

[Critterhunter]

Got some more pics of prior plane builds to show. All are custom made from hot wiring out EPS foam, except for the yellow delta wing I bought the body for I showed before, and the tiny little plane for front yard flying with night lights on it I'll probably post here in a bit. Excuse the trashy looking garage. Normally keep it much more tidy, but this was in between cleanings...

This one is a Klingon Bird of Prey using an EDF fan for it's power source. Never got it to fly due to the anti-dihedral of the wing. Impossible I suspect...
[attachment 260274 KlingonBird1.jpg]
P38...Flew great the first maiden, which is always the hardest and most nervous point, hoping to trim things out before you crash. Second flight I had increased the control throws to much on my computer radio and she got quickly out of control. She needs major repairs. My first dual motor plane, and man it flew like smooth butter grabbing the air at low speeds with ease...
[attachment 260275 P383.JPG]
P51...I blew up and printed out black and white images to both use as my guide to get the foam contours right, and also then spray glued them onto the foam to detail it. Flew like a dream...
[attachment 260276 P512.jpg]
My first attempt at a motorized glider, which I could kill the motor and ride thermals with. 6 foot wingspan and man it was something to see a huge plane like that in the air. The wing I had only used a carbon tube in, which with a wing of this size wasn't enough under high G forces. Folded the wing pulling hard out of a dive...
[attachment 260277 SilverGlider1.jpg]
Here's the salvage operation of the above glider. Body only needed minor repair work. Motor was about 4 inches into the ground it hit so hard, but thanks to the balsa I sheeted the foam fuse with it held the body together well. Replaced the wing with a super thin EPS one I hotwired out and then glassed with fiberglass cloth/epoxy for strength. No risks of a fold for the most part with a wing this strong...
[attachment 260278 Glider2.jpg]
My AP plane design for doing aerial videos or still shots. Built about 3 of this design over the years, tweaking a few minor things for the traits I wanted. Very stable for low speed crawls doing AP shots. The camera points out the side and at a somewhat downward angle for perspective of both the ground and the horizon to contrast things. Note the vent holes for the motor's speed controller (ESC). Also, my planes I always put hood scoopes or vents of some kind on the battery chamber to keep that cool too. The battery hatches I use strong earth magnets on for fast change outs of the battery, plug far better to have certain parts fly off without ripping things off in a crash than to make them solid connections...
[attachment 260279 SkyInBackgroundLargePicOfPlane2.jpg]

 

[Critterhunter]

My dual boomer design I've built 4 or 5 times, when a hard enough wreck, despite my strength mods to the foam, makes repair more work than a total body re-build. This plane will grab air at very low speeds for good traction and control because of it's pusher design over the control surfaces at low speeds, and also due to the oversized control surfaces and dual vertical stabs and such...
[attachment 260280 SkyInBackgroundOfDualBoomer1.jpg]
Wanted an extremely light slow flyer, so used a carbon arrow shaft as my fuse and hung all the extras on that in various ways. Very slow crawl at almost walking speeds when I want to. I was dumb enough though to fly this thing in some wind and ended up crashing it into a telephone pole in a field. Needs minor repair work to fly again. Many of my planes I do a color scheme of black on the bottom (since a shadow always exists there) and brighter on top, so I can quickly grasp perspective of the plane's position in the air at far distances when I lose track. Also why I often put a stripe on one side of the wing and tail fin, to quickly figure out which way the plane is going too...
[attachment 260281 SlowFlier1.JPG][attachment 260282 SlowFlyer2.jpg]
This monster I called Big Red. Based on my smaller dual boomer with a 3 foot wingspan, this one had a 6 foot wingspan. Maiden flight it was very slugish and a site to see such a massive electric plane in the air. In the midst of that flight I handed controls over to an experienced flyer because my hands were shaking so bad trying to keep it under control, as it had many trim issues that couldn't be addressed in the air like usual and I needed to land it to set things proper on some internal settings on my computer radio. My friend, though experienced, was used to very fast reacting planes, so he didn't realize he needed to make course corrections and then wait for the plane to react, much like a large boat on the water, so to speak. Ended up he crashed it, but we all had a good time with that experience. Never did re-build it. The wing, like on many of my planes, is held on via nylon bolts, so I can take it apart for transport...
[attachment 260283 BigDualBoomerBigRed2.JPG][attachment 260284 BigDualBoomerBigRed3.JPG]
My first attempt at a bi-plane, an SE5a I think they are called from WWI. On take off, rather than throwing it like I usually do, luckily I tried a ground take off and realized the receiver was glitching badly at any kind of distance before I got it off the ground. Ended up salvaging pieces and parts from it's electronics as I needed them for other builds, so never have flown it. Right now it's like a junk yard dog hanging from the rafters waiting for me to get it back together for a flight. Not happy with a few things about the body build on it, so I suspect I'll just build another bipe and go from there...
[attachment 260285 BiPlane1.jpg]

 

[Critterhunter]

A "bird of prey" style build. Couldn't get the center of gravity right on it. I was way off on what I thought it should be with this forward swept wing, and no amount of led places in the nose to correct it would work, because by then it was just too heavy. Plan to build another, as these birds of prey are some of the most agile and fast platforms you'll ever fly, not to mention look wicked like alien technology as they zip by...
[attachment 260286 BirdOfPrey1.jpg]
And EDF (electric ducted fan) flying wing. These EDF powered engines make a noise like a jet airplane. I have yet to get an EDF build to fly for various reasons of the experimental builds I keep throwing them on. This flying wing was glassed via epoxy and fiberglass cloth. As you can see by the second picture, it'll hold a ton of weight without the foam bending. I wanted to glass the fiberglass because no amount of carbon tubes would probably hold this thin wing together at the speeds and high G maneuvers I had planned for it, but COG was a issue once again and I still need to sort that out on it. A plane will fly nose heavy, but if tail heavy they usually get quickly out of control like a car with bad shocks on a bumpy road...
[attachment 260287 DeltaWingEDF1.JPG][attachment 260288 DeltaWingEDF2.jpg]
A little ready to fly (comes with radio, charger, battery) plane called the Ember 2 for around $99. I bought it for lazy days on the front porch when I didn't want to drive somewhere to fly a larger plane. This little guy is tiny, but can't be flown in much wind at all it's so light. I picked up some tiny led lights at Radio Shack and powered them off the plane's battery for some night flying. Later I decided I hated night flying, so I took them off...
[attachment 260289 Ember2WithNightLights1.jpg]
This plane I read about somewhere. A Nazi design bomber that they found plans for in the rubble of some bunker. I thought it was the coolest thing I ever saw, and so decided to try my hand at building one. Canards like this (meaning the small wing in the front) are very hard to get to fly right. COG is critical, so it only lasted about 20 seconds in the air. A friend later built one himself and got it to fly well. It was a fantastic site to see, and it would crawl at some very slow walking speeds if you wanted it to. He even put a steering nose gear wheel on it to taxi around on the ground for take off. I had planes, if mine would have flown, to install a bomb door on the bottom that I could throw a switch on my transmitter and have it drop ping pong balls. Maybe one day I'll try building another. Obviously the pics of some of my builds are prior to covering them with iron on Econocoat or such to hide the electronics I've sunk into the foam and finish off the looks of the plane...
[attachment 260291 FokWolfGermanPic1.gif][attachment 260292 FalkWolf2.JPG]

One of the biggest perks I like about RC foamie electrics, is not only the low hassle ease of powering them up for a flight, but also that anything I can pretty much imagine in my head I can hot wire out of EPS foam. I don't care for flat foam most of the time, as that requires more work and limits what I can do in some respects. I only use flat foam for my control surfaces sometimes. Also, far less work than balsa to build stuff, and far easier to repair using Gorilla Glue in the even of a crash.

I will sheet my fuses on the bottom with one fast sheet of balsa just do strengthen the foam up in the even of a crash, and am amazed at how well that works. For wings, usually I just install a carbon tube in them (cheap arrow shafts from Walmart when they are on sale) to strengthen them, or will glass a wing when I feel I need even more strength. My control surfaces I usually also install flat carbon spars in to stiff them up when using flat foam.

I get almost as much enjoyment thinking up designs and building them than I do flying them. Just as much fun as a matter of fact building them, where I can lose myself with a six pack and some good music in the dead of winter in my garage, building whatever I can think up and wondering if it will fly. Building in foam, and using cheap sources for electronics, these planes are dirt cheap to make. Usually well south of $40 in electronics, as the batteries of course can be used in other planes. It's a great hobby, just like detecting, but can really cheese you off at times when you wreck a plane after all the hard work put into it, although these builds can be done in a few days at a few hours a day.

Most of my enjoyment comes from the slower planes, such as the glider, lazy riding thermals with the buzzards on a warm summer day. The faster planes, such as the delta wing yellow one that will do near 100mph and spin so fast it's a blur, tend to have me landing in minutes, feeling like it was hours, with hands shaking from the experience. Yea, I can cruise that plane nice and slow, due to the high lift a flying wing generates, but you know how that goes...

When you're in a fast car you just can't but help smash the peddle to the floor and see what she can do. I can literally point that plane's nose straight up into the sky and gun to full throttle, and it'll climb out of site in the blink of an eye completely vertical. When a motor's thrust is a good bit beyond the weight of the actual plane it'll do that sort of thing. That store bought foam body I didn't glass, but I did build a carbon tube skeleton for it all connected together and sunk into the bottom of the fuse. Amazing how it holds up to high G's at lightning speeds and maneuvers.

The nose on it I hold on via small rare earth magnets, so in the even of a nose in it'll fly off and take away some of the momentum, and also divert the impact from a straight nose in into the ground. Much like Nascar does with their cars in wrecks I think. The canopy (battery chamber) on this plane, like my others, is held on via magnets too, so that too can fly off without ripping things apart...

 

[Critterhunter]

A few other of my builds I forgot about but stumbled across recently...

This one is the only body I ever buy (Stryker). It had been involved in some rather bad crashes and beyond repair to it's original design, so I cut/sanded down the body to make it as streamlined as possible to lower drag and shoot for maximum speeds. Little things such as hiding the servo horns and control rods inside hollow V-stabs, or the sharp nose cone in front of the motor to aid airflow passing by there as well.

There is an air inlet for battery cooling in the front of the canopy, and a reverse hood scoop exit exhaust for that on the body behind the canopy. The other small square you see on the body is an external heat sink I added to the ESC to insure good cooling with air flow so it didn't overheat at the amps this motor was drawing. This plane was way too fast. Amazed me how it would shoot from one end of the sky to the other in pretty much a blink of the eye it felt like...

[attachment 260800 StreamlinedStyker1.jpg][attachment 260801 StreamlinedStryker2.jpg]

This one is another EDF powered experimental design I was shooting for. Might have flew if I could have added enough weight to get the COG right, but by then it would have been too heavy. I suspected it wouldn't fly but just had to try, and it didn't. But if looks count I guess it was a success in that respect...

[attachment 260802 Vortex1.jpg][attachment 260803 Vortex2.jpg]

And here's a initial hotwiring/sanding of a motorized glider. In the background you can see the P38 as well in it's bare naked foam form...

[attachment 260804 BareFoamGlider.jpg]

 

[edjcox]

Wow.. Enjoyed all of that.

Can you give me a list source for your control electronics? Need the reciever, transmitters, and servo's...

Wanted to ask if you ever thought of a Dirgible? Would be slower yet controllable with the ducted fans for thrust and control. You could throw in rudder control as well.

My thought would be to add a camera system maybe CCTV with a a realtime downlink.

Would love to try and build an RC dirgible..