Flying over Manderley

[Kilroy]

Today's test flight. I had some vibration problems but the results are promising.

[dasnutz]

Cool.

I have a guy at work who is looking to get into remote controlled copter flying... where should he start? Where can he buy one?

[Kilroy]

There is an excellent Beginner's Guide here. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=439635

That forum is great. There are several others, but I hang out in there.

Read a the beginner's guide and ask questions in the forum before buying.

Some stuff can be ordered here http://www.greathobbies.com/ (Canadian) and there are a bunch of suppliers in the states. I usually order two of anything I break once There is nothing available locally for helis, just general RC stuff.

[EDSGOLF]

Great pics..............can't wait to see the Augusta National pictures.

[fireice]

Great pics from out in the Gower Dan

[Hacker]

Those were taken from a remote controlled 'copter?!?

Very Cool!!!

[Wilster]

Superb , really impressive quality.

[Kilroy]

Her's the thread from last season discussing the rc heli-cam project.
http://forum.ottawagolf.com/showthread.php?t=10967

I rebuilt the heli over the winter and I have a new camera, so I had to make a new mount etc etc...

[Wilster]

Have you proposed this type of aerial photography to any courses yet? In regards to publicity , advertising etc?

[LobWedge]

Great work Mr. Killbank! That low angle shot is gorgeous!

[Kilroy]

Have you proposed this type of aerial photography to any courses yet?

I have talked to some. It's still a work in progress, but we're getting close.

[Wilster]

I think you`ve got yourself a winner there !

[Kilroy]

I am still getting used to using the video downlink. It is a radio transmitter that sends me the image from the camera to a monitor im my shades. It's really helpful for framing (beats guessing) but it's a bit disorienting to shift your focus back and forth while flying.

[Wilster]

Monitor in your shades ? Sounds like something out of Mission Impossible!

[Kilroy]

It's pretty geeky!

[Weazl]

Very nice - must have a nice high res. camera on there for such nice color and clarity.

[Kilroy]

The camera is a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX1
It has a Leica lens
http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs...00000000005702

[em69]

Excellent! Very neat.

What we need now would be fly-throughs of all the holes of all the courses you have under the "Featured Courses" list. Much like what CBS (and others) do before playing to show the viewers the hole.

This would be great to get a good view of a course before playing it. You can become very familiar with a course layout this way.

Is this too much to ask?

[Kilroy]

Yes it is

This heli is too small for that. You'd need a motion sickness bag to watch it.

[em69]

Yes it is

This heli is too small for that. You'd need a motion sickness bag to watch it.

So I guess you need to get a full size heli...

[Kilroy]

Or an ultralite.

[em69]

Aah, see now your thinking You are getting excited about the idea aren't you .

[Kilroy]

For several years now.

[big mac]

OH BOY--does this mean you can do some neat yardage books?

[em69]

I would definately pay a small fee to view a course through fly-bys before playing it. This would be ideal to view elevation changes, heights of trees, where to cut a corner, etc.

[Kilroy]

Here's a good example of why this is such a long project. Today my shooting was cut short due to a slipping main gear. Upon examining my bird after the flight...

The main rotor shaft of the heli is on a gear to the motor via a belt drive system. The gear has a tendency to slip when highly stressed due to no flat on the shaft for the set screw. Blue locktite is recommended, but I am finding with the excess load of the camera it just aint enough. It cut my flying short today for the last time. I am going to disasemble the drive and grind a flat on the shaft for the set screw. This will set me back some more, but will end the problem. I hope I don't have problems grinding a titanium shaft!

And if you don't know what a clevis is, ignore the above... smile and nod. Back away slowly and nobody will get hurt.

[1972Apex]

Awesome pics Dan! Very impressive. Let me know when you start offering to take aerial shots of people's houses and properties .

[LobWedge]

Awesome pics Dan! Very impressive. Let me know when you start offering to take aerial shots of people's houses and properties .

...or spooking for CSIS.

Hey Reid, not a mod anymore?

[Kilroy]

I'll be back in the air next week. This rebuild wil be a bit of a bugger. Lots to remove (rotor head, tail belt drive, main gear, pull the shaft ) grind, clean parts, re-assemble, re-track the rotor blades, test etc... Monster Garage in miniature. Fortunately I did not drop it so no parts needed!

Reid:
Email me with a description of what you are looking for, how big the open space is and if possible a ground pic of the area. Oh and lat/long coordinates for google earth would be nice!

[CMack]

I can retrofit a golf ball retriever for your heli. Just in case