Which Heli - same question but different!

[dcr]

Hi,

I am looking for advice on which heli to buy. My criteria list is probably somewaht different from most others, so although this is fundamentally an age old question, the answer will be different!

1. Do not want to do stunts, aerobatics or any fancy flying
2. Want to be able to hover as steady as possible
3. Want to be able to carry a payload suitable for video - ie at least 40 grams. (The higher the payoad the better)
4. Don't need to be in the air for much more than 5 minutes at a time
5. Do need to go back into the air several times in a row (can be spaced out though)
6. Ideally, but not necessary, have a range of about 500 feet.
7. It has to be able to fly outside, although it would only be flown in good weather and light conditions (for the video).

I have just taken delivery of a Twister Chinook, and am awaiting the 36 gram camera, but I think this will be an introductory step and I'll graduate onto something else quite quickly. The Chinook can still be a secondary film unit in the right conditions!!!

Thanks in anticipation..
DCR

[robgt]

You can carry light video gear on a heli like the Trex450.
That said, it depends on what type of videoing your looking to do.
If it's hobby level, just for fun stuff, then that would be a good solution.
If it's commercial grade stuff, then you want to be looking at heli's like the Robbe Cuatro etc which is a nitro/petrol based heli, although I would possibly look into the larger electric helicopters too.
The bigger it is, the more stable it is.

Range really shouldn't be an issue.

Cheers,
Rob

[Sesame]

The only thing youll find using a contra like the chinook you will have to pick your days very carefully because their not very good in the wind, even la ight breeze they can struggle in where something like the 450 will handle reasonably windy conditions. Again the larger the heli the more stable its gonna be.

like wot Rob said

[Pipistrelli]

I have used my basic Trex 450 to capture video from a transmitting video camera. However, if you want 500' range then a bigger heli would be easier to see and control at that distance and would be much more stable.

A pal of mine (warboysastro) taped his standard digital camera to the back of his Trex 600 and took a 6 minute video, quality is excellent and is posted on Youtube by Jes Greaves.

One piece of advice, go electric because there will be much less vibration than an IC powered model!

[jboweruk]

I can vouch for the Chinook will easily carry a FlyCamone, without any strain, she has a fair bit of poke for a Coax, I believe FC1 is around 48g.

As said though she's no good in wind or wet conditions. Maybe a fixed Pitch heli would do though again they tend not to handle wind very well so I'm told. How about the Blade 400, she's fairly cheap, by all accounts can be made fairly stable and although a 3d heli obviously don't need to do that. And she'll have no issues lifting a small camera like the FC1. Extra flights will need xtra batteries. The beauty of the B400 is that although she's a 400 class she only uses 11.1V batteries which are by nature not very deer. Check out the specs and spares on Fast-Lad.

I'm not a salesman, she's the exact same heli I have in mind for exactly the same purpose as yourself. Camera ship.

[scoobycolin]

FC1 is great but not really HD quality

Not sure what the TREX600 can lift but I would imagine it could lift a standard video cam. I have seen proper camera mounts for the TREX600. You dont say what this is for? Is it for commerical use, surveying etc?

I understand there are heli's out there that look like a flying bedstead but are made specifically to hold gyro mounted camera equipment.

Expensive though Im sure.

[dcr]

Thanks guys,

The initial camera I intend using is the FC1 (38 grams), but I have also got a HD camera recording to SD card, but it weighs 110 grams.
The bedstead mentioned is £1500 and can only lift about 55 grams, 75 at a push. Its the Draganflayer and only comes from Canada, flies for 5 minutes and is very stable. They have a military version which can lift 1lb (450g).

Chinook arrived today, but am having problems getting FMC to run under Vista - flashing display, no control, landscape disappears when heli appears. Mmmm, strange, (I loaded the missing .dll but that only solved the initial error message).

[Rat]

Turn off textures.

[pompeyjohn]

Not sure what the TREX600 can lift but I would imagine it could lift a standard video cam. I have seen proper camera mounts for the TREX600. .

Do you have a link? Would be much appreciated

[jboweruk]

FMS isn't that good, you would do far better with Phoenix which does run with no issues at all. I have FMS and can't even force it to recognise any controllers.

[Sao]

Minicopter do an aerial Phot verison of the Joker
http://www.minicopter.de/en/index.html
Available in the UK from Revolution models, just make sure your wallet is sat down when you look into prices

[jboweruk]

Tad pricey what?!? Did you ever sort yourself out a camera ship?