Prosit Neujahr / Happy Newyear!

Prosit Neujahr und danke fürs regelmäßige Besuchen meines Blog im vergangenen Jahr!!
Kommt auch 2010 wieder regelmäßig vorbei, ich werd mindestens einmal in der Woche ein Update machen und Vids posten.

Happy newyear and thanks for visiting my blog in 2009. Keep checking back next year - I'll surley keep on updateing it at least once a week and post new vids.

Xmas 2009 - MPX Blizzard

Topaktuell das Video vom Erstflug heute:


Hier seht ihr mein Weihnachts-Geschenk - den MPX Blizzard (mit tuning Motor):

Test: Revell Huey Attack

Als ich den kleinen Koax im Kaufhaus sah, konnte ich nicht widerstehen. Hatte eigentlich schon befürchtet, dass er nicht besonders gut fliegt - wurde dann umso mehr von den recht guten Flugleistungen überrascht. Auch der gefürchtete Heckdrift ist hier nicht stark ausgeprägt. Aber: Wind darf nicht viel gehen! Auch die kleinste Brise macht ihn schon recht schwierig zu kontrollieren - das hätte ich nicht gedacht.
Verwendete Akkus: orig: 10C 2S1P 900mah, zusätzlich: 3x 25c 2s1P mit 850mah
Flugzeit ca. 5-8min

As I saw this little koax heli in the store I couldn't resist. I was afraid this toy would perform afully - but after the first flights I was convinced that the koax helis nowadays can perform quite well! Even the taildrift which most cheap koax have doesn't appear here (at least not until the batteries are empty). Only thing to avoid: windy conditions! Even the slightest breeze can make him hard to control - I didn't believe this!
Batteries: orig: 10C 2S1P 900mah, additional: 3x 25c 2s1P with 850mah
Flighttime approx. 5-8min

Cularis GoPro Videos

In den letzten Wochen hab ich jede Gelegenheit genutzt, die Cularis mit der GoPro Hero HD bewaffnet durch die Luft zu jagen:



In the past weeks I used every opportunity to fly the cularis armed with the new GoPro Hero HD cam.

Mini Titan Revival

Hab meinen Mini Titan e325 wiederbelebt. Er wurde neu auf der Futaba einprogrammiert - das Setup funktionierte auf meinem "Turntable" recht gut. Erstmals konnte ich die Wirkung des Heckrotor Gyros recht schön testen. Auch der Blattspurlauf scheint einigermaßen zu passen (viel besser geht's wahrscheinlich bei dem kleinen Heli nicht).

Von Heli

GoPro auf Mustang P51

Für die nächsten Flüge der GoPro hab ich die Mustang leicht modifiziert.
Um Gewicht zu sparen, musste ich auf das Schutzgehäuse verzichten (hat auch nochmal 90g) und ein wenig basteln. Damit die Cam wenig Luftwiderstand hat, wurde Sie um 90 Grad gedreht. Dies erfordert eine Nachbearbeitung des Videos in der Schnittsoftware - ist aber kein großes Problem.




For the next flights of the GoPro I modified my Mustang. To save weight I don't use the protective case (which has 90g). To have less air drag I rotated the cam by 90 deg - I just have to rotate the video on "post production" in the video editing software. First vids should follow soon...

GoPro Hero HD Testflights

Heute konnte ich erfolgreich 2 Testflüge mit der GoPro Hero HD Cam absolvieren:
Mein Review auf RCGroups.com
GoPro Hero HD:
71g Cam
26g 3,7v 1100 mah Battery
2g SD Card

50g Case
19g non WR case door / 22g WR case door
28g baseplate with screw

Minimum config: 99g Cam+SD+battery
Minimum protected config: 189g (with non WR door and smaller screw)

Dies war eigentlich der erste Flug überhaupt mit der neuen GoPro Hero HD Cam (montiert auf meiner Cularis). Das Gewicht von ca. 190g fordert zwar Tribut von der Cularis - man muß öfters den Motor bemühen - dafür steigt aber auch die Geschwindigkeit :-)

This was the first flight with the new GoPro Hero HD Cam mounted on my Cularis. The weight of about 190g made me use the motor more often :-) But the additional weight also makes her faster :-)

Hier ein paar Screenshots in der Originalauflösung:

2009-11-26 GoPro Testshots

2 Beispielvideos in orig. Auflösung / 2 samples in orig. Resolution:

Cularis und Excel - Escape the Fog

Da wir heute dichten Nebel hatten, sind wir in höhere Lagen gefahren um dort gemeinsam mit Franz bei Göstritz ein wenig zu segeln. Die Aussicht war super und den Nebel unter der Autobahnbrücke hereinkommen zu sehen beeindruckend.
Die Landung sah ärger aus - die Cularis kann schon was einstecken...

To escape the dense fog we drove up to Franz and did some sailing with a great view. Seeing the fog coming was awesome! The landing looks worse than it was - Cularis can take some beating!

FPV ueber Gloggnitz

An einem herrlichen Tag bin ich das erste Mal mit der Tucan vom Silbersberg/Heinrichshöhe aus gestartet. Der Silbersberg ist ca 250m höher gelegen als Gloggnitz und somit ein guter Ausgangspunkt für FPV.
Hier flog nun auch wieder die Lumix ganz vorne mit und hat im Endlos-Modus tolle Bilder von Gloggnitz geschossen.

On this great day I flew the Tucan for the first time in FPV mode from our "Silbersberg/Heinrichshoehe". This is a hill 250m above Gloggnitz - a good point to start exploring the town.
Again the lumix was mounted in the front to take pictures from my town.

Josef Schmierl mit Red Bull Cobra Turbinenheli

Gestern hatten wir einen Spezialgast auf unserem Gloggnitzer Flugfeld: Josef Schmierl!

Hier einige technischen Daten zur Cobra:
Maßstab 1:4
Rumpflänge 352 cm
Höhe 100 cm
Breite 85 cm
Rotordurchmesser 305 - 335 cm
Heckrotor 64,5 cm
Gewicht 24,2 KG
Antrieb Jakadofsky Turbine Pro 5000 98000 U/min
Mechanik Dipl. Ing. Michael Kornberger
Rotorblätter M-Blades
Fernsteuerung Futaba FX 30
Mikado V Stabi
Servos Graupner Jumbo Digital
Beleuchtung Maxotronic
Bauzeit ca. 1700 Stunden
http://www.msk.at/html/cobra.html

Tucan mit Headtracker

Das war der erste Flug meiner Tucan mit Headtracker Unterstützung für das Pan/Tilt Modul meiner FPV Cam. Somit ist es noch ein Stück realistischer und das Gefühl selbst im Cockpit zu Sitzen noch ein wenig echter. Es ging ein konstanter Wind (von der Richtung der Sonne) somit konnte ich gegen den Wind fast in der Luft parken. Tut mir leid, wenns immer die selbe Gegend ist - aber das ist halt mein "Übungsfeld" :-) Zumindest hat der Herbst nette Farben gezaubert.

This was Tucans first flight with headtracker controlled pan/tilt FPV Cam. Now it got even more realistic and immersive. A constant breeze from the sun's direction enabled me to "park" the bird in the sky. Sorry for mostly showing you this airfield from above - but it's my training field :-) At least autumn painted great colours!

3 Flüge in Reichenau. Diesmal bin ich mit dem neuen Futaba FF10 Sender und einem PCM Empfänger ohne merkliche Störung auf 1200m Entfernung gekommen (weiter traute ich mich nicht).
Ausserdem hab ich gelernt, dass die Tucan mit 6Amp die Höhe halten kann und eine Reisefluggeschw. von 25km/h hat :-)
3 Flights in Reichenau. This time with my new Futaba FF10 RC and an PCM receiver. I went 1200m away without any range problems. Didn't want to risk to go any further yet. And I learned that the Tucan can hold it's height with just 6Amp and has an travel speed of 25km/h :-)

Video Update: Tucan Panmount, Mustang with Ribbons

War wieder fleissig am Wochenende und hab das gesammelte Videomaterial geschnitten:

Zuerst ein älteres Video, da hat mir die Landung so gut gefallen, dass ich auch dieses Material uploaden musste :-)

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Dies war wie immer, nach einer gröberen Änderung, ein Testflug ohne FPV Brille - um sicher zu gehen, dass die Systeme alle funktionieren.
Teilweise bin ich dann über's Laptop-Display geflogen, also war es ein "halb"-FPV Flug :-)
Leider hatte ich hier am Laptop das WLAN Modul nicht deaktiviert - deshalb gabs unschöne Störungen im Bild. Das Schwenken auf die Seite wird per Seitenruder-Joystick auf dem Sender gesteuert (und mein Seitenruder über den Querruder-Kanal...).

After every major change I testfly the system without the FPV goggles to see if everything still works. This time I flew have of the flight using the laptops screen. Unfortunatley the WIFI module on my laptop was on - so I got some nasty interferences. The cam is steered using the rudder channel (and Tucans rudder via the aileron ch).

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Nachdem ich schon bei RCPowers ein ähnliches Video gesehen hab, wollte ich so ein Airshow-Feeling auch mal selbst haben :-) Die Bänder und der recht ordentliche Wind an dem Tag haben die Mustang aber recht schwierig steuerbar gemacht. Da war ich froh sie wieder unbeschadet landen zu können. (I bin schau froh, wauns wieder untn is!)

After I have seen a similar video from RCPowers I always wanted to have this Airshow feeling with my plane :-) The ribbons however produced a great ammount of drag plus a quite windy day made steering difficult - so I was glad to safely land her again.

AP Solution Tucan - FPV update

Dieses Wochenende hat die Tucan eine getunte FPV Ausrüstung installiert bekommen. Der Videosender ist besser platziert, und als FPV Cam verwende ich die kleine IF OSC, welche ich auf einen 180° Servo montiert hab.


This weekend my Tucan got FPV tuned. The Video TX has been placed better and I now use the smaller IF OSC cam on a 180° panning servo.


Update: Damit der Flugakku vor der Kälte geschützt ist, hab ich eine Schaumstoff-Tasche gebastelt.

To protect the main battery from the cold (which seriously decreases performance) I built a "pocket"

Tucan with friends (Air2Air with Jet)

An diesem Tag hatten wir insg. 4 Flieger gleichzeitig in der Luft! Dabei hab ich zufällig Franz' Jet von Oben gefilmt. Leider ist die Landung nicht drauf, da die Lumix nach 10min abbricht...

This day we had 4 planes in the air at the same time! Here I caught Franz' Jet on tape (filmed from high above). Unfortunatley Lumix stops recording after 10min so the landing here is missing.

Luftaufnahmen von Gloggnitz

Aktuell: Baufortschritt der Semmering-Basistunnel Großbaustelle:

und hier noch als Extra: Livewebcams 

Hang Richtung W     Hang Richtung N
Feld Richtung SW    Feld Richtung NW
Reichenauerstr. O     Reichenauerstr. SO



Hier gibts Fotoalben voll mit Fotos von unserer schönen Stadt Gloggnitz / visit those links for a load of aerial pictures and videos from our beautiful town Gloggnitz!
Best-of-Gloggnitz, Hofbauer und Eichberg:

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neuere Hochauflösende Bilder (Gloggnitz und Umgebung):

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Videos ...hier gibt's bewegte Bilder aus der Vogelperspektive:

(bitte wenn möglich in HD ansehen!)

April 2012 - Brand in Gloggnitz


April 2012 - Gloggnitz und Stuppacher-Schloß


Juli 2011 - Entlang der Schwarza und unter der Bahnhofsbrücke


Juni 2011 - Lufthaufnahmen vom Schloß:


Juni 2010 - toller Rundflug:







...an einem wunderschönen Morgen über Gloggnitz:

Tucan bei Schloss Gloggnitz

Hier bin ich endlich mal vom Parkplatz unseres Schlosses aus gestartet und konnte von dem Punkt aus eine tolle Sicht auf Gloggnitz auf die SD Karte der Lumix FX35 bannen.

Here I took off near our local Castle (from a parkinglot) and from this perspective I was able to capture some stunning scenes from Gloggnitz onto my Lumix' SD card.

Jakobs Extra mit Onboard-Video

Premiere: Jakob's Extra 300 bekam die kleine Jaytech Kamera aufs Seitenruder geschnallt. Das hatte auch den netten Nebeneffekt, dass die Cam beim Betätigen des Seitenruders geschwenkt wurde (leider halt in die entgegengesetzte Richtung).
Es gab zwar leichte Probleme den Schwerpunkt zu erreichen, aber Jakob ist trotzdem gut geflogen.

Premier: Jakobs Extra 300 got the small Jaytech cam mounted on its rudder. A sideeffect of this was the cameras movement on rudder activity (in the opposite direction). Altough we had some problems reachieving the correct CoG Jakob flew well.

Dies war der erste FPV Flug mit einer neuen, größeren Luftschraube (14x6 statt der orig. 12x6). Der Unterschied ist großartig - jetzt hat die Cularis immerhin 4m/s Steigleistung - das fühlt sich im Vergleich zu vorher toll an.
Ebenfalls das erste mal hab ich bei diesem Flug bewußt eine Thermik wahrgenommen. Es waren zwar nur ein paar Meter, aber es ist schon ein gutes Gefühl (ab 00:47). Ab 03:05 bin ich auf über 300m Höhe - mein bisheriger pers. Rekord!
(3min Motorzeit, 16min Flugzeit!)

This was my first FPV flight with the new prop (14x6 instead of the orig. 12x6). This makes a great difference! Now Cularis has about 4m/sek gain in altitude - feels great compared to my earlier flights.
Also this was my first thermal experience. It wasn't much (just a few meter gained) but it felt great (look at 00:47 and watch the vaiometer on the right).
Starting at 03:05 I'm above my personal height rekord (300m).
(3mins motor runtime - 16mins flighttime!)

Cularis FPV with OSD, Crash at start then high over Gloggnitz

Beim Start hatte ich Probleme Fahrt aufzunehmen, eine Flügelspitze blieb hängen... (wahrscheinlich stärkerer Rückenwind am Hang als ich dachte - oder auch ned Vollgas gegeben?).
Der Schaden war aber nicht so arg als zuerst angenommen - etwas Klebeband und Start 2 war dann knapp erfolgreich.
Danach hatte ich einen tollen Flug mit meinem pers. Reichweiten und Höhenrekord:
Entfernung zum Abflugplatz: knapp 700m
Höhe über NN: 800m
Höhe über Abflug: 180m
Höhe über Grund: 350m
Dies war der erste Flug mit funktionierendem Blackstork OSD in der Cularis.

I had problems gaining some speed at start here. More backwind on the slope than expected and/or not full throttle? Damage was less than it looked first - so I could tape it and start again - which was also a near crash.
The flight was great and gave me 2 new records:
near 700m distance from starting point
nearly 800m over sea level
350m over ground
180m over my starting alt (I started on top of a hill as you can see)
This was my first flight with Cularis and Blackstork OSD - and it's great to have all the info for such a flight.

Tucan am Silbersberg

Hier hab ich die Häuser meiner Verwandten aus der Luft gefilmt:

(these are the houses of my relatives locatec at "Silbersberg")

Update! Bae Hawk Jungfernflug + 2ter Start

Update: hier der 2te Start mit einer neuen Startvorrichtung




Nach ein paar Fehlversuchen beim Starten mit dem Gummiseil hatte es hier endlich geklappt. Franz hat hier toll reagiert und den turbulenten Start doch noch heil hinbekommen.
Bei der nächsten Gelegenheit werden wir versuchen ein längeres Video zu machen - wenngleich es auch nicht so einfach ist, diesen Jet mit der Kamera zu erwischen!

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After a few failures while starting with the rubberband it finaly worked. Franz did a great job saving this spectacular start. We'll try to capture a longer and better video - which is quite difficult because of it's tremendous speed!

Cularis FPV und "Luftkampf"

Die ersten 4,5min: FPV Luftaufnahmen meiner Kollegen (ich hab mich bemüht die anderen Flugzeuge ins Bild zu bekommen - hier wäre ein wendiger Flieger von Vorteil).
Danach gibts eine tolle Aussich (rel. hoch) und dann Sinkflug und schnelles Fliegen in niedriger Höhe (dabei 2 Autos verfolgt).
Zum Schluß 2 Landeversuche (einer schön, der andere weniger :-)
__________________

First 4,5mins: FPV Air2air shots (me "chasing" 2 other planes).
After that a high flight for the view and then lowflying, carchasing and two landing attempts.

(Changed for Sony Vegas Pro 8 as video editing software - works way better than my Adobe Elements 7!)
Music: Franz Ferdinand "Ulysseus" und H-Bloxx

Tucan - high in the morning

Ein wunderbarer, windstiller Morgen - der musste genutzt werden. Wieder nur auf Sicht geflogen (und mit Lumix aufgenommen), aber tolle Bedingungen und großartiges Licht.
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A beautiful, calm morning which had to be used for some FlyBySight recording with the lumix. Great Light make look everything much better up there!

Mustang Onboard Video

Nach den ersten paar Flügen wusste ich bereits, dass auf die P51 eine Cam drauf muss. Nachdem das Nachbauen der Cockpit-Abdeckungrelativ schnell erledigt war ist auch der Eingriff bzw. das Maß an Verunstaltung recht gering.
Die Jaytech hat zwar einen ungünstigen Blickwinkel durch die Rotorblätter, aber der Speed kommt trotzdem recht gut rüber.
Gegen Ende sieht man einen STORCH!!!! knapp über mich drüber fliegen!
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Just after the first few flights I knew that I have to mount a cam on this thing! Since I could easily replace the cockpit with a selfmade one which houses the Jaytech cam the irreversible damage to the model is very little. The perspective could be better but you get the immersive speed of this warbird.
If you watch to the end you'll get to see a STORK passing just a few meteres over me!

Cularis FPV high over Gloggnitz and Air2Air crash

Eigentlich wollte ich nur eine andere Antenne am Video RX testen, aber der Flug und damit auch das Video waren einfach toll. Die Qualität der Video-Aufnahme ist mit dem USB Grabber ins MPEG2 Format jetzt auch ziemlich gut.
Ab 1:55 gibts zwei Loops, und ab 2:30 gibts wieder Air2Air shots (inkl. kleinem Crash).
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I wanted to try another antenna out but since the flight and the resulting video were great I wanted to share this vid. Quality of "normal" FPV Downlink is now really good (using a USB Grabber to Laptop with MPEG2 codec).
At 1:55 you see two loops and beginning at 2:30 you get air2air action including a small crash.

Parkzone P51D Mustang Gunfighter

UPDATE:

Andere nennen es ein Pfeifen aber es ist eher ein tieferes "ROARR" Geräusch, welches entsteht, wenn man die Mustang in einen Sturzflug OHNE Vollgas schickt.
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ROAR-EFFECT: Others call it whistle, I think it's more of a "ROAR" when you dive the Mustang with high speed but zero engine throttle - you get this birds' typical sound ;-)


MAIDEN FLIGHT:

Today I was lucky enough both to get the chance to maiden my buddies P51 and also to land her savely again after 5mins of this first flight.
I orderd this model for me also and now I can't wait for this delivery! The plane handles great even without expo (we setup expo on elev. and ailerons after the flight).
After the 5min flight, I was curious to see how much cap. the 1700mah 3S1P battery had: about 38% - so you can get about 7mins of flight. The plane is well powered in it's stock config!
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Heute hatte ich erstens das Glück, den Jungfernflug der P51 eines Freundes machen zu dürfen und zweitens diesen auch wieder heil zu landen :-)
Genau das Model hab ich mir auch schon bestellt und nun kann ich die Lieferung kaum erwarten! Die P51 fliegt sich auch ohne Expo auf Höhe/Quer recht gut, nach dem Flug haben wir dies jedoch eingestellt.
Nach 5min wollte ich sehen, wieviel Restladung der 1700er 3S1P Akku noch hat: 38%
Also sollten mit 1700mah ca 7min Flugzeit drinnen sein.
Die Motorisierung ist mehr als ausreichend!

Cularis FPV und "Luftkampf" mit Rafaele Jet

Dies war eigentlich nur als FPV-Ausrüstungs-Test geplant. Ich bin auf Sicht geflogen und hab das Laptop einfach aufnehmen lassen, damit ich nachher die Quali des Funksignals bewerten kann. Da die Aufnahmen aber recht gut wurden hab ich hier etwas zusammengeschnitten.
Ab 3:20 sieht man Franz' Rafaele-EDF Jet in "meinem" Luftraum :-)

This flight was supposed to be an equipment test but since there were beautiful scenes in it I cut some of them together. The whole flight was RC by sight and not true FPV.
Starting at 3:20 you'll see Franz' Rafaele Jet and his invasion in "my" airspace :-)

Video - Update

After some video-editing this weekend I just uploaded a few more vids from my friends planes and mine on the field:



and I also took some pics of Markus' Heli and our P51D Mustangs:

Tucan in FPV action and RCGloggnitz

Tucan high over the Eichberg

Past weekend I did my second real FPV attempt. I visited different locations which I thought they'd be cool to fly at - but in the end I came back to my secondmost flown field - the eichberg. View up there is great - and even better if you ascend 300m from starting level :-)
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Vergangenes Wochenende flog ich das 2te mal richtig FPV. Ich hatte schon ein paar Ideen wo man noch fliegen könnte, aber letzten Endes bin ich dann doch wieder auf meinem Zweitplatz - dem Eichberg - gelandet (bzw. vorher gestartet). Die Aussicht da oben ist großartig und sie ist noch besser wenn man knapp 300m aufsteigt :-)

Rafaele EDF Jet / Logo Heli (3D flying)

My friends at the local airfield. Franz flies the "Rafaele" in mid winds and safetylands it in high green :-)
Markus shows his skills on his Logo 500 (I love the sound of the main blades in hard turns!).
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Meine RC Kumpel auf dem örtlichen Flugplatz. Franz fliegt mit seiner "Rafaele" in mittlerem Wind und entschließt sich dann zu einer Sicherheitslandung im hohen Gras.
Markus zeigt, wass er schon mit dem Logo 500 kann (und ich liebe den Sound den seine Hauptrotorblätter machen, wenn er einen harten Turn fliegt!)


Markus' Logo 500 with onboard vid (PiP)

I convinced a friend to let me attach my small jaytech cam on his cool 3D heli and get an unique point of view. It wasn't planned well and so the perspective isn't great but it's fun anyways.
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Ich hab einen Freund überredet die kleine Jaytech auf seinem Heli zu montieren um eine einmalige Perspektive zu erhalten. Die Cam haben wir nicht sonderlich gut platziert, aber es ist trotzdem ganz witzig anzusehen.

eSavage on a dustroad

The opportunity of haveing a dustroad in our backyard I had to let the little savage play on his nativ road-surface. Boy had he fun :-)
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Als sich die Gelegenheit einer Schotterstraße in unserem Hof ergab musste ich den kleinen Savage zum Spielen raus lassen. Und er hatte ordentlich Spaß :-)

New Videos from the Solution

Here are some more videos now again with the Blackstork OSD integrated in my new plane. Works great in combination with the lumix as FPV cam (she records in very nice quality!).

Tucan Solution FPV Maiden-Flight

2009-05-31 Solutions FPV Maiden By Mario Schimanko
View in HD  Download 720p HD Version  Visit Mario Schimanko's ExposureRoom Videos Page

This was my first full FPV flight with this plane. Sorry for not cutting out anything from this long onboard vid - skip the boring parts! The overlay shows: Speed, Direction/Distance to home, Altitude (over 99m the third number is cut away).
I used the directly recorded video as main source, than added the OSD enhanced version of the same cam (recorded on ground via downlink) to add the infos. Quite tricky but I love the outcome.
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Dies war mein erster vollständiger FPV Flug mit diesem neuen Flugzeug. Ich war zu faul hier die langweiligen Passagen herauszuschneiden - bitte einfach überspringen.
Die Einblendung zeigt: Geschwindigkeit, Richtung/Entfernung zum Abflugsort und Höhe (hier wurde die hunderter-Stelle abgeschnitten). Ich nutze das Video, welches direkt von der Lumix aufgenommen wurde als Hauptspur und hab dann die OSD-Version des selben Videos darüber gelegt (dieses Video nehme ich am Boden auf und dieses sehe ich auch in der Videobrille).
Ist ein wenig umständlich, aber das Ergebnis ist die Mühe wert.

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and here some more external shots of me testing my setup (prior to the above first FPV flight) / und hier noch ein "Aussen"-Video wo ich meine Ausrüstung vor dem ersten FPV Flug teste:

News: great HD FPV Cam with wideangle

I just found an promising new HD cam which seems to have some interesting features:

ContourHD
Features

Records in H.264 on SD Card (up to 16GB)
1280x720 30FPS
640x480 60FPS
and finally a decent cam with built in wideangle!!!

It's not yet available but you can preorder it for example on amazon:
AMAZON

Tucam Solution Maiden Flight and Flight Nr2

and here goes the maide flight

As you can see everything went well. I just flew a few rounds here. The low speed is amazing! AUW 2kg.
The pusher config is great, I haven't seen vibrations on the onboard video so far - that's a good sign.

Here is the second flight:

First test with FPV equipped bird (but normal flown).
Lumix works great here - only the 8:30 limit is a little downside. But the bird flies like a charm!
This time with 11x10 prop way better!

Cularis FPV Tests and Crash

As requested here comes the (quickly cut together, Music stops after the half - sorry) version of my first flights with the FPV gear on the Cularis.
The location is the same as on the last Video - Eichberg.

FPV equipment worked flawless on this testflight! I landed the plane after 20min because I was afraid to crash her after getting too relaxed in the air. Battery (3200mah) had 46% left after 4:45 mins of motor Time.

This was last Saturdays Testflight - see what happend the next day when I was ready for FPV with her...

Here I had one: elevator stuck upon restarting the engine to gain alt. In fact I think I had a radio glitch and after starting the motor I had no further control (I only tried to use elevator to hold her "up" - didn't try left/right...).

The Cularis crashed 3m ahead of an tarmac road - this was my luck! The road would have killed her!
But here, in the high green the impact was absorbed well - damage is little (prop is broken, forward section is bent a bit, on servo-arm is broken - easy to fix).

But the bad taste of a possible radio glitch again doesn't taste so good...

Readers

Hello RC interested friends!
Please take some time to try out the new "Readers" feature in the sidebar. It would show me who's viewing my work. Also please don't be shy and comment on the vids if you have something to say. Either on vimeo.com or directly here on the blog.

Thanks & Greetings,
RCSchim

Cularis @ Eichberg

This was the most beautiful flight with the Cularis so far. The conditions were great up on the hill and she flew well.
Flighttime over 22mins with only 5mins of motor-useage.

The landing looks a bit rude - I have to work on that. But with butterfly deployed it's really easy to land her.

Greetings,
Mario

Conrad Quadrocopter

This was my second flight with the new rarely available Quadrocopter. It's ready built and has quite decent flight abilities as you can see in the vid.
The QC has plenty of power and should be able to carry some FPV equipment (cam, TX). The flighttime is good - I have no exact measurement yet but it should be around 10mins with 2000mah 3cell lipo.

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Das war mein zweiter Flug mit dem schwer verfügbaren und schon lange angekündigten - Fertig-Quadrocopter von Conrad. Man braucht nur mehr Rotoren montieren, Quarz rein (35MHz Empfänger nicht tauschbar!) und nach einer kurzen Setup Routine geht's los.

Die Power genügt sicher auch für FPV Ausrüstung.
Über die Flugzeit kann ich noch nichts Genaues berichten - ca. 10min mit einem 2000mah 3cell Lipo würd' ich schätzen.

Greetings,
RCSchim.blogspot.com

Twinstar flying - just for fun

One flight without FPV:

This was a day after my Cularis crash. I just wanted to be back in the air quick - without problems. Just enjoying the landscape. Alltough it was quite windy it was fun. Especially the landing approach with full flaps against heavy winds!
And without FPV on board the Twinstar was so lightweight - I could soar a great ammount of time.

and two with FPV equipment:

(quality could be better - but it was great fun to fly there)

Cularis - Better Starts!

Cularis Wingmounts, Start and Landing By Mario Schimanko
View in HD  Download 720p HD Version  Visit Mario Schimanko's ExposureRoom Videos Page

This is to show the off standard servo connectors on the wings.
This is my first good start - due to a mix of down elevator to gas (the other starts were to steep in the sky - too slow therefore and aileron response was bad because of low speed - whatch my maiden video for example: http://vimeo.com/3945268

Twinstar - 3 videos with new FPV-Cam position!!!

3PV stands for thrid person view - instead of FPV this time :-)
I thought mounting the cam on a panservo on the vertical stabilizer would give an unique fiew of the plane while flying:


I love to see all the control surfaces working - and of course the wing-flex while flying fast.

Music: Rammstein (Sonne, Amerika, Feuer Frei)


This was the second day with the new cammount. This time I tilted the cam a bit more down.

I'm getting used to the low pass flying (but I'm cautious).
I got a way better video-signal by mounting the video TX antenna on the plane in a straight, vertical position.
On the las vid (Easter Special) I had it some 45degree - but this wasn't a good idea. I even had a blackout of about 15secs! Wasn't a nice experience not knowing where I fly (lucky that I was high enough).

Music: Cat Powers - Willi



This is some kind of bonus feature. Didn't do much editing here - this get's to time consuming otherwise.
Btw. the video is darker on vimeo than on my PC - does anyone know this issue?

Music: Franz Ferdinand

Cularis Crash

Cularis Crash (after FPV tests) By Mario Schimanko
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I tried to transfer my FPV equipment from Twinstar to Cularis (she should handle the weight much easier) and made a simple mistake:
The Lumix has some ammount of drag - I think that alone wouldn't be a problem.
But I centered the lense and not the cam - so the weight balance was moved to the right and also the drag accounts more to the right side.

The outcome is this video, some repairs and last but not least the gathering of some knowledge (this is why I posted this here - learn from my errors, don't ignore weight balance and aerodynamics...).

The plane is OK now, don't worry!
This is the repaired nose - should even be more sturdy with the tape now:

Flieger

Greetings,
RCSchim

My biggest and my smallest plane!

Cularis Maiden Flight from Mario Schimanko on Vimeo.
As promised - here's the vid from my first 10mins of flying the cularis. A great plane and my entry to sailplane flying.

First few seconds scared me 'cause the cularis instantly points its nose down when entering a curve with ailerons! That feels so different to the Twinstar flight characteristics!!

But soon as I gained some height (which goes incredibly fast with the strong motor) you can turn of the engine and lean back! Soaring looks so majestic!

Last but not least - the butterfly (flaps and spoilerons) worked great and helped me slowing down the bird for my first landing.

Battery use: 3mins 35sek and 78% left after flight, using a 3200mah 3cell battery.
Gives me a good point to start my FPV flying on the next level.

---

Vapor HD (720p) from Mario Schimanko on Vimeo.
This is a funny slowflyer! Not really for home-indoor use - as long as you don't have a really huge villa...

With little or no wind it's great for the backyard.
It's also nice to sail against a light wind - you get the kite feeling.

As this plane is compatible to the Blade mcx micro heli I already had - I bought the "bind and fliy" version only. After some flights I modified the battery-connector to fit to my homemade batteries (longer fligttime!).

Twinstar 2 Schlosswiese

Twinstar2 Schlosswiese (720p) from Mario Schimanko on Vimeo.

This was my 2cond flight with Lumix and Blackstork OSD - and it was windy again. But I was so anxious to go out and fly... I had to use the Adobe Elements stabilizer again - looks weird but helps the vid-smoothness.

I'm really waiting for a nice calm day now - but we all are - I know.

This time there's some sightseeing included (Our local Castle, a Church and the Company I work at).
The drilling truck which you see on the landing approach is there to prepare the construction of an huge railway-tunnel.

Flight:
Furthest distance from "home": 370m
About 130m high

The start includes a short belly-landing-touch-and-go thing (which I did't plan that way :-)
On the landing I used full flaps again which really brings down the bird quick! This time the airspeed was too low and I could hardly balance the plane.

You can compare this flight with an earlier one at the same location (but back then we started from the lower field right next to the company): vimeo.com/2078231

Twinstar flight with Blackstork OSD and Lumix as FPV Cam

Twinstar 2, Lumix and Blackstork OSD (720p) from Mario Schimanko on Vimeo.

(click the link above and download the original video from there to have the best quality - and a smooth video)

While this was a very shakey flight, I'm very pleased by the result!

a) It was my first Blackstork OSD experience in the air - GREAT!!!! I can't give this OSD enough credit. It's really cheap, simple to install and of great use in the air.
To see how high, fast and how far you are flying really adds a lot to FPV.

b) I cahnged from my small FPV cam to the Panasonic Lumix FX35 for live video (in my last flight a used it for additional recordingn).
It's really a great livecam also - and you see exactly what you're recording. You can check also IF you're recording - that can be helpful either :-)
So I was able to save some weight of the small cam and it's battery.

get the Blackstork here: www.Immersionsflug.de

Music: SPOON - The Underdog

Twinstar 2 - FPV Upgrade

She's not a beauty anymore :-) but using Lumix gives me the best possible recording quality. Saving the weight of the FPV cam and saveing the additional channel on my radio for the campan are the other "improvements". I now have control over rudder back. Total weight now: 1840g (with battery)



Using the Blacksrork OSD with GPS really adds great immersion to FPV. You sure saw OSD in many other FPV videos. Initially I thought this is to complicated and expensive. But the Blackstork is really quite easy to implement and not very expensive. I bought mine at www.immersionsflug.de
(good price and very good support here!)


(that's the main component - the small thing is the GPS device!)

Blackstork OSD Tests on eSavage

This was my first test of the new Blackstork OSD:

- GPS fix was aquired quite fast (under 1min)

- speedometer worked good for a small car, running down a longer straight would have been a better test tough

- home position indicator also worked good - even in this rather small testing area - when flying FPV GPS surely has an easier job because the distances are greater

- OSD gets a little hot - no problem
(I think this is because of voltage regulator from 12v to 5v for GPS)


I learned from two errors in this test:

1.) while setting up the OSD I wasted most of the videobattery - during the test the battery got empty - picture gone - blind - this shouldn't happen in the air!!!
One has to keep an eye on the videobattery voltage!

2.) a new pan-servo now moves 180deg. - this is great - but you have to secure the cable with some tape - after panning the cam the cable unplugged - again - this would't be nice in the air!!

FlyCamOne III

Hi, I just found this new version of the known FlyCamOne:
Website with infos

It seems like a professional, prebuilt and inexpensive FPV equipment. I did't find exact infos on the resolution and range yet.
But they even have headtracking and video-goggles! Optionally the headtracker can be used with their own transmitter (if you ran out of free channels on your main radio).

Twinstar2 - Lumix Cammount-Tests

Twinstar - Panasonic Lumix FX35 Tests from Mario Schimanko on Vimeo.

I found a way to savely transport my digital camera without producing enormerous air drag.

see this post for more details and pics

On this vid I did two flights. First was non FPV to test everything, second was fully FPV - unfortunately the angle of the cam was too much downwards pointing - you can see the result.

But it was a great "proof of concept" - the Panasonic Lumix FX35 can be a great FPV cam.
+ it's an 150g lightweigt!
+ you have 25mm wideangle (gives a great FOV)
+ you record in 1280x720@30fps
- but only about 8:27mins (that gives 2GB - this is the limit even when using 4GB SD Card or greater

Definitly the wideangle is the most important point here! The shakeyness of the flightvids is much lower if shot in wideangle compared to tele (35+mm).
See this vid for example - it's shot useing a standard mini SD camcorder with 35 or 40mm FOV
(OK the colors where great here - but this depends much on the sun!)

Also this was my first video where you can watch the landing from three different views - that's for Paul - to not get complaints about the missing landing :-)

Music: H-Bloxx - Countdown to insanity

Twinstar2 - new Cammount Idea

Hi fellow FPV friends!

On my search for a better way to mount a conventional digital still camera on my Twinstar2 RC plane I came to this solution:



This should minimize the air drag (which can definitly be an issue - I learnd this before!)
The position of the cam, facing down left, should give me great flight videos - stay tuned for the first tests!

This way works not so well (but the perspective would be great also):

Von Ablagebox

eSavage Winterfun

eSavage Winterfun from Mario Schimanko on Vimeo.

The weather wasn't good enough to fly so I had to have some winterfun on the ground.



Greetings,

RCSchim

Twinstar 2 with flaps

This weekend I finally installed real flaps to my TS2. I crashlanded the second flight (with no damage) because of a stall - but after some getting used to the flaps can be a great improvement when it comes to slow gliding with a heavier plane or on the landings (with full flaps the bird gets really slow and will decend quickly - short landings).

Total weight now: 1684g (with battery, 2cams, Video TX, 2 additional batteries for cams).

Greetings,
RCSchim

Twinstar 2 - Iceflyer

Yesterday we were out on a frozen lake wich made a very good runway. Starting from the ground without landing gear was never easier as you'd guess.
Temp was -9°C and foggy - therefore video is a bit blurry. The shakes came directly from me and transfered to the controls :-)
The selfmodded jaytech has some battery issue in this cold - even tough the battery is inside the plane it just lasts about 12mins before it goes out (normally it can record over 60mins). This time I was lucky enough and the whole flight was recorded (but shortly after the landing the jaytech stopped 'cause the battery was frozen).




And here as a special for Paul - the exposureroom-Version of the above video:

Twinstar 2 - Iceflyer By Mario Schimanko
View in HD  Download 720p HD Version  Visit Mario Schimanko's ExposureRoom Videos Page

...and here some bonus footage. The laptop used for recording via usb framegrabber didn't like the cold either and the battery gave up after a few mins.

Twinstar 2 Dualperspective, FPV fun

Today I was lucky enough to fly some rounds on my "home"field.
It's actually the field you can see in the background of this last video: vimeo.com/2682293

First I wanted to test everything and it was a bit shakey. Up and down it flew :-)

Before we packed our stuff I took the chance and did put on my goggles again...

Sadly the cheap JayTech cam stopped recording midair before I reached the highest point of this awesome FPV flight - so you can only guess how great the view was.