And it starts....

[Wa11banger]

Hey all, long time lurker first time poster in the AVP forum. I have followed much of what you all have said for quite some time now as I have a hobby side interest in getting into AVP myself. I had started a web page but the more I looked into it and at it, doing it commercially just looks like a pain.. There are those that can and have the drive, I applaud you all, mostly I don't have the drive to do it for much more than fun. So onto my questions for the hobby side of this adventure.

I acquired a MA Excel Graphite Gasser with a G231 in it. I also have a Pro60 camera mount to hang under it, although it has not been under it for more than pictures of the bird itself. .I have been flying it around every so many weeks just getting it working right and figuring it out as it feels much heavier on the sticks than I am used to. Thanks to Clay, Greg and Deb Dog, I got the engine tuned well this weekend at Clint's house it has never started so easy, also a big shout out to Jeff who's parts got me upgraded to where I needed to be for safety reasons.

First question:
I was wondering since I loaded this thing out with extras electronics from my 3D world what is a nice spec of trons to fill it with? I was thinking about robbing my trons back out for another 3D bird and don't know what to put back into the gasser. Currently it has a 601 gyro, 9451's on the cyclics and a 94758 on the collective. All running off of a 5.3 regulator and Duralites.

Second question:
I am running TT680 CF blades on it as that is what it came with, I have a 31" boom but am thinking about going to the 36" boom. What main blade and TR blade combo do you all recommend? and, semi symmetrical or flat bottom as I do not intend to 3D it anymore? If it helps I think I am at 6.5:1 gear ratio. She currently can over rev very easily on the TT 680's, the governor is keeping it well within check.

Third Question:
I have seen this on several of your videos and pics but do not know what to call the overlay so I cannot search for it. Some of you are overlaying altitude and other information into your video and pictures. What is this called and how are you all doing it? My main interest in this is as a gadget hehe I'm a gadget type of guy.

Thanks for the great reads and thanks for the help

Rick

[AZ ChopperCam]

I had an MA gasser and I ran some Hi-Products 790mm semi blades. It had alot of lifting power. I was able to carry 12lb with relative ease. Mine had the extended boom in order to do this.

I flew it on 2 or 3 video jobs and then decided to try a Condor. You won't need a 601 gyro. a 401 will do just fine. As for the overlay I'm not sure... I don't use them. Other may chime in

[Wa11banger]

Thanks DJ I appreciate it.. I was figuring I would need to get longer blades and a boom because the heli feels heavy now as it is.. Once a mount and a camera are slung under it I can only imaging it being much heavier feeling and not being able to auto worth squat on the 680's. I have gotten one response on what the overlay thing is and they called out a "blackbox" product that looks cool enough and is in budget for plunkin around with :D Seems to have a myriad of functions that can be used for all kinds of things.

Currently I'm just going to be slinging the finepix 3mp camera under it and if I get crazy I have a simple JVC camcorder but this thing shakes like a beast so I doubt video would be near nice as yours :D I live all around water and go to a lot of FF's so I figure it could be used from the boat for fall pictures or at FF's for no other reason than to get a different picture perspective.

BTW would you recommend I take out the negative pitch or just leave everything square like I have it now.. I have it pulling a symmetrical 10/-10?

Thanks for the response
Rick

[miami6]

so the AP bug has bitten you also rick

welcome

I am in the same thinking of turning my r50 Bigblock OS 90 in to my camera ship but would like to extend the boom even further then the current 710's to run the V blades 800mm vlades gadget addict here also LOL


hey rick did you ever get that blue hughes 500 police kit flying that would be great for ap adversting just paint it and slap some vynil decals pointing to your website




andres

[AZ ChopperCam]

would you recommend I take out the negative pitch or just leave everything square like I have it now.. I have it pulling a symmetrical 10/-10?

I'd make it something like -7/+11 and on your pitch curve set the middle points nearly flat. This gives you alot of collective stick resolution near hover so you won't be bobbing around. Also dial in about 40-50% expo and run the ATV's down to about 60-70% of what you normally run for a sport machine. This will make the ship fly like a lead sled but it's sooooooper smooth that way :D

[miami6]

Hey DJ What is your head speed like in normal mode and do you run IDL1 (up) mode at all

[AZ ChopperCam]

on my electric Raptor my head speed with the 680's is 1500-1550rpm. I run the governer at 100% flat throttle curve.

[Wa11banger]

Miami6,
Hey man, long time no see. Nope I still have the hughes hanging in my garage but I will convert it over some day. Won't need no advertising as of yet hehe this is just a fun phase for now.. When I originally was thinking about it and got the equipment I was considering doing it for purpose/profit but the more I read, the more I think I want to keep it fun. I am really in no big hurry as I have had the equipment going on 6-7 months and have only flown the machine 8-10 times.. and never even hung the mount under it :D Probably the longest time I have taken to do anything lol.

I will work over the pitch curves and see what happens I got some serious help on throttle curves from Clay, Deb Dog, Greg, Chuck and more this last weekend.. I have it on a governor tho running 1550,1600, and 1700.

[Aguia2]

I never tried it, but there is an OSD (On-Screen-Display) altimeter only product here:
http://www.kapelec.com/ on "video altimeter" link

It's a kite thing...

[Wa11banger]

Thanks for the link Aguia2, thats awesome and so tiny too.

Rick