RADIO CONTROL HELICOPTERS
Ray Stacy 15 W. Main St., Webster NY 14580 E-mail: rstacy@rochester.rr.com
Happy New Year / Column goals
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I'll start by thanking Dan Williams for his dedication in delivering a monthly column in which he did his best to have something for everyone. This can be an exceptionally difficult task.
I recall one month during which Dan received two e-mails from two very different people. One asked for an article about getting started, and the other asked him never to print another word about getting started because it had been beaten to death. I guess you can't please everyone!
I have read a few comments on the various helicopter forums regarding the lack of helicopter content in MA. My response is always the same: I like to read about all parts of the RC hobby. I think MA contains more useful content regarding the entire RC hobby than any other magazine in print today. If you would like to see more helicopter content, submit an article! It isn't that hard.
My goal for this column is to show you things that are new and interesting with model helicopters. I will also try to print and answer relevant e-mail questions.
Who I am
I would consider myself an average RC helicopter pilot. Weather permitting, I fly most weekends. I'm not an aeronautical engineer or even a self-appointed net expert. I won't be throwing complicated numbers and charts at you, mostly because I can't understand them! I will share different ideas about what has worked for me and ideas from my flying buddies.
I started flying helicopters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, approximately 20 years ago. My first helicopter was a Schluter Mini Boy that my father gave me. I flew it using a Futaba AM Conquest four-channel radio. The nice thing about the AM radio was that if anything on the all-aluminum Mini Boy came loose, the radio glitches were the first to let you know!
My father had one of the first Schluter Cobra helicopters in the country. It never flew very well, but my dad had been bitten by the helicopter bug and naturally so had I. That Cobra is still around. My father passed away recently, and I now have it hanging in my shop. I am looking to purchase another Schluter Cobra. If you know of one for sale, please send me an e-mail note.
I belonged to the Pittsburgh Area Rotor Runners and flew with:
- Paul Tradelius
- Dave Darr
- Dave Davison
- Ron Osinski
- others
We had nothing but fun. 3-D didn't exist. If you could loop and roll, you were doing well! Inverted flight was for the elite. I remember Jeff Sumey converting his X-Cell 60 to Cyclic Collective Pitch Mixing (CCPM), which was unheard of! Today many helicopters use CCPM. I guess Jeff was just ahead of his time.
I made my way through the Shuttles and Concepts and had settled in on X-Cells, when my job moved me to upstate New York. I certainly missed flying with my father and my friends, but I quickly hooked up with a couple of guys who were flying helicopters. Today in our area we have more than 20 helicopter fliers, and new pilots are coming along continuously.
I belong to two clubs:
- ARCH (the helicopter club I originally joined)
- Rochester AeroModeling Society (www.rcplane.com), or RAMS (a local airplane/helicopter club)
The RAMS hosted the Northeast Model Helicopter Jamboree in Macedon, New York.
The pilot whom I am most proud of is my 9-year-old son Kyle. He currently flies:
- Stinger 30
- Raptor 50
- Vigor CS
He is getting ready to take over my Stinger 50 from Gohbee Aviation (www.gohbee.com).
I love having my son drag me to the flying field! This truly is a great hobby to share with our children. The kids are our future and I do everything I can to support them.
Aerial photography and Helicam Solutions
As are many of us, I am always looking for new things to do in this hobby. I was intrigued by the possibility of putting a camera in my helicopter. I did some searching on the helicopter forums and found that most of the equipment used to do this is priced way out of my reach. The Internet helicopter forums are a good way to get answers quickly.
After making a post regarding camera mounts, Jody Prather—owner of Helicam Solutions (www.helicamsolutions.com)—came to my rescue. He is great to talk to, and he spent more than enough time explaining what he had to offer and what has worked well for him. We shared ideas, and I learned that Jody had the same vision I did: an affordable mount for the hobbyist.
Helicam Solutions offers:
- 30-size sport mount — $199
- 60-size sport mount — $249
- Pro60 mount — I chose this so I could use my eBay-purchased spy-camera downlink to actually see where my Kodak digital camera was aimed
Others have said they have had good luck just going up and shooting pictures blindly. I tried this and found that getting that one good shot isn't too difficult.
The nice thing about Helicam's mount is that it is universal. Using Jody's soft mount system, I am able to install the system quickly and easily on any of my 60-size models. I use a separate receiver and battery pack on the mount to control the tilt and yaw servos as well as fire the camera.
The spy cam is the downlink video source when shooting digital stills. For movies I use the video output on my video camera and the Black Widow 900 MHz video downlink (www.blackwidowav.com). I tried the 2.4 GHz transmitter and found that I prefer the 900 MHz system. The 900 MHz transmitter is not as vulnerable to structural interference.
All video on the ground is viewed through a 7-inch LCD monitor similar to those mounted in the back of headrests in some automobiles.
For the camera trigger I use a microservo epoxied to the top of the camera. I also epoxied the miniature spy cam to the front of the camera. It is simple but effective.
This system has proven to work well on my glow-powered Bergen Intrepid 90 and my larger gasoline-powered Intrepid. I recently purchased Helicam's conversion unit, which I will permanently mount to the front of my Bergen gasser.
Helicam Solutions also makes a double-decker mount that will let you carry a digital camera and a movie camera at the same time. Jody mentioned two new products that I will be reviewing in the near future:
- A 3-axis gyro stabilization system — it will work to keep your camera pointing in the correct direction, regardless of helicopter movement.
- A Micro Mount for electric-powered helicopters — using the Sony Cyber-shot as an example, the entire mounting system including camera will weigh less than 16 ounces and will sell for $99 without the camera.
Insurance and legal considerations
All of the camera work I have done has been for fun—nothing commercial and no paying jobs. You need to remember that if you take your camera model out and start charging for your services, you are not covered by your AMA insurance. That is incredibly important.
My homeowner's insurance told me the same thing. As soon as you start charging for your services, your homeowner's insurance will not cover you.
In today's world where anyone can sue anybody, you need to be careful and make wise decisions about what you do with your model. I have read that some people have been successful in getting coverage for their camera work. I haven't pursued this much yet, but the couple calls I did make didn't go far or show much promise.
Upcoming reviews and contributors
I have some great products to look at in the upcoming months. Next month I will show you the Stinger 50 from Gohbee Aviation and the new Stinger conversion head for the Raptor 30 and 50. John Dennis will install the head on his Raptor 50 and give it a good workout.
Juan Rodriguez will do a review on the Star Flight fiberglass and carbon-fiber blades. He will use the SAB fiberglass blades as a benchmark. I am eager to see how the Star Flight blades compare.
I will continue to use different people to test products. I think variety is a good thing, and it will give us different perspectives on our hobby.
Closing / Contact
If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. E-mail me with your thoughts on what you would like to see in this column.
I am looking forward to another great year in helicopters.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
