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Tailcam video: "The Dawn"

groucho

groucho

Well Known Member
I flew my tailcam for the first time yesterday. The first flight I shot video, but was just a test flight to make sure there was nothing different with how the plane flew. The second flight was about an hour worth of aerobatics & low level.

I plan on ordering another bullet camera so I can have one in the cockpit in addition to the one on the tail. Of course, I need the wingcam, the nosecam & the wheelpantcam too. :D

Get the video (about 3 minutes long, not an hour) & more construction details here: http://www.thedukes.org/rv/tailcam.html

TheDawn02.jpg


DISCLAIMER: All flying was done in VFR conditions following all FARs. All low level flying was done over sparsely populated areas greater than 500' feet from any person, vessel, vehicle, or structure. All aerobatics were above 1500? AGL, greater than 4nm from an airway, not over airports or populated areas, no non-chute wearing passengers, no traffic, etc. Don?t try this at home. If you do, be smart about it & don?t mort yourself out trying. :cool:
 
That is fabulous Bryan! Now I remember why I made my vertical fin tip removable....I always intended to make a replacement tip with a camera, and now you're motivating me to start working on that project again....

But I seriously doubt I could get anything as beautiful as what you're doing - great work!

Paul
 
Thanks Paul. The project was not that difficult - just a little glass work. It took about a week of working on it after work & one half day on a day off work. I'm guessing it would have been even easier if my vertical tail tip was removable. I did buy another tip for my vertical tail, but I decided not to use it.

Putting it together was a lot of fun - mostly in anticipation of shooting video! :)
 
Speechless, Bryan.

You have raised the bar once again. Please continue to do these for the next 40 or so years <g>.

b,
d
 
Groucho, you the man! That is sweet stuff. The only thing that could make it better would be some more RVs in the shot. Sorry I couldn't make out there Sat morning. Holler when you're going up next!
 
Thanks! Sharpie & I are already planning a formation video..."The Greasy Side" or maybe "Up Your Pipes." :)

Doug...40 years? Yikes.
 
Tail Cam

Bryan:

Great video! Your angle of coverage looks to be almost 180 deg. Mine is only about 70 deg. I haven't gotten an editing program yet so I can't get any video the the "net". It's been so hazy here, even if I could, it wouldn't compare to your scenery.

Use that other vert. cap and install a camera with a narrower field of view so you can interchange them. (Or maybe looking aft???)

Are you thinking of installing wing tip cams?
 
mannanj said:
...Your angle of coverage looks to be almost 180 deg. Mine is only about 70 deg. I haven't gotten an editing program yet so I can't get any video the the "net". It's been so hazy here, even if I could, it wouldn't compare to your scenery.
Click to expand...
Yup, it's advertised as a 170 deg field of view. From the tail it does make the wing look canard-ish (or maybe a bit X-29-ish).

I really like how you can see almost straight down in front of the horizontal tail. It really makes it easy to see the world going by when I'm flying around low. A little less wide angle would be good for some shots though. For formation video, I'm going to have to be VERY close to make it look good. It looks like I could swap the lens on my camera, so that might be an option instead of swapping out the whole camera for the different shots. To just see the wingtips from the tail, you need about 120deg horizontal field of view (about 150 deg diagonal field of view). I may see if I can find a lens that'll make that happen. Hmmmm.

mannanj said:
Are you thinking of installing wing tip cams?
Click to expand...
That really depends on what my wife approves. :) I'm guessing no...I'll probably stick with just the tailcam & another one in the cockpit.
 
Sweet.....

Beautiful work!

A request: Kindly perform a few big, lazy Cuban eights and if you're able, talk us through a big fat barrel roll as it progresses.

Thanks in advance

Pierre
 
oh yess

NOW THAT?S MOTIVATION... ;) oh let me get back to my baffles. :(
A handful more of these and I?ll be able to loop them long enough to play for hours. grouchos, dans, tree top flier,,and river run by anonymous.
very nice how the plane/camera are always in the exact same screen spot so the pics morph to new scenery. coooool
 
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Excellent!

Now the big question (for me at least) is can I save up money and find time to install camera before Bryan has time to instal invert fuel and oil....

Mind you with a whole 8 hours of training and about 4 more of practice I don't think I'm "quite" in Bryan's league yet...:)

Frank..7a .Still working on my (inverted) in flight self portrait..
 
Awesome!

Bryan,

Wow, just when I thought it couldn't get better -- Awesome! I've downloaded them to my PC so that I can stream them to the Xbox connected to the big TV downstairs! Weeeeeee!!!! :D
 
frankh said:
Now the big question (for me at least) is can I save up money and find time to install camera before Bryan has time to install invert fuel and oil....
Click to expand...
Ha!! I'm pretty sure inverted oil will never make the funding cut for my airplane. So, I'll stay positve g for all the video you'll see from me (in my RV anyway).
frankh said:
Mind you with a whole 8 hours of training and about 4 more of practice I don't think I'm "quite" in Bryan's league yet...
Click to expand...
Almost there! Keep at it & have fun. The good thing about my last video is that you can't see who's flying it...just tell people it's you!

Pierre- Stay tuned!

Brad- I have that video shared from my PC, but I haven't watched it on my big TV via XBox yet...tonight!
 
Anyone plan on making a mould...?:)

What a fabulous video! Probably the most fun RV video I have watched in a while.

I too have a removable fin on my RV6 (all be it by drilling out rivets :), but would love to have the exact same tip as the one Bryan created. I unfortunately did not build my RV6, but have been slowly improving it over time (with the help of an A&P friend), so glass work may not be a good idea for me.:-( This would be a cool upgrade for sure though which I bet a lot of other builders and owners would avail of if there was a part available out there.

Brian, I bet you could sell quiet a few of these if you made a mould? Just a thought.

Hugh
RV6 pics at http://spaces.msn.com/hughfi
 
hughfi said:
Brian, I bet you could sell quiet a few of these if you made a mould? Just a thought.
Click to expand...
I can see the sign now: "Groucho's Tailcam Shop, LLC." I've actually already done some talking & thinking about pulling a mold. I think I have a shop lined up to make the parts, but I'm not sure there's really enough money in it to be worth the time. I'm still researching it though. A new tip is about $20 from Vans. What would people pay for a pre-molded tailcam version? I can't imagine selling more than 100 of them. At that production rate, they wouldn't be cheap.

There's also at least one different vertical tail tip for each airplane. Uggg.

Alright, it's time to finally go watch the video on the big TV downstairs. :)
 
Bryan,

I must have watched it another twenty times tonight (I was avoiding deburring bulkheads). I had my daughter on my knees and I was moving her around like she was flying -- she loved it! All my wife had to say was, "It's cool, but how many times do you need to watch it?" ;) :D I grabbed a pic before I headed out to the shop.

070806_001.jpg


Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!
 
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Now that's a great picture Brad. I just finally watched it on our big TV. It sounds like you've watched it more than I have!! (although I'm sure I'm a close second) Glad your daughter had fun with it too!
 
Very Nice!!!

I hope you combine all your video angles into a nice BIG video one with a maneuvers, covered by every angle, i.e. you do a loop, show in cockpit shot, fade to the wingtip shot, then to rudder.

Then change the maneuver like a roll...and repeat with a different sequence and angles covered through the manuever..

It does not have to be the exact same specific maneuver at the same time from different angles. You can cheat and people wont realize it is not the exact same time, as long is it is kind-of the same time of day and same terrain the effect would be awesome for the same kind of maneuver

Cool I like it, can't wait for the next installment.
Keep us posted...

Kind Regards
Rudi
 
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