A FUN hobby I thought I'd share with you guys

[Swamp Critter]

Originally Posted by Fishbum

Funny video of a friends, friend running a RC boat on avery island
http://youtu.be/0c0logg16bQ

Awesome boat and a funny video. I'm sure the gators in the pond were thinking "what da hell is dat?!?!". I like the rake paddle. Lol. The guy filming sounds like Poo Poo Broussard.

[Swamp Critter]

Another cool thing that can be done with rc planes is night flying. There's various ways to attach small led lights, even set up like full size aircraft with red on the left wing tip and green on the right, exactly the same as navigation lights on a boat. Other options are flashing strobes on the tail and solid white under the nose. I've talked to guys who fly their planes at night with these lights installed and they say it looks EXACTLY the same as a full size aircraft from the ground.

[Swamp Critter]

This is not my plane, but one just like it with some nice looking modifications (wing struts and antenna above the cockpit) and navigation lights installed. I can't say for certain, but the "antenna" is probably not functional. Most likely just for realistic looks. The plane's actual antenna that picks up the signal from the transmitter is a small copper wire maybe a little over an inch long, attached to the receiver on the circuit board inside the plane. Now, obviously these lights on an rc plane are not for "navigation" in the same sense as they would be on a full size piloted plane. I mean, they're not meant to indicate right-of-way to other aircraft. Unless someone's flying these things WAY too close to an airport, shouldn't be any full size "real" aircraft anywhere nearby. But their purpose is for visual orientation from the ground. Red is left, green is right. Even in broad daylight and keeping a constant eye on these planes as it fly, you'd be surprised how easy it is to lose track of which direction they're going. On my old plane (HobbyZone Firebird Phantom, pictured earlier on this thread) I painted green stripes on the right wing and tail surfaces and red stripes on the left for that purpose. I only flew my old plane during the day. The green and red stripes helped but if it's really far out or high up there, it just appears as a silhouette against the sky, or sometimes just a white spot (even with the stripes the plane was mostly white) that sort of blended in with the clouds. However these lights are should be visible at night, even small as they are, from quite a long way.

[Swamp Critter]

Pictures of my neighborhood from the air at night. It was still early, not fully dark just yet. I still had a little bit of light to see my plane against the sky. The hazy effect was because it had been foggy all day and there was still a good bit of moisture in the air that evening. With no lights on my plane I can't do much real "night" flying, other than slow and close near the street lights or in a large lighted area like an empty parking lot at night. And there too, it's under or not much higher than the lights. If you live in town somewhere, it's hard to realize just how many lights there are around the area at night until you have a view of them from the air.

[swamp snorkler]

cool pics

[I make oil]

Looks like you are really enjoying that plane. Do you have any plans to upgrade or try something different?

[Swamp Critter]

Here's the night flight video the pictures were taken from. Excuse the sudden ending, and no, I didn't stop recording mid flight lol! Either my camera's battery ran out, or it reached full capacity and had no more room on the memory card. Either way, it stops recording video. So anyway, tell me what you think of it. Later y'all!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhlX...ature=youtu.be

[Swamp Critter]

Originally Posted by I make oil

Looks like you are really enjoying that plane. Do you have any plans to upgrade or try something different?

Yes I am enjoying it, thoroughly. And some time soon, my old plane I mentioned earlier on this thread is going to be "reborn". I'm going to rebuild it with a standard tail, add new electronics, a souped up brushless motor, lots of zoom zoom. The plane I'm flying now is slow, mellow, and gentle. A total beginner's plane. My other plane I'm going to rebuild is also a beginner's plane, but bigger and faster. It's no longer in production so I can't get it's original parts, but I can start from scratch and go all "mad scientist" with it. I actually have two complete air frames for it, so I may just go "crazy" and build two! Lol.

[Swamp Critter]

Originally Posted by swamp snorkler

cool pics

Thanks! Been trying to get some up close video of some sort of large bird in the air. That would make for some cool video and pictures. I almost got a big buzzard on video, but couldn't get in the right position. Some day I might get lucky with that, if the birds cooperate.

[Swamp Critter]

Here's a few more recent pictures. I finally got a bird flying by on camera, a crow. In case you're wondering what those transparent, horizontal bands are across the upper part of the pictures, it's the propeller arc. The reason it looks like that has to do with the frame rate of the camera and certain light conditions. It comes and goes, and in certain conditions (like flying at dusk) it doesn't show at all. I like how smooth the water is in the other four pictures, you can actually see the reflection of the clouds. Can anyone recognize the location?