RC Helicopters/airplanes

[Selino631]

Hey, I am on a scenario paintball team and we are thinking about building a UAV. we have wireless cameras that have a router that can connect to a portible DVD player for live feed. The only thing is now, we need a RC airplane/helicopter. I have seen teh UAV Predetor RC kits they look really nice and can go pretty high. the only thing is where i live it is really hilly, and dont know where i could land it. I think a helicopter would be easier to use. do u know where i can get a UH-60 BlackHawk rc? I am new to RC so any help would be appreciated

[ramzey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVms5xxwpEE

[Maverick]

Have you flown a model helicopter? They are not easy to fly. Getting a blackhawk would likely be rather expensive too. Even the easy to fly coaxial model copters will set you back close to or over $200.00.

[Golfer]

This kind of reminds me of the axiom of buying a $40,000 bass boat to go into 6 feet of water and catch a 3 pound fish.

While I'm all for stimulating the economy how much use do you really expect to get out of that for paintball?  You'll set yourselves back about $1500 when it's all said and done.  All to fly 60' in the air looking into a 3" screen to look for the opponents that when you do finally see them you're watching in interest as they've just eliminated some guy in a bunker looking at a computer as you wonder why your back suddenly hurts.

[MiloMorai]

What do you do if they jam your r/c signal?

[mtnman]

And as someone who once crashed a .40 sized P51 Mustang into a Hospital/Dr's Office in Missoula, MT causing around $10,000 damage-  Be Careful!  They're fun, neat, cool, but can be dangerous!  Had I hit someone, instead of something...  The paintball thing is basically a non-lethal toy.  The RC plane isn't.

Personally, I don't see your plan working out, and would recommend keeping the two things seperate...

Just my .02

[CAP1]

Have you flown a model helicopter? They are not easy to fly. Getting a blackhawk would likely be rather expensive too. Even the easy to fly coaxial model copters will set you back close to or over $200.00.

r/c helis are VERY difficult to fly. i have 3 of em. one indoor electric, a hirobo shuttle(.30) and a raptor(.50)

the raptor has a lot of nice thing on it extra, and is worth close  to 2k. the shuttle is stock, 'cept ofr a jetranger body, and that's worth somewhere in the ballpark of $800 or so.
 the indoor is an older shogun, with a bell 222 body on it. that set me back about $400 or so all told, by the time i added better motor, speed controller, and battery.

[indy007]

Hey, I am on a scenario paintball team and we are thinking about building a UAV. we have wireless cameras that have a router that can connect to a portible DVD player for live feed. The only thing is now, we need a RC airplane/helicopter. I have seen teh UAV Predetor RC kits they look really nice and can go pretty high. the only thing is where i live it is really hilly, and dont know where i could land it. I think a helicopter would be easier to use. do u know where i can get a UH-60 BlackHawk rc? I am new to RC so any help would be appreciated

You can't use a Helicopter. Insurance regulations.
You can't use an open prop. Insurance regulations.

Your only option is electric, ducted fan, foam construction, and probably PicoPilot based navigation. It's still not autonomous, since that'd be illegal by FAA rules. You have to have somebody flying it at all times, which means they're not playing the scenario.

Been working on this for awhile.
http://www.viperpaintball.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=1520

Either way, you're looking at around $1,000. Airframe, spektrum dx6 tx/rx, fan, motor, batteries, servos, chargers, cameras, etc, etc. You'll probably also be expected to carry your own insurance, much like owning a scenario paintball tank.


Do yourself a favor. Skip this, it's largely useless. Fun, but a very low ROI.

Use that same money, buy a PVS-14 night vision monocular. Mount them on Empire E-Vents.
You'll get far more enjoyment and success on the scenario field with it.

[Hornet33]

Someones been watching TOO much Military Channel.

Dude your playing paintball, not fighting the Taliban. You want to know where the "enemy" is, get yourself a bionic ear instead and a decent set of mini binoculars.

[indy007]

Someones been watching TOO much Military Channel.

Dude your playing paintball, not fighting the Taliban. You want to know where the "enemy" is, get yourself a bionic ear instead and a decent set of mini binoculars.

Bionic ears don't work, the ranges are too close. All you hear is people scratching their nuts.

[Hornet33]

Bionic ears don't work, the ranges are too close. All you hear is people scratching their nuts.

I had a buddy who had a cheap bionic ear set up, can't remember who made it, but it actually worked pretty well for paintball. I'd usually carry a small set of 10X binoculars to scan with and that's it.

Beyond that though, it's paintball.

[indy007]

I had a buddy who had a cheap bionic ear set up, can't remember who made it, but it actually worked pretty well for paintball. I'd usually carry a small set of 10X binoculars to scan with and that's it.

Beyond that though, it's paintball.

No, it's scenario paintball. It's not your average recreational weekend. 

[Grayeagle]

I know!

Put a call in to JSTARS an see if they can make a realtime feed on infrared sigs in the area.

Might cost a bit.

I'm sure they take a check.

-GE (jokin .. mebbe)

[indy007]

The best answer is find a company that makes small UAVs, and get them to use a paintball scenario as a live field-testing environment.

Costs you nothing. Opens up a company to the prospect of marketing their product to paintball players, and they get a fast-paced testing environment.

[Wolfala]

I've been on exercises with these guys before.

http://www.avinc.com/

They make hand launchablee UAVs - but they are NOT cheap. Average cost is around 30K, but they actually work from hand launch and fly a GPS track. We've had them operating forward of our base 10 miles and at 500 feet you could not hear them working.

The package we had used gyro-stab IR cameras - though you can outfit it with different mission packages. Average endurance was 50 minutes with a dump truck of LIpo's.