Baron's Hobbies - Online Hobby Magazine

Horizon Hobby Announces Exciting New Products

aaronredbaron — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 19:16:49 +0000

In the first quarter of 2012 Horizon Hobby has been announcing a steady stream of exciting new products. With Horizon’s AS3X gyro technology being added to numerous small models, getting the performance you demand is easier than ever! The new lineup of AS3X equipped aircraft continues to grow at a rapid pace; Horizon’s first multicopter, the Blade mQX is wildly popular, the flybarless Blade mCP X is well established, the flybarless Blade mSR X is changing how flyers think about fixed pitch helis, and the first AS3X airplanes (Beast X, Gee Bee, and Air Taxi) are on hobby shop shelves already. AS3X technology takes micro aircraft to the next level with a 3 axis gyro integrated into the receiver to make tiny models fly like they are on rails. Soon to be released is an ultra micro ducted fan Mig 15, a Spitfire, and a Carbon Cub and ASK-21 sailplane designed to be used together for aerotowing, all with AS3X on board. A new lineup of Blade helis is turning a lot of heads in the hotly contested 3D heli segment of the industry with BNF 500 and 300 size models and a new scale Bell 222 body to go with the new 500 X. To top is all off Horizon’s in-house radio brand, Spektrum, recently announced a futuristic 18 channel radio, the DX18. Horizon seems to be on a roll and continues to be a market leader for good reason; time and time again they set the standards for new niche markets that tailor specifically to what modelers want to fly.

Carbon Cub

ASK-21

Mig 15

Spitfire

Blade 500 X

Blade 300 x

Carangi Airships; Sailing The Sky

aaronredbaron — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:43:11 +0000

Windcrafter Inc’s Carangifoil technology is now Carangi Airships, with a new website and exciting people behind the scenes. I (Aaron Shell) have been working with Windcrafter for nearly a decade now, and despite the great loss recently of Therin Laney, one of our founders, Windcrafter is making progress. Under new management, Carangi Airships is moving forward with new direction. Keep an eye out for more advancements on the new website.

RC Airplanes Used To Promote Hollywood Movie

aaronredbaron — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:08:15 +0000

In conjunction with the upcoming release of the Hollywood flick Chronicle, a viral video has been posted showing three RC airplanes flying around New York City. The models are built to look like people soaring through the air, an idea which has been implemented by modelers in various guises from witches riding broomsticks to Superman over the years. The question this video brings up is how will the video be viewed by the FAA? Since 2007 the FAA has stopped all commercial use of model aircraft, See this link to read about mi6films direct experience with being shut down by the FAA, and with these models being used to promote a big name product, they certainly are being flown by a private company for a commercial purpose. Is this something the FAA will take note of and try to restrict? If we start to see more viral videos like this using model airplanes as a promotional tool, I predict they will.

Click here to see IMDb’s info about the movie Chronicle

A few links with related info

Article about the LAPD enforcing the FAA’s rules

FAA fact sheet about Unmanned aircraft

2007 FAA notice of policy clarifying what qualifies as a model airplane

FAA definition of a model airplane

Parrot Announces the Release Of the AR Drone 2.0

aaronredbaron — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:20:25 +0000

At the 2012 CES trade show in Las Vegas, French company Parrot anounced the follow up to their popular AR Drone. With a slew of new features to make the product more attractive but the same $299 price as the original, Parrot has a sure winner on their hands. While the original AR Drone broke new ground on many levels, this 2.0 version addresses some of the shortcoming of the first version, and appears to be a significant improvement, based on their early videos. The first AR Drone garnered significant attention at the 2010 CES show when it was initially released. For the first time any consumer with a smart phone could operate a multicopter (similar to a helicopter in flight, but only requires simple electric motors and propellers) and had the opportunity to get a first person view on the phone. Although intriguing, the frame rate of the first AR Drone’s front camera was only 15 FPS, which makes any type of FPV flying impractical. In addition the Drone was limited to a rather low altitude of about 10 feet because of it’s reliance on ultrasound sensors for altitude control.

Enter the 2.0

Parrot has directly addressed any consumer concerns with the 2.0 model and added a few features to help novice fliers. First off, the front facing camera is now a 720p camera which can deliver 30 fps back to your smart phone. The ability to fly up to 50 meters high is now available thanks to the addition of a barometric pressure sensor to the flight controller, and adding a 3 axis magnetometer gives the drone enough info in flight to know where you are, so a beginner mode is now available which eliminates the need for orientation; if you want the drone to fly away from you, a forward command will send the drone forward regardless of its orientation. The addition of these features without an increase in price is sure to draw a new group of users who were teetering on the fence about the old version, and dedicated AR pilots will be clamoring for the upgrade.

In the two years since the first version was released the aviation world has added multicopters to the ranks of manned aviation, so the advancements we see in Parrot’s AR Drone 2.0 may in fact be sparking new ideas and bringing awareness of this new form of aircraft to the general public.

Click here to see Parrot’s website

Here is Parrot’s own video promoting the new Drone

Here’s video of the world’s first manned multicopter, please see e-volo.com for more information

Rice Saves the Day!

aaronredbaron — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:43:55 +0000

After crashing my FPV twinstar into a tree and all the electronics getting soaked, I was in doubt as to which components would come back after letting them dry out. Click here to see this post for the first part in this series. I’m not really sure how long you are supposed to leave the components in the rice, this home-grown remedy doesn’t have any manual. I decided to use sealed mason jars to allow the rice to completely draw the moisture out of that environment, I figured it may work better than just putting the electronics in a bowl of rice, but I really have not way of confirming this. I can say that when I opened the jars they “popped” where if you just open and close the jars they don’t act like you have broken the seal. All of my electronics survived except the video transmitter, which may or may not have had anything to do with the moisture in the first place.

RIP RC Heli Magazine

aaronredbaron — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 01:30:29 +0000

Two of the best years of my life were poured into RC Heli Magazine’s early years; I spent 2006 to 2008 living in southern California working as the Editor of RC Heli Magazine. For the past few years since my move back home to Oregon I’ve written a few articles a month for them as a contributing author. Unfortunately the Magazine is no more, it was decided to shut it down for good at the end of November. I greatly value the friends and experiences I gained from working at the magazine. One of the pinnacles of my career was interviewing Chuck Aaron for the magazine and going for a ride in the Red Bull BO 105. While the magazine had its ups and downs, I’m proud of the work I completed for the magazine, and I will miss being a part of the RC Heli Magazine team. Pictured in the photo from left to right is Brandon Updike, Ryan Kephart , Myself, and Zary Lahouti.

Quoted from this post on HeliFreak.com, from Mike Velez, the Publisher/Owner of the magazine.

“Hi guys, yes it’s true we’re out of business and no longer publishing. We had a change in circumstance beyond our control that forced an abrupt shut down. Long story short we’ve been negotiating with the IRS for the last 18 months and were recently denied our appeal. Our legal counsel was not expecting this, that’s why we were looking towards fixing the issues that had brought us to that point.Everything I said during the interview on RC Heli Nation was true, there was no fraud. When it became clear that we were going to have to shut down the links to run credit cards was closed down and no checks were cashed. We’re negotiating a deal to have our subscriptions serviced by a competing publication, as soon has the details are worked out we’ll announce on our FB and here. The plan is to have all our subscriptions taken care of. Not sure how request for refunds will be handled since since we are out of business and have IRS levies. I’ll also be going back on RC Heli Nation to discuss. I’m very sorry that we’re not able to give you the magazine you enjoyed. A lot of people lost their jobs just before Christmas. I’m no more happy about this than anyone. Stay tuned, I will announce more details in the next few weeks once a deal is reached for subscribers.

Those of you that have supported us over the years, thank you very much.

Mike Velez”

Video of Aaron’s Ride in the RedBull Heli

Drying Out Electronics After Exposure To the Elements

aaronredbaron — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 04:31:00 +0000

After finally getting my FPV twinstar flying great with the GoPro2 feeding the video and the Eagle Tree OSD providing full Return To Home Autopilot functions, I crashed it straight into the top of a huge Oak tree. Thanks to a buddy who’s a certified tree climber and arborist, I got everything back in the best condition I could have hoped for, but not before everything was exposed to the elements overnight. It did rain overnight, and I am hopeful the gear will come through this situation without releasing the magic smoke. I thought I’d show you, my readers, what I’m doing to dry out the electronics so you can hopefully save your gear too some day. This is going to be an experiment which I’ll document as it goes, I’ve just put all my goodies up to dry out, and I won’t know if any of it works for a day or two.

Rice is naturally absorbent and works very nicely to dry out electronics. I’ve enjoyed flying models off water since I was little and I’ve run into my fair share of wet electronics situations. I learned I could get pretty much any water dunked radio back into working condition by sealing it up in a container with uncooked rice. My hope is all the goodies that were in my FPV Twinstar will come back to life after an overnight venture in a mason jar with rice.

Here is the video of the crash, I should have stopped flying after I hit the first tree because of the poor lighting, but in the end I’m just happy to have it all back. At least I recorded the crash in high speed mode so I could do the slow-mo!

Innov8tive Designs Announces New Multicopter Frames

aaronredbaron — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:44:58 +0000

Innov8tive Designs announced a new quad frame on their website which looks like a tank! With a shock absorbing landing gear set available as an option, this frame is meant to take some abuse! Many of the frames available for the fledgling multirotor niche industry fall into either the super inexpensive category or the really fancy and expensive side, and niether is built to be very durable. What multirotor pilots have been clamoring for is a frame that is reasonably priced, durable, and scalebale for bigger setups with better cameras. It appears this new Next Level Multi-Rotors frame system is going to be going after that target with a full line of multicopters in quad and hex configurations offering in sizes from 500mm to 1000mm. Right now they’ve released the 500mm and 650mm quad frames, with the rest being release in the early part of 2012. It will be very interesting to see what kind of monster they are unleashing with the 1000mm hex, that beast could probably carry quite a hefty load! More info to come as it becomes available.

Click here to see the press release at Innov8tive Design’s website

Lotus T580 review

aaronredbaron — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:56:29 +0000

I recently had a chance to review the Lotus T580 quadcopter for FPV-Community.com, and the full review has been published. Click here to see the review. If you are looking for a forum to ask questions and get help with your FPV stuff, FPV-Community is a great place to check out. Its great to be able to work with them on reviews, and I’ll be sure to publish links to the reviews here when they go up.

Final Edit from Blowsion Surf Slam

aaronredbaron — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 22:01:07 +0000

I’ve finally managed to get my computer to cooperate with all the different file types from different cameras and get it all into one video. I could not get my Pinnacle Studio 14 video editor to work properly with the .ASF files my ground recorder uses (Aiptek DV5800), and on the flip side the Windows Movie Maker that works well with .ASF would not read the .MTS files from my JVC Everio HD Camera. I ended up converting my .ASF files to MP4 with Windows Movie Maker, and finishing the project in Pinnacle. I nearly gave up when Pinnacle refused to render the video, and numerous help sites failed to provide the key to making it process the video. In the end I deleted the stabilizing effects from two short clips which came from a cell phone, and Voila! it rendered the entire video without a problem!

FPV flying at the 2011 Blowsion Surf Slam

aaronredbaron — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 03:19:53 +0000

[View with PicLens]

From September 9-11, 2011 a few of us first person video addicts flew our models over the ocean watching the jetski action from above. I brought a Twinstar and the EPP FPV to carry my GoPro, and neither aircraft performed as well as I would have liked. The twinstar had some vibration issues which produced quite a “jelly effect” on my final footage, and the lumbering EPP FPV struggled in the steady breeze at the beach. In the end I was able to put together some useful footage, and I certainly had a blast! Phil from Battleground came out, as did Rob from Olympia; both flyers were able to put in some great flights during the event. On Friday the wind was pretty strong from the north, Saturday was nearly calm most of the day, and Sunday the wind shifted on us and came from the south. It was fun to be able to give people “rides” when they showed interest, we had an extra pair of video goggles on hand and we introduced about a dozen people to our exciting hobby. Overall we couldn’t have asked for more out of the weekend, but it would have been nice if a few more flyers showed up!

Unofficial Oregon Coast FPV Gathering September 9-11

aaronredbaron — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 02:58:33 +0000

Looking to get together with friends flying FPV, we’ve organized an unofficial gathering September 9-11 at the Tierra Del Mar Beach on the Oregon Coast. The event will coincide with the Blowsion Surf Slam Jet Ski event at the same location, and will provide an opportunity to film these professional Jet Ski riders from the air. Tierra Del Mar is several miles long of wide open beach, and you can even drive street legal vehicles legally anywhere south of this point. The idea with trying to get together this weekend is its a great place to fly, and it will be an interesting topic to film from the air. All we ask if you want to join the FPV fun is to check in with us for video frequency coordination, and be prepared to fly in a safe and practical manner. We want to avoid ever flying over the crowds of people, and filming the Jet Skis should be done in a manner which does not impose any threat to the riders.

Link to Map

Here is the link to the Blowsion surf slam website

http://www.blowsionsurfslam.com/

Here is a link to local campgrounds if anyone wants to camp. I’d recommend Whalen Island first, but all of the campgrounds on this link are within a few miles of Tierra Del Mar
http://pacificcity.org/parks/main.html

list of close hotels
http://pacificcity.org/Biz/directory…modations.html

or just search for a beach house to rent in either Pacific City or Tierra Del Mar, Oregon

I’d get on this ASAP if you want to join because with the Jetski event I’d bet vacancies fill up quick!

Here is a video of flying at Tierra Del Mar, this place is one of may favorite places to fly FPV!

Futaba Releasing an 18 Channel radio

aaronredbaron — Mon, 16 May 2011 22:16:06 +0000

Futaba has been using the 14MZ as their flagship radio for over 6 years. The 14MZ is quite a benchmark to try to top, but Futaba is setting out to do it with an all new 18 channel radio, the 18 MZ. While some may wonder why anyone would need 18 channels for a model aircraft, there are applications which will put all 18 channels to good use. It appears Futaba was intent on taking what they had developed for the 14MZ and pushing it to the next level. With the 18 MZ we see the addition of a few new features, such as Futaba’s latest 2.4 gHz technology, FASSTest, which is Futaba’s first offering with telemetry. The new radio has also been loaded up with an SD card slot, and a new screen with what should be vastly improved touch screen features. Touch screen technology has matured leaps and bounds since the 14MZ was first introduced, and the idea of a radio with a modern touch screen interface is tantalizing.

For more information Click here to see Futaba’s Press release

Pushing the Limits Of FPV Helis

aaronredbaron — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:27:46 +0000

The 450 sized Mini Titan SE has proven to be an excellent FPV platform

FPV helis offer the most capable platform for your remote piloting experience, but they are the hardest to fly. When flying an RC heli from a video link its difficult to determine differences between altitude changes and forward or backward movements. I’ve been flying FPV helis for a few years now, but only in the last few months have I really felt comfortable flying my heli around from takeoff to landing with the goggles on. Once I felt I had reached a certain level of mastery, it was time to start pushing the aerobatic envelope.

The heli I’m flying is a Thunder Tiger Mini Titan SE. With a simple wireless video setup, it’s proving to have more than enough power, stability, and agility for FPV heli aerobatics. My camera is a very basic 420 line of resolution CCD camera (click here to see a review I wrote on the camera), there is a simple mic onboard, a 100mw 1.28gHz video transmitter, and all of the video components are powered by a dedicated 800 mAh LiPo. On the ground I’ve got two basic “digital display” video receivers running on a Eagle Tree Systems Eagle Eyes for diversity, I record with a Aiptek DV5800 and I fly with pair of hacked Trimersion goggles. My radio control system is a Futaba 12FG running 2.4gHz FASST.

Here are a few videos showing my progression into FPV heli aerobatics

This video is when I really started to feel like I was ready to start pushing the limits

After lots of practice on the simulator, I finally worked up enough courage to roll and flip my Mini Titan during this flight.

It didn’t take me long to feel really comfortable with FPV heli aerobatics, and I’m having more fun than ever!

Northwest Adventure Flying: Mt. Hood

aaronredbaron — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 18:36:40 +0000

[View with PicLens]

I have always wanted to fly on Mt. Hood ever since I got into FPV, and with my new Custom Widebody Stryker proving to be a great platform for the GoPro HD camera I headed up to the mountain with my Wife on a clear windless winter day. This Stryker was cut in half and widened 5 inches to make room for equipment and carry the GoPro. I am using an Eagle Tree OSD Pro, an FY-20 stability device, a 300 mw 1.28 gHz video transmitter with a V antenna built into the vertical stabilizer, and a Futaba R-148 DP PCM receiver. My motor of choice is a Mega 16/15/7 for its efficiency, and I’m spinning an 8×6 propeller. The max current draw is 19 amps at sea level with this setup, but I was under-propped on the mountain and could only draw 15 amps. I would go to a 9×6 if I fly on the mountain again. Everything on the Airplane is powered by a single 2200 mAh 3 cell Lipo, and I’ve built a power filter and 5v regulator system to power the video transmitter and GoPro. My ground station uses an Eagle Eyes system for diversity from two cheap “12 channel” receivers with stock DiPole antennas, and I’m flying with a hacked pair of Trimersion goggles. My Transmitter is a Futaba 12 FG. Somehow I managed to even cross my landing marks in the snow with nearly identical landings. A special thank you to my Wife Dustine for helping me make this day possible and taking pictures. Sit Back and enjoy the ride! (Please forgive the half finished covering, I couldn’t pass up the chance to fly in this weather!)

2010 Wrap Up; Baby Girl and Focus On FPV

aaronredbaron — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 19:32:31 +0000

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I owe all of my readers an apology. This website has been neglected the past few months, and despite the lack of attention we are still receiving an average of over 100 visitors every day! On August 17, 2010 my wife gave birth to our daughter Penelope after a long and difficult pregnancy. After 3 weeks home off work, my wife went back to work full time and I have been taking care of our little Penny ever since. Needless to say, its been a bit of a challenge finding much time to get things accomplished. I haven’t dropped my hobby pursuits by any means, I’ve just been kind of selfish with my time and have not posted anything sharing what I’ve been up to! I intend to change that, and my goal is to post at least one article a week from here on out, and see if I can’t pick up where I left off with this thing! In the meantime, here’s a little montage of my activities of late.

Most of my activities these days are FPV related; I’m currently flying a GP ElectroStik, FPVicious, Split 280, a custom widebody Stryker, and a Mini Titan 450 SE heli all from fist person video. I’ve actually become quite adept at flying FPV helis, including hovering and landing from the video feed. I’ve got a no-name flybarless 450 project in the works as a video ship, and my Logo 600 Flybarless has been retired and set aside until I can outfit it with the appropriate FPV gear. On my ground station I’m wrapping up my scratch built antenna tracker, but when I want to keep it simple I just take FPVicious or the Split 280 with the Trimersion Goggles I’ve hacked, which have a built-in 2.4 gHz video receiver.

In addition to my other activities I’ve been writing reviews for FPV-community.com as well as RC Heli Magazine. If you pick up a current issue of the heli magazine be sure to look for my articles!

Futaba Soon To Release A Flybarless Control System

aaronredbaron — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 04:18:33 +0000

Never to be outdone, Futaba will soon be releasing a flybarless stability system, the CGY750. Featuring simple setup, an integrated governor, and a single servo lead with S.Bus technology to a Futaba receiver, the new system is getting rave reviews from early testers. With Mikado still dominating the market with the V-Bar, and several companies offering good systems, many people have been wondering when Futaba would introduce a product for the quickly emerging part of the industry. Check out this video from Bobby Watts where he goes over the system and shows how it performs, I think a lot of top heli pilots are going to be giving this system a try!

FPV Cobra; Ready For Combat

aaronredbaron — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 18:55:20 +0000

I felt the only thing missing in my FPV experience was having the perspective from a military aircraft. I’ve been fooling around with trying to put the camera in the cockpit on the bench, but I haven’t been happy with the results. While trying to come up with a good way to convert my Mini Titan for FPV, I decided to take advantage of a Super Cobra conversion kit I already had. The raised tail is put to good use to help keep the tail out of the grass while landing FPV, and I wanted to put the cannon in the camera view. At first I tried the cannon under the camera, on the nose of the heli. I wasn’t happy with this arrangement and the cannon was out of focus. After going back and forth about how to mount it, I decided on a side mounted location which keeps the nose of the heli in view on the far side of the screen. I get to see just enough to add some realism, without taking up a lot of valuable real estate on the screen, and I kept the cannon in focus!

To tame the Mini Titan down from its wild 3D setup, I added the heavier paddles which came with the Cobra conversion, and I also added some Trex 450 flybar weights. I choose the Mini Titan from the onset not only because I have one, but because they are very stable, very smooth little flying machines, and I have always liked the “big machine feel” they posses. I am happy to report I have no issues flying the little gunship watching the video feed the entire flight, from takeoff to landing, and I’m finding additional stability assistance unnecessary. Even in a low hover, I have no problem maintaining complete control of the aircraft.

Using an old Sharp board cam with a ~100 degree lens, no OSD and a 1.28 gHz video transmitter I’m getting great results with my home-made dipole antenna. (please note you must have your HAM licence to use 1.28 gHz in most parts of the world) Please click here to see IBCrazy’s thread here for info about building your own FPV antenna. I’ve been trying to integrate everything I need for my base station into my TV case, and I’ve added a power distribution box to filter the power going to the TV, eliminate ground loops, and provide 5 volts to the video recorder.

Control Your RC Model With Your iPhone!

aaronredbaron — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:04:36 +0000

With the iPhone’s built in accelerometers, its capable of knowing the attitude of the device. Creative software developers have taken this ability and turned it into a method for controlling an RC model! Using the audio jack on the iPhone like a buddy cord connection, this setup still uses a conventional RC transmitter (or a custom enclosure for a transmitter module) to send control signals to the model. Using the iPhone as a gimbal, all you have to do is tilt the phone in the desired direction of control. Throttle and rudder are controlled with a sliding touch screen button on the screen. If you have a stable airplane, a radio with a buddy cord and iPhone, you could put this together yourself without too much trouble!

please click here to see the developer’s website

Improving My FPV Heli Experience

aaronredbaron — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 19:32:22 +0000

Flying an RC helicopter can be a rewarding endeaver, but few modelers have taken the plunge to fly their heli from the first person viewpoint. I began flying FPV helis about a year ago with my trusty MSH Protos. After a year of flying, it recently had a minor crash and needs to be re-built, so I’m reexamining my setup and looking forward to doing more with it. I’ve also been inspired by the monthly video competition going on over at FPV-Community.com (click here to see June’s competition thread). Every month the quality of the videos have improved in the competition. It doesn’t seem like my videos are up to the competition, but I’ve been trying to post something in there anyway.

In the next month I’ll be putting my Protos back together and I’ll go over the setup and hopefully finish it with some FPV flights. There is a remote chance I may put it back together and offer it for sale once I’ve got it working properly again. I’m considering going with a different airframe, but I haven’t made any final decisions.

Here is one of my videos flying the Protos this summer without the OSD

Here are some of the videos I’ve been inspired by recently.

FPV Two 2010 from Wolfgang Lienbacher on Vimeo.

FPV Three 2010 from Wolfgang Lienbacher on Vimeo.

And proving the viability of the Tricopter for FPV