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Originally Posted by I make oil
Cool post. I really like the pics from the plane. This is an excellent idea and a neat way to scout out your hunting area. Many times I wonder what an area looks like from the air. I think it would help to identify funnels and potential stand sites. I think I'm going to look into it not that I need any more hobbies.
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Thanks! Yes, an aerial view would indeed be a good tool for scouting deer stand locations. And it doesn't necessarily have to be an expensive setup to accomplish that either. There's a very good video (actually two videos, the build and maiden flight) on YouTube of this guy building an RC plane for about $10.
Part 1- the building of the plane:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv3D30RGT-g
Part 2- First flight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufmRpaObx0w
Now, the $10 is just the "plane" itself, (actually I believe he says it went a little over $11, adding landing gear) not including the electronics, servos, LiPo (lithium polymer) batteries, electric motor, prop, and transmitter. For a do-it-yourself building project like this if you already have a few basic tools like a sander, maybe a small band saw or jigsaw, a drill, soldering iron, then the all up cost for the "guts" for the plane and a basic, non-"computerized" RC transmitter, can probably be done for around $100. My plane, the HobbyZone Champ, came with everything in the box (to get STARTED, that is) for $89. I added a full range, 5 channel line-of-sight radio, the Spektrum DX5E, for about $60. Some of the larger ready-to-fly aircraft come with that particular radio, but mine came with a fully functional but short range one (I flew my plane out of range a couple of times, maybe about 250 - 300 feet away), so I upgraded the radio. Now I'll lose sight of it before it goes out of range. The $10 to build plane in those two videos is MUCH bigger than mine, and can probably handle a LOT more wind. I'm limited to very calm days, or early mornings and evenings. However, the trade off is that with a small plane like mine I can fly it in a small area. It's slow and "forgiving", and a total beginner's plane to learn on. I often fly under the street lights at night, right in front of my driveway. I couldn't do that with a larger plane. As for the camera, they range in price (and quality), from about $10 up to around $90 or $100. Mine was $40, and as you can see the pictures and video are pretty good for the price. I don't take pictures with it, just video. I get the "pictures" by running the video on my computer and pausing the playback to get "snapshots". Anyway, thanks for the reply. Later!