Kitebuilder.com - Fly... with a little help from your friends.

smarties · Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2004 3:43 pm Post subject: KAP from Smarties

Hi all,
I started building my Kite Aerial Photography rig.

KAP version1

It looks big for now but the end result will look much better. I have more equipment such as a video transmitter, motor control and battery to add inside the middle section. Once everything in place, I will cut down the length of the wood to make it as small as possible and reduce weight.

I'm planning to drill large holes to remove extra weight also and round all corners.

Maybe I should have post this in the "Conception, Construction, & Completion" forum. Stevef, can you help me?

done! -stevef

Smarties Razz

Grant L · Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2004 7:12 pm Post subject:

Looks nice smarties. I can't wait to see some photos from above Very Happy

Man, I really need to build myself a rig Confused

Stan · Joined: 18 Nov 2003 Posts: 819 Location: San Diego

Nice looking project, and it appears you'll use a Picavet suspension.

I made a little KAP rig from a pocket camera, triggered by melting ice.
Worked good on rhe bench, but the wind blew melting ice into the camera and wrecked it. Oh well... Rolling Eyes

Stan

wdrwilson · Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 12:24 am Post subject:

Hey Smarties!!!

Way to go... I'm really looking forward to seeing your progress. The KAP rig is moving high on my list of things to do! It will certainly be nice to get some nice shots at Dieppe 2005!

What kind of wood are you using? I wonder if it's possible to build out of balsa?

Cheers,
Bill

smarties · Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2004 1:23 am Post subject:

smarties · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 3:07 am Post subject:

Today, I went to the future Dieppe's kite field, now in construction. I put up my flowform and my digital camera in the air (600 feet of line) and took some videos. Very Happy

I sent a few pictures, extracted from these videos, to Mountain Man tonight. I will try to post them this weekend unless MM do it before me. I just switched computer and my pictures are on my other computer.

I'm still working on the eletronics to control the motors to move the camera. Tonight, I just press the timer on the camera and run as fast as I could to lift the camera in the air before the 30 seconds video starts recording. Shame on you

_________________
Smarties Razz

http://www.yvonhache.com

To boldly go where no imagination as gone before! Very Happy

Grant L · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 4:09 am Post subject:

Can't wait to see the photos of the field Very Happy

I think I got the family talked into making the festival our summer vacation next summer Dancing

kiteguy · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 4:55 am Post subject:

CJQ · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 12:14 pm Post subject: KAP Stuff

HI Smarties, I looked at the kap version 1 photos . the rig looks like the framing is constructed with 3/4 in thick material, making it a bit clunky. I understand that you will bore large holes to wt. reduce. Is the massive frame used to make the rig crash proof? how about the theory of mass is good to steady the assembly to reduce shaking the camera for clear pictures?
I like this thread very much. I think theres a good number of folks out there that have some serious intrests in building a rig but need some help to get started . Sounds like there will be a lot of contribution.

Cliff

smarties · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 12:57 pm Post subject:

Here are a few pictures. They're samples of 30 second videos. Once I can control the motors, I will be able to take 3mega pixel pictures.

New Dieppe kite field in construction.

The 3 first pictures, the camera was about 300 feet from the ground. We see about 1/4 of the field in those pictures. The tiny white spot in the pictures is me.

CJQ,
To answer your questions, I used the pieces of wood I had in hand to build the rig. But, at the same time, I wanted to have something solid. I've seen this rig crash to the ground once (without the camera, thank God!). I did put the tails on my flowform and the wind speed changed suddendly. The flowform turned nose down and crashed to the ground.

With the tails, no problem. The kite is even more stable with the weight of the rig always pulling on the line. I find that the weight is important to a certain point because when the wind is gusting, it stops the rig to be catapulted in the air.

The weight also keeps the camera more steady as you said. But, keep in mind that my flowform and my rig are heavy so I can only fly those when the wind is above 25km/h. With a less heavy equipment, you can fly in slower speed wind and thus more stable flight.

As soon I'm done with the electronics, I will reduce the frame size to minimal dimensions to limit the drag in the wind and the weight at the same time.
_________________
Smarties Razz

http://www.yvonhache.com

To boldly go where no imagination as gone before! Very Happy

azemeu · Joined: 21 Sep 2003 Posts: 27 Location: USA, AZ

Hi Smarties,
Nice start on the rig, I have an old R/C radio that I have kept for the purpose of building a rig. One of these days!!! I need to get a camera to use for it. I don't know what one to get at this time.

Have you seen this site?
http://www.arch.ced.berkeley.edu/kap/equip/equip.html

It has some good info on KAP rigs.

Good luck and keep us posted on the progress.
_________________
Desert Flyer
http://desertflyer.topcities.com

smarties · Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2004 2:08 pm Post subject:

Thanks azemeu.
_________________
Smarties Razz

http://www.yvonhache.com

To boldly go where no imagination as gone before! Very Happy

smarties · Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2004 11:58 pm Post subject:

Here are new pictures from today. This is our current kite flying field until the new field is ready. The first picture is the ball field we usually use (just under the camera). The other pictures are a 360 degrees around that field turning counterclockwise.

_________________
Smarties Razz

http://www.yvonhache.com

To boldly go where no imagination as gone before! Very Happy

Mountain Man · Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2004 12:13 am Post subject:

super good shots! very good ! see you tomorow !
_________________
Bernie
the Mountain Man
Paint the sky...
"Fly a Kite!"