Downhillsk8r

I am a downhill skateboarder that's interested in building a RC car to use as a camera rig, to capture runs like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSfo5tlhvmQ I know nothing at all about RC cars or their capabilities but i figure this would be the place to get some answers. I don't really have a budget for this rig but the last few runs we've been to the footage has been crap from the follow car because it cant keep up through corners, and having the camera mounted so high takes away a lot of the speed perception, so I thought an RC might be a viable alternative.

What I want the RC car/truck to be capable of:
speeds of 60+ mph
very high speed cornering capabilities
a very stable platform to hold a camera up to 2.5lbs

Would something like this be possible? Any input is appreciated!

R32GolfTA06

Any decent Rc car built for the road, that can handle a fast motor would do the job.To get those kind of speeds and handling characteristics you are talking lots of modifications or an expensive platform to begin.

phmaximus

Might be cheaper to use a cheap real car?

whee-sconsin basher

They say anything is possible (whoever "they" are!), so my suggestion is a Traxxas XO1. It's fully capable of reaching your target speed out of the box , and I'm sure 2.5lbs strapped to the top wouldn't kill it as long as you adjusted the preload in the suspension to compensate for the added weight. Here is where my concerns for you come in: 1st - how long of a run are you doing? IDK what run time you can expect from the car itself, since it partly depends on the batteries you use in addition to how the car is driven, but it probably won't be alot. 2nd- how do you plan to fix the camera to the vehicle? 2.5lbs of camera doesn't sound like much to you and me, but that's alot of weight to secure to a car that will be only inches off the ground going 60+mph. 3rd- Where is the person who will be driving the car going to be in relation to the skaters? If he/she is gonna trail behind on a board, that probably isn't in their best interest. You need both hands free to drive one. And in that case, a full size chase car driven by someone else while the other person shoots vid might be a far safer option.
Hope this helps!

Downhillsk8r

Thanks for the replies! We currently use a passenger vehicle to capture the action but that's also what every one else does lol a RC would be as "whee-sconsin-basher" put it, "inches off the ground" giving us new camera angles previously unused in the media side of this sport. The runs we take are from 1-6 minutes long. I was hoping that something like this was done already and that there were gopro or tripod mounts adaptable to the body of the car.. I guess a custom rig would be in order. My plan is to have the RC driver in the passenger seat of a follow vehicle so he/she can get the car as close to the riders as possible. Would the average RC driver be able to navigate a course similar to the one in the video if they were seated in the passenger seat? 2.5 lbs is a whole lot when compared to the weight of the RC.. id hate to strap an slr to it just for it to flip as I try and navigate a corner. A go pro is much less weight (250g) but doesnt have the same quality of video.

Are there any manufacturers that produce cars with adjustable axles or wheelbases? What suspension system would perform best to muffle the occasional rock or pothole at speed? A lot of the drive of the vehicle will come from gravity as well since that's where all of our momentum comes from so I guess the brakes would be another point of concern.

whee-sconsin basher

Adjustability of the wheelbase is not something that can be done easily without custom fabrication. You can adjust the width of a vehicle to an extent using wider offset wheels, wider hex adaptors and/or a combination of both. But for an onroad chassis, that will be very limited I think.
The suspension you probably will be okay with for the most part. Maybe stiffer springs to help keep the chassis from sagging too much under the extra weight. My concern there would be if it's too stiff that maybe your videos would come out horrible looking from vibration, which you would be best off testing this before committing to anything.
Rocks I wouldn't worry too much about. Either the car will go right over if they're small enough, or bump them out of the way if they're a bit bigger. Potholes are pretty much gonna make things go badly. Hopefully you can swerve in time to miss them!
Brakes are usually adjustable nowadays on the ESC, and you can buy ones that are programmable if the car you choose doesn't have that feature. You can adjust how much "drag" the brakes apply when you let off the throttle, or set it so it coasts freely with the throttle @ nuetral.

I did have another thought as well for a vehicle to use. Maybe a 1/5 scale car would be better suited since they are built very sturdy. Check out HARM or FG Modellsport. They're more performance driven, so it might be pricey to go this route, but they are gas powered and can go pretty darn fast also.
https://www.fg-onlineshop.de/
http://www.harm-racing.com/rc-cars-a...acing-chassis/

collector1231

My Feedback: (1)

I was thinking T4.2 with a 3.5T motor, as well as Adobe After Effects Anti-Shake to level it so it is not very shaky.

john01374

I'm going to second the recommendation for the XO1. Very fast and stable car right out of the box. I would be looking at running the XO1 without a body and mounting the camera directly to the chassis of the car to lower the enter of gravity. I've done a few speed runs with a GoPro on an XO1 but nothing with a 2.5lb camera attached.

nitroexpress

Who is going to be operating the RC vehicle?

I doubt another skateboarder will be able to do it. So you're left with a following vehicle. Which you say can't keep up in the corners.

whee-sconsin basher

TBH, I didn't feel like he got too far out of camera range in your vid. I did somewhat feel like the speed perception is missing a bit like you said, but that's it. I think you owe it to yourself to go on youtube and watch a few vids of rc cars set up with gopro cameras and such. The vibration they encounter is magnified far more than a fullsize car, and might make the vid useless you do like collector1231 said above.
Good run in the vid, btw! Is that you on the board?

whee-sconsin basher

Also, where at? Looks like a killer road to race - er, I mean, casually drive on

whee-sconsin basher

Mod, please delete this duplicate due to my fat fingers. Thank you.
TBH, I didn't feel like he got too far out of camera range in your vid. I did somewhat feel like the speed perception is missing a bit like you said, but that's it. I think you owe it to yourself to go on youtube and watch a few vids of rc cars set up with gopro cameras and such. The vibration they encounter is magnified far more than a fullsize car, and might make the vid useless you do like collector1231 said above.
Good run in the vid, btw! Is that you on the board?

phmaximus

seems a bit over kill.... any video from a rc car wouldent be the best..... the viewing angle would be shocking, unless u like filming from 3in of the ground and would be full of vibrations and bumps.... and most importantly how would u keep the camera on the skater???? or would u blind film by pointing it at there general direction and hope for the best?????

I wouldn't recommend the X01.... its really not that good.. sorry....

its possible... but that doesn't mean there isn't better ways of going about it....

IMO the best way....
$600 1/1 cheap small car...
$5 broom stick
$1 cable ties
$50 7" LCD screen

use those parts to make a camera boom with a viewfinder at one end so u can see what u are pointing the camera at....
That way u have a safe vehicle to film from with a 12v power source that will be a million times smoother than a rc car....

sure u could persist to do something similar with a rc car... but is it worth it? cost vs quality????
it works great for the bomb squad guys. but not for filmmaking...

nitrosportsandrunner

the XO-1 isn't a bad option.....but I think a ofna 1/8 brushless onroad or a 1/8 buggy on 6s should do the job. with some minor shock adjustments either in 1/8 scale should handle 2.5 pounds. And with a 6s system you should have plenty of speed.

SyCo_VeNoM

Agree
Also Nitroexpress brought up an excellent point who, and what is going to control it to follow the skater?
With how fast he is going you would out range it in no time, and it would be out of line of site so you couldn't steer a RC anyways.

phmaximus

very true... so either way its going to need a chase vehicle with 2 guys... one to drive and one to drive the rc car....

so why not film from the chase car with a camera boom?...

I know a lot of guys film rc cars with a motor bike.... they just get a guy to sit on the back with a camera boom... u could allways do something like that??? but I think for the speeds u guys are doing a car might be safer and the camera guy wouldn't have to worry about leaning into the bends...
ultimately u want the most stable platform for the camera....
and ultimately it would allso be good to change the viewing angle... ie pan and tilt.... so far the best way ive seen is a camera guy, good old manual labor....

On2_n_On4

or...
you can always use one of these., for a second camera maybe?
I use it on my car and bikes.
got mine from.... http://www.filmtools.com/cleatsuccamm.html

nitrosportsandrunner

after actually watching the video I agree that a camera mounted on the car (could use 2 or 3 for different angles) makes far more sense. Trying to drive an RC form a moving car on a road like that would be hard....even for the best driver. Driving a RC when you are standing still is easy. Doing it when you are moving at 50mph is tough.

Onto the sport depicted. It is risky to do so on a open road, but for some people it is the risk that gives them the enjoyment. Me, Id rather be in that Evo driving down the mountain pass than standing on that board risking my life. Pushing the evo on that road would be plenty of fun for me.

kistner

My Feedback: (10)

You should check out another thread on here, this guy gets some crazy angles for his vids and in quite a few you see his filming setups
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-c...-progress.html

moparbarn

what about a go kart & helmet cam? find a used race kart, should easily keep up. a used kart that is no longer competitive shouldn't be much more or less than a rc car capable of doing what you need.


sure am glad that airplanes400 wasn't my dad growing up LOL!!

eddieC

My Feedback: (2)

I was also thinking go-kart, or café bike with a gyro-stabilized cam mounted about axle height.

Too bad the buzz-killers can't keep their comments to themselves. We had probably the first skateboards in MI, copied from pics in Hot Rod magazine about '65 or '66. Live it through X-Games and this stuff now. LOL

whee-sconsin basher

That's a great idea also! And agreed on the second comment

whee-sconsin basher

I like your idea of a gyro for stabilization. Seems doable.
Also, I hope I'm not one of the buzz-killers and I'm sorry if I was. It just struck a chord with me the way dude is conducting himself.

n233w

Wouldn't you get hugely lots of vibration on a RC car cam? If you do run a RC car cam, you would want a driver to drive the RC car but also a FPV camera operator to aim a camera on gimbals like is done with aircraft FPV/video. Don't run over the boarder with the car or vice versa!

If there would be an RC car FPV forum, that'd be a place to do some research.

Foxy

Saw this late, didn't read it all, just wanted to point out the XO1 wouldn't be a good choice, nor any other on-road car. There'd be a lot of shake due to stiff suspension with little travel.

A brushless 1/8th buggy with a soft setup would be much better. Much cheaper too... OFNA LX2E cough cough.