Okie... just to throw it out there, if I were to hypothetically get an airsoft-gun and a wireless cam light enough to fit onto a small plane, how do i align them so that I get an FPS type view with the shots going to the middle of the screen?

Also, space may be a consideration, so the ideal one-on-top-of-the-other configuration may not work...


thanks

What you are asking is is the same problem with aligning a rifle scope on a rifle. While I would not advocate such a thing but it would require an alignment device capable of adjusting windage and elevation attached to the camera after you have the whole mount in the ball park of being aligned. (Most gun sights only have a few Minutes of Angle - MOA of precise adjustment.) You will have to factor in the ballistic properties of your projectile to properly adjust for point of impact. At the projectile velocities you would have to operate without raising the eyebrows of authorities you would probably have to fly right up your target's tail pipe to have a prayer of a hit.

Real gun alignment relies on the vertical axis of the projectile, in flight, to match the vertical axis of the aiming device. That way the point of impact is somewhere on the vertical axis depending only on the range. If you place the aiming device laterally from the projectile launching point then you also add a parallax issue to the equation. In that situation you would have to manage the point of lateral convergence of the projectile with the line of sight along with dealing with the vertical issues of the ballistic flight of the projectile. Oh yea, don't forget the wind and other external physics too. I sure hope that this is just a beer drinking topic and not something anyone would really do.

I am an old NRA high power rifle competitor. The M1D sniper rifle from WW2 is about the only precision device I know of where the aiming device was not vertically aligned with the barrel of the gun. This was because of the empty casings being ejected upwards from the action. If my memory serves me right the guns on the P-51s and P-47s where aligned to converge laterally at about 600yds. The guns mounted in the nose of the P-38s had no parallax/convergence issues.

Good Luck with that! Tell us how it goes.

Bill

No, ironically, all parties involved were sober (though high volumes of caffine MAY have been involved)

Easy as Pie.

Think for a second about whats happening.

Put the camera and the gun together. Aim at a garage door or wall where you can easily see the impact from the airsoft projectile. Set it to the range you want it to be accurate at.

Look through the camera at the monito you're going to use. Fire. Don't even think about where the projectile hits. Just put a tape dot on the screen where you saw it hit. You can move the camera around to center it up if you want to.

Repeat the process. Once you get it set where you want, (close to center sounds great) Just put a tiny mark on your monitor where the impact is viewed.

Now all you have to do is fly your plane till you get that dot on your intended target.

Dan

I know this is not Aeral, but it is my gun and camera mounting video.... I just put it out tonight, check it out.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu0OX7MQL5I

This setup is WAYYYYY too heavy for a plane and doubt you will get anything mounted on anything but the largest plane.

Vaughn