R/C Airplanes!

[SCguy]

Went to a local R/C field (literally a field) today with a few friends to watch. I tried capturing some pics, but those things move FAST! At last I got a few pics that weren't blurry even in sport mode. They turned out fairly good, I think.
1. A little blurry, but this was the fastest plane. The shot looks like I'm on level with the plane, but it was about 40-50 ft off the ground.

2. Same plane, but climbing.

3. Homemade plane made out of foam board. Total cost to flyer? $2

4. A smaller electric model that the flyer could hover with the wind.

RD

 

[TimboAA]

I miss flying R/C planes....but man that hobby can get expensive. I can only imagine the difficulty in photographing those. These will really test your panning abilities!

 

[SCguy]

I found that the trick is to view through my EVF with my right eye while tracking the plane with my left. The "crosshairs" would roughly follow the plane but with only 60 fps, it was hard to pan with them.

RD

 

[KC10Chief]

I have quite a few RC airplanes. It's great fun. If you ask the pilots, they can set them up for you so you can get some shots. Some of those guys can be real dicks, but most of them are pretty cool. I could slow any one of my planes down and bring it right by you nice and safe. Oh, I seriously doubt that plane was $2. He was probably talking about the materials for the plane itself. Not the radio, motor, battery etc. He probably has another $200 in that! I have a big biplane. The plane itself was $200. The motor, radio, servos, covering and other hardware was another $1,200. You can get a trainer plane and everything you need for it to fly for $300. That's about as cheap as it gets.

 

[SCguy]

Yes, the $2 was the foam board he used. Not the servos, motor, etc. But another guy there bought this plane with servos, motor, radio, and everything else he needed for $100 at an annual swap meet in Perry, GA.

RD