FPV, a different video

Versione Italiana

This is a brief summary of my FPV video:

and from this

and again:

and winter came and also the GoPro

and now, my FPV gear:

NB.
Tutti i modelli sono stati pilotati con controllo a vista nel pieno rispetto delle normative ENAC con dispositivi omologati di telecontrollo.

Confessions of an FPV pilot

Versione Italiana

My english is not very good. I appreciate corrections and suggestions. 

Thanks in advance.

Stefano


I confess that I have had my FPV (First Person View) period. It is a disease that can affect all people. They need only money and enought quantity of grey matter. This disease causes severe hemorrhages of the bank account. There are no known cures or effective remedies. In many cases, after about one or two years of illness you can see a sort of spontaneous recession that leads to a state of apparent normality but the disease is always there ready to reemerge. In the far 2002, I noticed in me the first symptoms of the disease. I began to feel a powerful attraction for polystyrene in all its variations. I used to stand up for hours in front of the shelves filled with polystyrene panels. I used to touch them to test the hardness and lightness. I did not know why but I used to do that. My sense of smell had become much more sensitive and I could feel the smell of epoxy glue from miles away. I had regular nightmares where a monster, probably of Soviet origin, named Tzagi wanted to convince me that it was possible to fly a plane without the fuselage. A plane made ​​only of wings!. do you think about it?
When the disease became overt, I decided to go into the community. There, I met other people like me. We could talk about our disease freely and it was there that one night a friend showed me the way.
He told me only one thing, " HobbyKing ". At the time I did not understand, but two hours after I had already ordered:

1. 7-channel remote control. 
2. Sony camera with radio frequency transmitter. 
3. Servos with bearings and metal gears. 
4. NichelCadmio Batteries (it was 2002) 
5. Epoxy adhesives and adhesive tapes reinforced. 
6. Chargers 
7. Parts

Two months of grueling awaiting elapsed . I deceived the time downloading from the internet a few GigaByte of data and information to build the "Thing" that in the meantime I decided to call Tzagi because of the recurrent nightmare. I spent hours on sites like these:

• http://tzagi.altervista.org/step.html
• http://tzagi.altervista.org/vostri.html
• http://xoomer.virgilio.it/aereofactory/tzagi.html 

One morning, of a day apparently like every other, a man came at my door and said, "there's a package for you". He said it in a way that did not do justice to the significance it had for me in those days, but I decided to forgive him. With the same apparent calm of a man who says, "Yes" to marriage, I got "My precious!"

A week later I was ready. In one hand I held the remote control in the other the Tzagi . It was a windy day, too windy but I could not wait any longer. The first flight lasted about 3 and a half seconds. After the launch, the Tzagi reared up and fell miserably on the plowed field that I had carefully chosen for the first flight. Fortunately, the Tzagi is a strong plane and after a few weeks of success and sensational falls I was ready to install the camera on board the model.
I remember that afternoon, there was no wind. I brought the TV with VCR in the garden behind the house. Even the hens looked at me in a different way that day. I connected the transmitter and the camera to the dedicated battery on the plane. I turned on the video receiver connected to the VCR and I tuned the TV. I had a strange urge to say things like: "one small step for a man, one giant ... etc" but I tried to suppress it. I do not remember what time it was and this I regret bitterly. Everything went like a dream and as if I had already done a thousand times .

I moved the switch of the plane to ON. I tried the motor, servos and threw ....

After that day I was no longer the same as before.
After reaching a peak, the disease receded almost to disappear. Elapsed nine years during which I had no symptoms but in 2011 the bitter surprise.
But that is another story ...

NB. 

Tutti i modelli sono stati pilotati con controllo a vista nel pieno rispetto delle normative ENAC con dispositivi omologati di telecontrollo.

Leonardo's Cam Hammer. The Video

Versione Italiana

I answer to a question that was made to me immediately after the publication of the post about hammer cam. I have prepared a short video where I summarized the post and you can see here.

A few days ago I discovered RedBubble, a site that allows you to create and buy T-shirts, cover for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy. I immediately took the opportunity to make me a shirt with a picture of the "hammer cam" which you can see here.

Leonardo's Cam Hammer

Versione Italiana

A long time ago, in a rainy day, I discovered the charm of Leonardo's machines. So I decided to build a small scale model of one of these machines (in fact I have built 4). I was fascinated by the "Hydraulic Saw" but I realized immediately that it would be too challenging to start with a model so complex. Then I started with the "Hammer Cam." And so I did a project, I bought the material and began to give shape to my model. Here are some photos of the phases of construction:

Most of all the material can be found in a home improvement store.

The more complex object could be the anvil. To build the anvil I used a special liquid metal from Prochima.

I used epoxy glue. Then the assembly was quick.

Even for the hammer I used the liquid metal from  Prochima.

And finally, painting and nameplate.

  

And as if they were works of art I have numbered and signed all four models.

Now, one is exposed in my dashboard, I gave another to a friend for Christmas,

while the last two are waiting to merit a new owner.