Hello again fellow flyers,
UPDATE 6/18/17: the Flight video...
Copter Update: Compared to my original paint scheme on the previous video and pics, I painted a new lid using much better tape to mask and it came out much cleaner. I tried to get some gold paint around the canal of the trim on the first one, but it was too skinny and I'm too old; it would look great though. Used less label stickers and changed the squad number to "69" instead of 27. Took out the battery plugs, tightened up the wire run and made sure the wires were no where near the gimbal, also added a small switch. Decided I didn't like the black side box and painted that white, looks much better as well imo. The back 2 motors black I do find VLOS useful, what do you think? Having fun with this H and all the options, now I've made it even more enjoyable up close.
Thank you for the comments everyone.
Had some fun putting this one together using short backyard flying. Thanks to below:
Opening music: SoundImage.org Epic Battles/Tower Defense
Sirens: Siren Sound Effects
Song: Judas Priest/Breaking the Law
Sheriff badge wallpaper by: Jean Min from BsnSCD.com
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OP: I’m not sure where or why I got making a Sheriff multi-rotor from, but the H seems like an equivalent to a Crown Vic “Interceptor” that police and sheriff department’s use, big and powerful, yet agile imo. The clamshell body with 6 arms would host the ole’ “black & white” law enforcement paint scheme well. It all starts with the lights, what might be out there. Came across a slim set designed for 1/10 scale RC cars, the size would fit between the landing gear and motor arm when raised and was better than I could have hoped. Continuing the search for the now gold mine of “1/10 scale accessories”, I came across a sticker set for Police & Sheriff, to find out they would fit perfectly on top of the light bar(s). Before purchasing these, I needed to hammer out the power supply for them. They operate from 3-12v (higher being brighter of course), so I slapped a 9v batt behind the gimbal, but it was too heavy and affected stability since it couldn’t be perfectly centered. So I did a search for small 12v batts and came across the A23 (about ½ size of AAA, a bunch of stacked watch batts) and light weight. After seeing one in a store, I thought of the 1/10 scale fire extinguisher I seen in searching and figured it would be hollow. It was and with a little more modding, housed the A23 well, now I had the lightest weight and max voltage. There was/is concern over the tiny screws and the extinguisher’s holder being metal, but they do not seem to affect my compass at all, however I am prepared to replace them with a 3D printed plastic holder and nylon screws if I find issues getting more than 100’ from me in flight. With the power even better than I could have hoped for as well as the lights and stickers, I needed to find a way to secure them to the landing gear and house the wires. I thought of electronic project boxes and am now 4 for 4 on finding the perfect size stuff to make this happen. With all these finds, there was now no stopping this. I may have gone a bit far with the “accessories”, but this kind of stuff is all about the detail.
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The front (blue/red) of the lights have 9 flashing selections and the rear yellow, have 10 or 11 and that's what those micro momentary switches under them are to change. I decided to use the black&white theme to my advantage for VLOS orientation cues, making the rear two motor arms black with front four white, and the light containers one white, one black. Painting the top of the light bars white, was purposeful to show the gold badge with black "Sheriff" sticker on top of it. The AR15's are just a cool bonus and tempted me to call this bird an "Enforcer" instead of "Interceptor".
Now that it's all together and successfully passed initial close flights, I have a lot of paint edge cleanup to do, should have used a thinner tape, but this gives me an opportunity to get in there with some varying flat or gloss for even more detail. Then I'll try to tuck in the power wires better, but it needs the slack as when the gear raises, the wires get pulled out, so may not be much I can do about that.
Part 2 video will have those touchups being done along with an early evening or indoor flight to show off the lights, this video should be done within a week or two.
Part 3 video will be a staged "action" chase type video with multiple copters and whatever else I think of adding to the drama , but I have no idea how long it will be for that.
Another thought I had (besides being a cool conversation starter) is talking to my tri-county Sheriff PR departments to see if I can volunteer for a youth oriented instructional/exhibition class in the use of multi-rotors and I would be happy to allow some kids to operate the cam in team mode with my other ST16 while I fly it, allowing them to be the directors of their own movie so to speak. I have friends and family in the Hillsborough County department, so I can see positive things coming from my project.
What do you all think?
UPDATE 6/18/17: the Flight video...
Copter Update: Compared to my original paint scheme on the previous video and pics, I painted a new lid using much better tape to mask and it came out much cleaner. I tried to get some gold paint around the canal of the trim on the first one, but it was too skinny and I'm too old; it would look great though. Used less label stickers and changed the squad number to "69" instead of 27. Took out the battery plugs, tightened up the wire run and made sure the wires were no where near the gimbal, also added a small switch. Decided I didn't like the black side box and painted that white, looks much better as well imo. The back 2 motors black I do find VLOS useful, what do you think? Having fun with this H and all the options, now I've made it even more enjoyable up close.
Thank you for the comments everyone.
Had some fun putting this one together using short backyard flying. Thanks to below:
Opening music: SoundImage.org Epic Battles/Tower Defense
Sirens: Siren Sound Effects
Song: Judas Priest/Breaking the Law
Sheriff badge wallpaper by: Jean Min from BsnSCD.com
View media item 544View media item 546
OP: I’m not sure where or why I got making a Sheriff multi-rotor from, but the H seems like an equivalent to a Crown Vic “Interceptor” that police and sheriff department’s use, big and powerful, yet agile imo. The clamshell body with 6 arms would host the ole’ “black & white” law enforcement paint scheme well. It all starts with the lights, what might be out there. Came across a slim set designed for 1/10 scale RC cars, the size would fit between the landing gear and motor arm when raised and was better than I could have hoped. Continuing the search for the now gold mine of “1/10 scale accessories”, I came across a sticker set for Police & Sheriff, to find out they would fit perfectly on top of the light bar(s). Before purchasing these, I needed to hammer out the power supply for them. They operate from 3-12v (higher being brighter of course), so I slapped a 9v batt behind the gimbal, but it was too heavy and affected stability since it couldn’t be perfectly centered. So I did a search for small 12v batts and came across the A23 (about ½ size of AAA, a bunch of stacked watch batts) and light weight. After seeing one in a store, I thought of the 1/10 scale fire extinguisher I seen in searching and figured it would be hollow. It was and with a little more modding, housed the A23 well, now I had the lightest weight and max voltage. There was/is concern over the tiny screws and the extinguisher’s holder being metal, but they do not seem to affect my compass at all, however I am prepared to replace them with a 3D printed plastic holder and nylon screws if I find issues getting more than 100’ from me in flight. With the power even better than I could have hoped for as well as the lights and stickers, I needed to find a way to secure them to the landing gear and house the wires. I thought of electronic project boxes and am now 4 for 4 on finding the perfect size stuff to make this happen. With all these finds, there was now no stopping this. I may have gone a bit far with the “accessories”, but this kind of stuff is all about the detail.
View media item 518View media item 519
The front (blue/red) of the lights have 9 flashing selections and the rear yellow, have 10 or 11 and that's what those micro momentary switches under them are to change. I decided to use the black&white theme to my advantage for VLOS orientation cues, making the rear two motor arms black with front four white, and the light containers one white, one black. Painting the top of the light bars white, was purposeful to show the gold badge with black "Sheriff" sticker on top of it. The AR15's are just a cool bonus and tempted me to call this bird an "Enforcer" instead of "Interceptor".
Now that it's all together and successfully passed initial close flights, I have a lot of paint edge cleanup to do, should have used a thinner tape, but this gives me an opportunity to get in there with some varying flat or gloss for even more detail. Then I'll try to tuck in the power wires better, but it needs the slack as when the gear raises, the wires get pulled out, so may not be much I can do about that.
Part 2 video will have those touchups being done along with an early evening or indoor flight to show off the lights, this video should be done within a week or two.
Part 3 video will be a staged "action" chase type video with multiple copters and whatever else I think of adding to the drama , but I have no idea how long it will be for that.
Another thought I had (besides being a cool conversation starter) is talking to my tri-county Sheriff PR departments to see if I can volunteer for a youth oriented instructional/exhibition class in the use of multi-rotors and I would be happy to allow some kids to operate the cam in team mode with my other ST16 while I fly it, allowing them to be the directors of their own movie so to speak. I have friends and family in the Hillsborough County department, so I can see positive things coming from my project.
What do you all think?
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