BATTLEAXE Quick Tips

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
If you have never done it you will be impressed with the results. It makes a world of difference for sure, on many levels. What I found I liked about it was that it sparks other ideas to try it on. Play around with it and after some time you will wonder how you got along with out it for so long
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
I will have another vid out tomorrow as well, it will be a short and simple one. Gonna make some production improvements too.
 

Tonero311

Well-known member
If you have never done it you will be impressed with the results. It makes a world of difference for sure, on many levels. What I found I liked about it was that it sparks other ideas to try it on. Play around with it and after some time you will wonder how you got along with out it for so long

Already sparked a few ideas with me. Could this be used to make round fuselage or master series wing to improve strength without the paper inside. Soft silicone mat and a stainless rolling pin heated up in the oven.
Unfortunately it'll be ailerons and flaps only as the tail surfaces have already been beveled waiting on a hot glue gun to finish. Be good to see the results and add another string to the building bow.

I will have another vid out tomorrow as well, it will be a short and simple one. Gonna make some production improvements too.
Look forward to your next vid😀
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
Already sparked a few ideas with me. Could this be used to make round fuselage or master series wing to improve strength without the paper inside. Soft silicone mat and a stainless rolling pin heated up in the oven.
Unfortunately it'll be ailerons and flaps only as the tail surfaces have already been beveled waiting on a hot glue gun to finish. Be good to see the results and add another string to the building bow.


Look forward to your next vid😀
I am not to sure about the MS formed thing, it might... maybe. I am trying to think of a way it would work. My only concern to that would be uneven heat distribution and deforming the foam on high spots so it wrinkles into the low spots. I guess one could try to iron out a flat scrap of FB and see what it does. I am going to guess that if you tried it on a flat sheet before you cut and formed it would be harder to form because of the foam now turning into plastic... I wanna try it now lol.
 

Tonero311

Well-known member
I am not to sure about the MS formed thing, it might... maybe. I am trying to think of a way it would work. My only concern to that would be uneven heat distribution and deforming the foam on high spots so it wrinkles into the low spots. I guess one could try to iron out a flat scrap of FB and see what it does. I am going to guess that if you tried it on a flat sheet before you cut and formed it would be harder to form because of the foam now turning into plastic... I wanna try it now lol.

Maybe a few too many complications for that particular application, but it's an idea that maybe able to be used elsewhere. EDF nacelles possibly.
Just tried the iron technique on spare tail feathers for the Piet there as practice. My goodness, it's really night and day the difference. Now onto the 'good' tail feathers with the CF rods in, stiffness will be off the scale now.
Thank you for sharing this technique and making the video. Full credit will be given to you when I update the Pietenpol thread.
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
I can't wait to see it fly man, You really have something goin on with your building, super clean and precise. You can tell you really put your time and effort into it, pretty much flawless from what I can tell. You might be good at hiding mistakes cuz I haven't found any.
 

Tonero311

Well-known member
I can't wait to see it fly man, You really have something goin on with your building, super clean and precise. You can tell you really put your time and effort into it, pretty much flawless from what I can tell. You might be good at hiding mistakes cuz I haven't found any.
To be honest I think it's down to pure dumb luck so far. Anything that has been a mistake has been able to be used in a way like it looks purposeful so far lol.
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
Thanks man I appreciate the compliments. I have my daughter this weekend so I will try to get a couple more vids off with out taking to much time from her, we will see how it goes. I will finish up this Sportster while she is here to get it to maiden and I could do a couple quick vids there in the meantime. Thanks again
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
Skid Plates
I think you missed it a little bit with that one. Spread the glue. Tape it down. Got it. That part really doesn't need that much time. I think where someone wanting to duplicate your skidplate would have trouble, would be the measuring to get the cut, so the piece is accurate on the build.

Or maybe you just laid it against the plane, and drew some lines down the side, and sort of guesstimated the cuts across. That was all left unsaid, and I think really, where the focus should have been.

Still a great video, and just my 2c. :)
 

The Hangar

Fly harder!
Mentor
Thanks man I appreciate the compliments. I have my daughter this weekend so I will try to get a couple more vids off with out taking to much time from her, we will see how it goes. I will finish up this Sportster while she is here to get it to maiden and I could do a couple quick vids there in the meantime. Thanks again
Lol - I can’t keep up with the existing ones😂. Great work though. Are you using an editing program? You can get free ones that will allow you to cut parts you repeat and all the dead space, or like there is a lot but an editing program would definitely up the production quality. Keep up the great work man! 👍
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
Thanks for the feed back. I was trying to keep the time down like someone else suggested, so the pieces were pre cut before the vid. Actually there wasn't much to cut, it was the only pieces I had left. The focus was really on the idea of using skid plates and what material to use, the flying part was just me building my plane.

I could do a polyurethane vid, and a paint vid with decaling, but that would just be me brushing on poly and wiping it off, I think anybody could figure that out on there own too, once somebody suggests it. Or spraying paint out of a rattle can, pretty sure every human on the planet has done that at least once in their lives, so what's the point? The point really is the idea to help people find this all in one place and not have to go through plane after plane without the knowledge.

Look at how pleased @Tonero311 is with his progress, @bracesport as well. Really when it comes down to it that's what it is all about. Even experienced builders and pilots can benefit from this in ways that none of us can think of just by being inspired to take it and put their own spin on it and post here to teach the rest of us. That's why I am doing this. I, by no means am i saying that it is perfect out of the box, I am learning too. But your feedback is valuable and really appreciated. I know I can't please everybody all the time so I am not trying to do that, it's about information.

Thanks for the opinions
 

buzzbomb

I know nothing!
Thanks for the feed back. I was trying to keep the time down like someone else suggested, so the pieces were pre cut before the vid. Actually there wasn't much to cut, it was the only pieces I had left. The focus was really on the idea of using skid plates and what material to use, the flying part was just me building my plane.

I could do a polyurethane vid, and a paint vid with decaling, but that would just be me brushing on poly and wiping it off, I think anybody could figure that out on there own too, once somebody suggests it. Or spraying paint out of a rattle can, pretty sure every human on the planet has done that at least once in their lives, so what's the point? The point really is the idea to help people find this all in one place and not have to go through plane after plane without the knowledge.

Look at how pleased @Tonero311 is with his progress, @bracesport as well. Really when it comes down to it that's what it is all about. Even experienced builders and pilots can benefit from this in ways that none of us can think of just by being inspired to take it and put their own spin on it and post here to teach the rest of us. That's why I am doing this. I, by no means am i saying that it is perfect out of the box, I am learning too. But your feedback is valuable and really appreciated. I know I can't please everybody all the time so I am not trying to do that, it's about information.

Thanks for the opinions
Don't think I'm busting on you. I'm not. I recognize that you want to make the best video you can, and that you're learning your way through it. I guess I'm sort of playing Devil's Advocate. All my criticism is positive, and I'm just trying to help. No punches pulled, just being critical and trying to spot where you can maybe do better.

As usual, it's just my opinion. :)
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
And like i said i do appreciate it, I am not offended at all. There can be a lot of information that needs to said in a 10-15 minute time span. I was actually surprised I went over ten minutes when I watched it, it happens so fast. And none of it is rehearsed or pre planned as far as the dialogue at all. Still in the developing stages right now and I expect the criticism. It's part of the game. Really when it comes down to it, I am the one putting myself out there for everyone to criticize and that's a choice that I accept. I am a sales professional and I can take rejection and objections like no one else. Keep it coming, the only way I get better at my craft is to recognize my negatives and turn them to positives. Again I thank you
 

BATTLEAXE

Legendary member
If you’re REALLY wanting to get into this, invest in another camera and set it up on a small tripod on your desk for a close-up of what you are doing. In the ironing edges video, it was hard to see the nicely ironed edges from the “far” camera. Just a thought...
I know, and I don't like the 10 minute cut off either. I really need to look into better film editing and stitching, learn all that stuff. @Bavarian_RC does really good film work that I have been watching and I would really like to know how he does it.

Have you seen any of his vids?

He does really good flight vids and does build mod vids as well. Quality stuff
 

TooJung2Die

Master member
Does Windows still include "Live Movie Maker"? I use that with Win7. Simple and basic video editing for users like me.
 

Bavarian_RC

Elite member
I really need to look into better film editing and stitching, learn all that stuff. @Bavarian_RC does really good film work that I have been watching and I would really like to know how he does it.
Thanks Battleaxe 😃 Let me give you some more hints about how I do my build vids. I am using a camcorder (a quite old Sony HD camcorder, but still OK) on a tripod and filming each step of the build in a separate scene. Sometimes even multiple scenes per step. After each take, I change the camera position or zoom factor, so I don‘t get a „jump“ in the video when cutting the scenes together. Normally I don‘t have a complete storyboard when I do the filming, but I try to have a rough idea of how it will be arranged in the final video.
Lighting is important and I just invested in a video light (Samtian RL-18). The effect will be visible in my next video. Hopefully a positive effect 😜.
When it comes to the editing part, I am using a software called Edius Pro 8. I collect all of the recorded scenes and organize them according to the major steps of the build. You can organize your stuff in folders inside Edius, which helps not to lose the overview. Before starting the real editing, I write a storybook, writing down everything I want to say or explain in each scene. This helps being focused and it also helps me as a non-native English speaker to find the good words 😜
Then I record the text with the windows recorder software and a USB microphone. A couple of months ago I invested in a Rode NTUSB wich has a great sound quality for a reasonable price. Before I used a cheap microphone and the sound was crap. I record the text scene by scene and sort it into the folders where the video scenes are.
Now I start the real editing. I take the video scene, put it on the timeline, add the recorded text to the audio line and align it to properly match my action. My basic idea is to keep each scene as short as possible, but show all needed details. Sometimes I run the scene at a higher speed just to save time.
The more videos you make the more experience you will get to film the scenes in a way that you can easily edit them. I am also still on the learning curve and sometimes I realize during the editing that I missed some info and I have to shoot additional material... if possible. Once I even rebuilt one component (tail boom of my Noratlas) just to get the scene recorded that I missed.
I hope you could find something helpful in what I was writing.
In case I created more questions than answers for you, just keep asking me. I will try to share my experience.
Keep up your good work, you are on a good track