School Blimp

[shillAT]

Hey

I am part of my school's gadget club. Basically, we take stuff apart and rebuild it, or just build things. Our teacher is big on slope soaring, so we know a little about rc stuff, and we decided to make a school blimp. This would be like a mini "goodyear blimp" that we would use at school sports games and events. We would need it to be able to fly inside a gym (just a regular regulation basketball court area) and outside above a socccer pitch. Ideally, it would be a kit of some sort, and would have enough lift for us to first put our school colours and mascot on the balloon (we'd either paint or use stick on stuff), and second, maybe be able to lift some sort of small video camera.

Do you guys have any suggestions?

[inventing_man]

I dont know what your mascot is , but try searching for a pre made inflatable of yours and adapting it to RC . Blimp building is the subject of many discussions here . It may be enough of a challange to get a animal or something like your mascot to fly :eek: and fly good . Good luck! .

[snoopaloop]

Well, I'm in the process of building one. So I'm no expert.
But I'd like to share what I've gathered so far.

1. You have to set your goal first, do you want an indoor blimp or an outdoor blimp?If you design it to be for indoor use only, it won't fly outdoors. But if you design it to be used outdoor, you could fly it indoors as well.

2. What you will be carrying (payload) affects its size (to read more about blimp's physics, download the analysis_pdf.zip http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=574386)

3. You have either to buy your envelope (balloon) or make your own. Since you want it to carry many things, this mean its size must be big. So making one will become tricky. Buying one is not cheap as well.

4. Then you have to put the electronic components together. If you have a local hobby shop in your area, they might be helpful (though becareful that they don't recommened expensive telling you it would work only using these).
Or I really recommened that you seek help from someone who knows how to put these components together.

5. I think you just wanna stick a print-out of your school mascot, this could be done easily, but it gonna affect your size since it adds up to your payload

6. So where to go on from now?
a. Decide your blimp size using the analysis I've provided (I hope it's right)
b. Try to see if you can buy a ready-made envelope (a 4m long blimp costs about $600)
c. Get someone to help you out putting these components together
d. You might be ordering the components online
e. Make sure the school will cover all your costs, otherwise you'll end up paying from your own pocket(s) unless that's cool with you

Good luck to you and me :D