Josh,

That is a really cool video. Thanks for posting it. The overlay is a really nice effect, and hearing the pilot talking during the maneuver is also very helpful. So many videos just have music. It is nice to hear the pilot explaining what he's doing while he's doing it.

The overlay does make it hard to see the plane, especially when it's far away. When the plane is close and fills the screen, the overlay works well. Maybe lightening the controller, or just making the black parts more transparent would help. I know that's easy to say but probably hard to do.

All in all - great video. Very helpful and informative, and a pretty creative idea, I thought.

On the actual harrier, I use the rudder a lot more than you do. At very low airspeeds, you only get prop wash over part of the aileron, making it a lot less effective. The rudder get pretty much the full force of the wash, so it has more authority. The other thing I know that was hard for me to figure out on the harrier, was the cross controlling (of aileron and rudder) required to keep it flat. I notice this more on harder harrier turns. It takes almost full opposite aileron for me to keep the wings somewhat flat.

Keep 'em coming ...

Excellent Josh!!!! Very well done.

Scott

Josh -

Very cool. Thanks for taking the time to do this, after putting together lots of videos of the kids for the family, I know how much effort it is to go from footage on the camcorder to a video.

Love the voice over, I think it is really helpful to get the explanation of why you are moving the sticks in a particular way.

Since it sounds like you want to do a bunch of these, are you planning on putting all the videos together in one place? Maybe Ben could put links on 3DHS.com?

Couple of suggestions. I would dial the transparency on the radio image down a little more, sometimes it was hard to see the plane. You could just show part of the radio frame (focused around the thumbs, since there's not much to see on the top/bottom of the radio) and maybe put it down on the bottom third or so of the frame (so that the transparent effect is only at the bottom focused on the sticks and the plane is top-of-frame without an overlay). I kinda like having the image big as its a little easier to see than if you were to do a picture-in-picture deal. Also, maybe before flying, it would be worth while to give a quick brief (time to pull out the chuckie glider for illustration?) on what the manuever is and critical points on how to fly it so the viewer kinda knows what to look for ahead of time. Things like the "steer with your rudder" comment that you say later.

Great job, can't wait to get out and try some of this stuff and looking forward to the next one.

tw

This is how a 3D training video should be done.

Real aircraft, real weather, etc.

We can see you correcting for all the variances a person will encounter out at their flying spot of choice.

Here's what I'm willing to do if both you and Ben at 3D are game:

I own a transportation software company and always have a bunch of DVD cases and DVDs sitting around - rarely doest a customer request our software on hardcopy.

I can, once you have a good amount of material, produce a few hundred DVDs with menus/cases/labels/etc that we could include in all ARF purchases from 3DHobbyShop.

OR you could sell 'em for Lipo money.

I'm willing to do this for free to contribute to the hobby I've loved for nearly two decades now AND firmly believe videos shot the way you did your first video is just the WAY to present the material.

I think the TX works well overlayed like it is.

Good Job!

I agree with the existing format. I have watched videos before and could not keep my eyes on the sticks and the plane at the same time. For me, the way it is presented is perfect and then to have the voice over in addition is simply icing on the cake. Very nice work Josh!

Originally Posted by BoneDoc

Steve, do you mean a transmitter tray? If so, yes. I used it only for the purpose of videotaping the stick movements. Otherwise I usually just use a strap.

Here's one source
http://www.rctraymanusa.com/default.aspx

Not cheap though .

www.troybuiltmodels.com also sells one

I made my own 1/4" plexiglass, band saw or jigsaw...some drywall screws and time

Josh great video and I found it very helpful and thanks for posting your rates and expo. Do you use the same rates and expo on all your 3D planes? Also have you always used low expo or did you lower it over time? I used to run 80 and 90% expo and have recently lowered them to 70% and found that it helped a great deal especially with hovering. With harriers I have trouble keeping the wing rock in check so I'm wondering if lowering the expo on my ailerons even more will help.

Again, thanks for doing this.

MLT

Thanks for the input guys. I'll try to dial the transparency down a bit more, but I think more than anything, I should've asked my wife to zoom in a bit more so that you can see the plane better.

All in all, it's not a bad first effort .

tcclong,
I think I used to use more rudder before, but I find that especially if you're working against the wind, sometimes you'll a lot of rudder before all of a sudden, the plane snap. By "tilting" the plane toward the direction your'e turning, it makes the rudder input far more consistent. I'll try it the other way though to see how it does.

Expo is a double Edge sword. When you increase your expo, you're also increasing the ammount of travel the control surface will move toward the end of the stick. So the sticks become far more sensitive at the the far end of the travel. That, IMHO will make for overcontrolling, which is another source for wing rock.

Originally Posted by lonelasso

I made my own 1/4" plexiglass, band saw or jigsaw...some drywall screws and time

That is a good job on a homemade tray. However, I had to chuckle because it just looks like a car seat for the TX Strap it in the backseat away from the airbags!

Josh, what is the next maneuver on the list?

Diggs

I'm taking suggestions .

Some that I'm planning to do (in no particular order)
Inverted Harrier
Rolling Harrier
Wall
Tumble
KE & KE snap
KE Spin
Precision 3D
Landing?? . Don't laugh, there are plenty of us who could work on that .
.....

Just looking around at other videos on the 'net I come up with less on Precision 3D vs the rest.

Might consider plane setup with a focus on electrics? You could cover power system, expo and dual rate setups and mention why too much/little expo could cause problems, and cover the pros/cons of nose/tail heavy and neutral CG.

Canopy Landings?

Great instructional video Josh.

Look forward to the entire series.

Steve

Originally Posted by rballz

Canopy Landings?

I seen that one coming.

Nice work Josh!! Definately a useful tool to help others enjoy flying 3D just as much as you do.

Tim