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Discussion
FPV Tonka Summit
I have been watching Wobby's videos and progress with his FPV Summit project with great interest ever since I got into this FPV stuff a while back. I saved my money and started with an FPV Easy Star and went all out with headtracking, OSD, ground station, everything and although technically everything went great I had one problem...I didn't enjoy the actual flying, which is the whole point of it all, isn't it. I mean, I loved getting the camera down out of the air and enjoying the scenery of the flight afterwards on the TV but not during. I would get everything set up and launch the plane into the air and I was so nervous during the actual flight that I truly did not enjoy it. I guess throwing a $1000 foam plane into the air will do that to you not to mention that I didn't really think out the actual logistics of it all because you see I live in Mississippi and although beautiful and very rural there is a tree every 10 feet and not very many wide open spaces with amber waves of grain to gracefully catch a nervous novice pilot's wayward chunk of foam
Anyway, I inevitably eventually crashed/landed into our neighborhood lake and luckily right-side up so after it finally drifted to the shore I decided to sell everything except for the radio and video equipment and wait for inspiration. Wobby provided that with his Summit project. I think I can enjoy lazily driving around the neighborhood with the ability to go hands off at anytime...meaning stop, lol. Ok, so I'm watching Wobby's progress and I started thinking of how I can get my pan/tilt HD Hero into a Summit while still protecting it and I got an idea: My little brother and I had this large Tonka Jeep that we enjoyed playing with when we were kids back in the 80's and so I looked for it on eBay and found it! It looks like a good match for the Summit size-wise (it's 17.5 in. long) so I bought it and it arrived today, the day after my new Summit. I thought I was going to be cutting the metal undercarriage off the Tonka to get the body closer to the chassis but after taking out the plastic interior and lying that on top of the Summit's chassis it was not going to be more than few milimeters lower than if I just left the metal underside intact, which will help keep it's strength in a crash and then I realized the 2nd greatest benefit of FPV cars vs planes...I don't have to sweat the extra weight too much! Besides, I although I am going to be bolting it to a Summit and making it a monstrosity I don't really want to modify the Tonka too much. Call me sentimental. The first thing I will have to do is increase the spring tension on the Summit's suspension to handle the extra weight of the Tonka. I have a pretty good idea of how I am going to mount the body to the chassis which I will do tomorrow and post pics. I also have to figure out how to mate the servo behind the steering wheel because I think that alone makes Wobby's videos so immersive not to mention that with the body sitting so high up and and with an actual car hood in front of me I probably won't be able to see the wheels very well from the driver's seat. Be patient because I have a wife, job and kids (in no particular order) and may post just sporadic updates over the next several weeks/months. BTW, the first thing I learned when buying a vehicle off eBay is to make sure you check the CarFax! Although this Jeep was was listed as "One Owner, 4-Years Old", it turns out it has been wrecked 447 times over the past 30 years! lol More later! ImagesView all Images in thread
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Last edited by replayreb; Nov 05, 2010 at 02:50 AM.
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I got the steering servo installed and the body bolted to the chassis. The servo/steering wheel linkage was easier than I expected because I rediscovered the "tee nut" which could be attached to a servo wheel with tiny screws and then the tee nut could be threaded right onto the steering wheel shaft. Bolting the body on took longer than I expected because I had to use threaded rods and cut them down to size because long bolts wouldn't fit in through the top of the undercarriage from inside the Tonka because of the lack of overhead clearance from the hood. The hood can be removed by untwisting two little metal clips to release it but I didn't want to go start bending 1970's steel back and forth. Anyway, I got the bolts on and went to insert the plastic interior and of course the top of the threaded bolts were too long so back to the grinder. It worked out perfectly and this is one tough, solid truck. I wanted to use black hex or stove bolts so you wouldn't notice the body mounts but they didn't have any long enough at the auto parts store so I went to the hardware store and got regular zinc hardware and added the springs to dress it up a little. I have tried to spraypaint zinc hardware before and it is not pretty and this actually worked out better. One added benefit of leaving the metal underside of the Tonka body intact is that the steel is tightly pressed against the Summit's metal motor housing so the body acts like a giant heatsink. It is such a perfect fit because of the curvature of the steel between the stamped "mufflers" underneath the Tonka that I thought about getting some of that Artic silver heatsink grease that they use in between a computer CPU and heatsink and smear it on top of the motor before clamping the body on but that is overkill and I can't see myself sustaining high speeds very long driving FPV. So now I have the basic truck ready to go and now comes the hard part which will be making a pan/tilt mount for the Go Pro camera. I have a plywood kit version leftover from my Easy Star days but I want a heavy duty mount now that weight isn't an issue. I might use the plywood kit as a template and remake it out of steel or aluminum. Yeah, I bought a barbie Doll, so what? lol The GI Joe doll is still in the mail. Stay tuned.
ImagesView all Images in thread
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Last edited by replayreb; Nov 06, 2010 at 01:33 AM.
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I bought two of these Jeeps on eBay for $40 each just to have one as a backup and because one of them had the original gas can and carrier (and I couldn't pass that up) so I have been curious what others are going for on eBay and tonight I found one of these Tonka Jeeps NIB!!! The black ones were only made between 1978 and 1981 so this is a heck of a collectors item. Of course I'm tempted but what is the point because I wouldn't be able to use it for my project for fear of 1) wrecking it, 2) drilling into it, and 3) there is no way I would even be able to make myself open the box! lol And what fun is that to own a toy you can't play with?
VINTAGE MIGHTY TONKA JEEP OFF ROAD BUGGY NO 3954 MIB |
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Cool Project on your Summit....
I'm opposite of you, I did the Summit FPV and I have it on hold, bc I could only get 220 yards total distance before my viewing went horizontal crazy lines on me.... I now do FPV Radian and its been a joy..... I have only the basics and its been fun as heck.... DPCAV 900mhz tx, alex IBCrazy "V" tx antenna, Rx patch antenna, (no OSD, no headtracker, no diversity) |
Latest blog entry: My FAVORITE FPV CockPits'!!!!
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Not much of an update but the GI Joe doll arrived. It was hard to find a complete GI Joe doll with the look I wanted especially since they don't make them anymore so I just bought a nude doll, jacket, pants and boots all separately on eBay for around $20 total. I wanted to take a couple of pictures with his head on before I start building the camera mount. It was especially hard to find a Barbie Doll I liked because I wanted to model her after my wife so I bought a "Fashionista" Barbie Doll like the one Wobby has because she has many points of articulation whereas most Barbie dolls have rigid arms and legs that can only move at the shoulders and hips. I replaced the Fashionista doll's head with one that resembled my wife and and dressed her in an outfit that the "Bella" Barbie Doll from the Twilight movies wears. Unlike Wobby living at the beach mine are dressed for cold weather. I sure am glad that Barbie Doll business is finished I also removed the red beadlocks/rim protectors from the tires. 48 hex screws...I sure was relieved I liked the look when I finally got them all off!
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Last edited by replayreb; Nov 24, 2010 at 03:18 AM.
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Looking good. Let's see how your camera setup comes along. I can't wait to get mine working correctly (very tempted to buy a head tracker and pan/tilt setup and alsm move to FPV my airplane right now).
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Nov 10, 2010, 03:51 AM | |
FranklinWalker | |
A moderator felt this post violated the following rule: Offensive content (Offsite link).
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....nice project sooo far....
I think your Jeep Body is too high? once you put your camera on, you will no be able to see your front tires and suspension going up/down with the road..... ....just a thought.... but anyways, great job soo far.... I'm liking that Jeep! :-) |
Latest blog entry: My FAVORITE FPV CockPits'!!!!
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Quote:
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Last edited by replayreb; Nov 10, 2010 at 08:41 PM.
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Very cool project! I too am trying to do a FPV Summit but haven't gotten the truck and equipment yet. I like the Tonka body it looks like it will fit the chassis very well but IMO I would get over the sentimentalness and cut out the undercarriage. It'll still look like a Tonka Monster but it looks like if you did that then you'd be able to drop the body down 3" or so. That would hide/ protect the motor and electronics and not look so goofy way up in the air. Not to mention remove lots of extra weight and give you a lower CG which will help with preventing rollovers. Then maybe you could see suspension from onboard. Would the Tonka body fit over sides of chassis if cut up? What is the width of the Summit chassis and inside dimension of Tonka body? Could you take a pic from above straight down to body on chassis so I could see? Will the GoProHD with pan/tilt fit inside nicely? Sorry if I offended, I like this idea. Keep up the good work.
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Last edited by FPVSCRacer; Nov 12, 2010 at 04:32 AM.
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