Somehow, by some skullduggery
from persons who shall remain nameless, I ended up
being roped into flying a model helicopter for a
scene in a locally shot sitcom.
The scenario was something like
.... guys get lost in bush, rescue teams are called
out (Ambulance, Police, etc.) guys walk out unaware
that people have been searching, cue joke, funny
sketch, etc.
The requirement was for a
model, any (large) body type, to fly over the rescue
vehicles as if it had just arrived at the search
scene, and then fly off over the bush, as if it were
searching.....
Convinced that my Jet Ranger was not suitable, I arranged an
impromptu "Production Meeting" armed with
said model, to outline "why it wouldn't
work", (smoke, scale size, etc.), to be assured
that it would work just fine. Damn!, that was my
“easy out”, so off home to shade out the
cockpit with dark plastic sheeting (old Xray photos
actually), so that the mechanics are hidden, cover
up, as much as possible, the cooling exhaust under
the model (a Concept 60), paint the (now truncated)
engine exhaust so that it is less visible, black out
all linkages and rod ends hoping they won't show on
camera, paint over all screws, nuts, etc., and
generally have a tidy up around the model.
The night before.... It's been
blowing like seven kinds of whatever for the last few
days, but hey, forever the optimist, tomorrow will be
better, make sure Tx and Rx are on charge overnight,
12volt battery fully charged, flight box has rotor
blades (important), starter motor, glow driver, lotsa
tools, glo plugs, fuel bottle is full... OK, should
be all set for the morning!
Early in the morning... (for
me, early is anything before morning tea time...),
but this is 6.00am!!! Anyway, off to the site good
and early so I can set up at leisure and maybe hover
around a bit to make sure all is working properly.
Halfway there, and it POURS
down, I mean BIG drops of rain, headlights on, and
still can't see the road! Keep going.... Arrive (one
of the first) to find the site ankle deep in mud (it
is out in the bush after all!!) But the rain
eventually clears (mostly) and the wind has not yet
amounted to anything I can't handle, so start setting
up. Go to fill the tank with fuel and find that the
fuel pump has packed a sad ! It must have jiggled
itself ON in transit and has been running for
a while, the pump gears are jammed solid, the motor
has burned out, so no go. Hunt around and find a
First Aid guy on site (I don't know if he was there
JUST because a model helicopter was being used, or if
he is part of the regular film crew setup..... I hope
the latter!) who has a squeezie bottle of antiseptic.
I like the look of the bottle, so he dumps the
contents, I wash it out with (heaps) of fuel, and can
now squirt it into the Concept fuel tank...
(Whew..got over that problem OK)
May as well start up, just to
make sure that the engine runs OK.
Damn again! Left the starter
extension at home ! (Murphy's Law again)
So off back home (30 min. round
trip) to get the starter extension.
Get back to the site, by this
time the film crew are well into shooting other
scenes, so lotsa standing around...... Then
"Hey, Mr. Helicopter, we're ready for you
now"
By now it's midday, the wind is
blustery at ground level, and rather nasty above tree
level. I look at the "flight line" with
many reservations (It's between the trees, down the
road, over the cars/ambulance, etc (bystanders and
actors removed for safety), close as possible by the
camera (which is on a tripod on top of a truck!), and
off over a stream.... Dodgy, but I'm here now, and we
may as well give it a shot!
Clean the mud off the model
(after all, we must at least try and be seen to be
professional), and then discover Jeff's list of
"Problems with film shoots" for beginners :
1) The Director waves his hands in the air and
expects you to know what that means.
2) You can't hear anything (like "action")
due to the noise of the model. (Must get one of the
AD's - Assistant Directors - to stand beside me with
an RT in future!)
3) You can’t stand where you would like to
stand, ‘cause it “don’t look
good” to have the model pilot in shot.
4) The wind is now really blustery. The model ducks
and dives erratically by 10 to 15 feet vertically,
and they are telling me at which height I should fly?
5) After the flyby, people don't realise that you
have to bring the model back to land, and wander all
over your landing area, telling you what they would
like to do on the next shot!
6) The Director doesn't like the smoke anyway....
(BTW The exhaust smoke had a very strange smell, but
I guess there are no germs in my engine!)
To be fair, the film crew were
very supportive, after all, we all wanted the same
end product.
So after a tankfull, (20 mins), I call it quits, say
it's too windy, and am forever thankful that I have a
complete model to take home.
Just as a matter of interest, I
call up the Marine weather when I arrive home. There
is a wind warning and they say the wind is 30Kts
gusting to 45Kts.
I should have stayed in bed!
P.S. On a brighter note
: A reshoot was scheduled later in the week. Still a
bit windy (10 - 15 Kts) but a nice sunny day. I think
‘they’ are listening to my comments now,
and they hired (yes, with real money and all...) a
“closed” park for this shoot.
Plenty of room to fly, lotsa flat mown grass....
bliss! Allen Hill assisted on this shoot (thanks
Allen), and by all accounts, some reasonable shots
were taken.
All this, and the 'final'
product was two 10 second shots on one episode of a
marginally popular sitcom!
Oh Well, it was an experience
anyway!
Northern Helicopter Modellers Club N.Z
