It just hit me that this would be great for clamping m2 and zephyr plates if you wanted to roll the cart with the camera not on the sled. Maybe the Ac's would prefer to build the camera on this, not needing a hihat, head and sos plate?

I guess you could rig an sos plate to your cart and do the same thing? Maybe people are already doing this?

I wonder if I could use the clicker ontop of a tripod head instead of my sos plate?

Thoughts on the 1" leg adapter wheels from (RSA02B) from American Grip?

How about the Mag Steadicam 8"wheel set (Mag-SS W-08) from Backstageweb.com ?

Anyone else worth taking a look at?

Thanks

I'm sure most if not all of you know about the media rate excesses baggage discount that is more useful than ever these days considering how they whack "civilians" with extra bag charges. Not all airlines still offer this but many do (generally $50 per item, up to 100 lbs). I would have liked to think that my days of shlepping gear around in airports would have sailed into the distance along with my rig, but I seem to own more gear now than ever, just different stuff. Sigh. Anyway: one of the hangups I've had is that you are supposed to provide ID that shows you are in the media to be able to get the rate. It's supposed to be an "official" laminate, like a press badge; some counter agents are more lenient than others (some accept business cards, others don't). At different times I've had studio badges which made it easy, but other times I've had to work around it by having the production company clear it with the airline with a letter sent ahead of time, but that is a pain.

I recently found this site. You can design a card within the browser with a variety of graphics and options, or upload your own design from Photoshop or whatever. No minimum number of cards, $12 a pop and they look as legit as any standard issued card. I'm obviously not advocating anyone pretend to be part of an organization that they are not, but most here have their own DBA or LLC and there's nothing wrong with creating a company ID badge for their own company (that's what this site is for).

Just thought I'd pass it along. I'm personally relieved that this won't be an issue any more. Travel is hard enough as it is.

p.s. yes, obviously having production deal with shipping is best, but there are plenty of times when checking it in is unavoidable, like a quick turnaround to another job.

Gerald

Wanted to ask, has anyone used carts made by FILMCART.EU? https://www.filmcart.eu

would you recommend it?

Innovative is too expensive for me at the moment, and i had to chose between FILMCART or Adicam, and i am leaning towards filmcart. 

Looking forward to any suggestions/review.

Best,

Vicken J.

I'm wondering if a M2 Volt fits in a Peli1650?

If so can you please post a pic of how you keep it?

If not, what's your case choice?

Thanks!

I have always hated how bulky and hard to carry/ maneuver the typical Steadicam case is, especially in small New York apartments. So the idea of having a more space-saving case is very appealing to me. 
I would need a custom foam setup, but the sled would fit within the dimensions of the case and would still have room for docking bracket, monitor etc. 

The only thing I am unsure of is how much foam should there be between the edge of the case and the gear? It should work out that at the extremities there would be at least 1-2 inches of foam while the rest of the sled would have ample room. 
 

Before I pull the trigger on this I would appreciate any advice, general guidelines on case foam, recommendations, or any anecdotes; especially if you have used or considered one of these long cases for your gear. 
 

Cheers!

Check my website for pictures.

Babita

info@fikenca.com

Thanks

Stephen Consentino

i recently came into a good deal on a magliner (thanks will!) that had made its way over from my hometown (thanks ramon!) and it needed a bit of love. this very well-used magliner had clearly been shipped around and tossed around, so I figured Id put some time into it and try to make it a bit more of my own.

I wish Id taken some "before" photos, but youve all seen a magliner, just add about a dozen shipping labels and torn paper labels on each shelf, tons of build-up on the wheels and bearings, a split U-handle with almost a whole roll of packaging tape wrapped around every end to protect the hands (because the cut edges were really nasty and jagged and definitely would have sliced open any exposed skin), rusty screws and washers, and some peeling carpeting.

all in, i probably spent maybe 100-150 on materials and help. i had a few meterials (paint, etc) laying around from pervious projects.

First, i diassembled the entire thing. the only stuff that stayed intact were races and bearings in the wheels. I wanted to see if a superficial cleaning and greasing of the wheels would be enough, rather than really opening them up. Thankfully superficial was plenty. A bunch of scrubbing and white lithium grease got these wheels spinning like yo-yos. I took the brakes off and put them in a vice and re-bent them so that the wheels wouldnt scrape the brakes and the lever action worked properly. After a few years of pressing on these brakes, they start to slip more and more.

Every screw and washer spent about 24 hours in an apple-cider vinegar bath. once or twice during that period of time i pushed the pieces around, flipped em over, and took a hard bristle tooth brush to some of the items and the rust just slipped right off, if its hadnt already been eaten away.

in order to clean the metal parts of the disassembled wheels, the u-handle, and some other pieces, i made a paste out of water and sodium bicarbonate. this plus a sponge cleaned a good bit of adhesive and gunk off and sparkled some surfaces right up. baking soda is cheap and safe so it was the first round of cleaning.

i started stripping the dried adhesive from the shelf carpeting with a paint scraper, but it was just gunna take more time than I wanted to commit, plus the adhesive stuff on the bottom of the shelves was gunna be a bitch, so I went to a machine shop down the street and asked them to blast both shelves, the U-handle base, as well as the steadicam-stand guides. They did it for $80 in a few hours. The gentleman who blasted it said that the sandblaster wouldnt take off some of the tacky residue, so he ended up scraping it himself. At least I didnt have to. I also had him recut the U-handle (which had the really nasty and dangerous edges) and file down the edges for safety.

I repainted pretty much everything with two coats of DupliColor Bed Armor (truck bed liner, like cheaper LineX). On one motorcycle I used the rattle can version of this which worked well, but I decided to roll-on this time. I do not really recommend it, as it wound up sorta clumpy and required some extra work to smooth out. Then I did three coats of matte automobile clear coat with an HVLP spray gun. I used about 80% of a small paint can for this.

Both shelves we re-carpeted. I just played around with this. I picked up a few free samples of some other carpet patterns and astroturf and cut squares in the carpet to insert these. I have found that sometimes when building out a camera or whathaveyou that I place tools and screws in random areas, then I scan all over trying to find what I put where. These little squares are meant just as helpful "color coding" and memory-helpers. I used medium coats of Loctite spray adhesive on the carpet and shelf surface and then laid the carpets in. I picked up liquid nails just in case, but I dont want it to be super permanent, in case I decide to do this again in the future. Beware that the rubber surface on the back side of the carpeting peels right off once you stick it to a surface and then lift it up to adjust the position.

Now that everything is back together, it drives like a dream.

Thank,

Philip

All film industry cases come in too heavy.