BBKK KAP kits and more

KITE AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY
ideas & images & kits & equipment

Brooks Leffler

easy KAP for everyone, with

BROOXES KAP KITS

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BROOXES ELECTRIC AUTOKAP KIT (BEAK)

NOW IN 3 VERSIONS!

Standard BEAK with Canon S70
(camera not included)

This is the complete kit for the standard BEAK —
only 29 parts!

The BEAK Beginner's Bundle — just add batteries, camera & wind!

The two BEAKS below are laid out horizontally:

The HoBEAK will accommodate any of the infrared-triggerable cameras listed above right.

[Pass cursor over picture to see how we anchored the camera
so it won't revolve around the tripod screw, located at the other end.]

Brooxes Electric AutoKAP Kit, in any of its variations, provides the easiest way to get a camera in the air quickly. It's easy to build, and easy to fly with moderate-sized kites. AutoKAP means it doesn't need radio — it takes pictures automatically while you relax and fly the kite.

The key to these kits is the gent360 trigger, nicknamed “peanut”, in one of its forms. With any BEAK, you set the camera's vertical tilt angle before you launch. Then about every ten seconds, the peanut rotates the camera horizontally about 30 degrees, takes a picture, and then does it again and again, until the memory card is full or the battery empty. [If you'd like to adjust the time interval between pictures, add the gent360-ADJUST.]

The secret to KAP success with an automatic rig is to shoot lots of pictures. Memory cards are getting cheaper every day. With a 1GB or larger card, it's possible to shoot hundreds of images in a few minutes, from which you can pick a bunch of good ones at every outing.

With any of the BEAKs, you provide a camera, three AAA batteries (alkaline or rechargeable), and a kite. Each kit contains these components:

• all frame parts

• 360° continuous servo

• gent360 rotator-trigger

• AAA battery box with switch

• BCPC Picavet suspension

•Brooxes KAP-Klips™

plus all necessary hardware and an illustrated instruction manual. Assembly of any of the BEAKs should take 2 - 3 hours.

The standard BEAK is the simplest, lightest, and least expensive. It is designed to use a small point-&-shoot digital camera which must weigh less than 14 ounces (400g) and can be triggered by infrared remote control. The camera is hung in portrait format as shown.

The following cameras are recommended:

Canon S60 or S70 (shown at left)
Pentax Optio S4 to S10 series (shown here)
Pentax A-10 to A-40
Samsung NV-7, 10, and 11
Olympus Stylus 800

Brooxes Electric AutoKAP Kit

just U$82.00

Please select your camera from this menu:

BEAK Beginner's Bundle
U$137.00
[BEAK, Flow Form 8 Kite with line & hoop winder,
Fuzzy Tail]

If you prefer to take automatic pictures in landscape (horizontal) format with an infrared-triggerable camera, build the HoBEAK [left]. All it takes is one more Utility Frame and a couple of screws and wing nuts. This configuration is a better one if you want to shoot straight down with cameras like the Canon S70, which has a tripod screw hole way off center.

Otherwise: components, operation, and camera requirements are identical to the standard BEAK above.

Horizontal
Brooxes Electric AutoKAP Kit

U$92.00

Please select your camera from this menu:

HoBEAK Beginner's Bundle
U$147.00
[HoBEAK, Flow Form 8 Kite with line & hoop winder, Fuzzy Tail]

[not shown]

SCROLL DOWN — THERE'S MORE!

The most flexible automatic is the
SERVO-BEAK
which will accommodate any point-&-shoot camera
of less than 5.5"wide x 4" high x 3.5" deep and 14 oz weight.
Pan servo is hidden behind the battery box in this picture.

«A new piece of KAP gear can change the whole thing. . . . It feels like I've upgraded to an automatic weapon!» — E.V., Ventura, California

And for the many point-&-shoot cameras that can't be triggered remotely, it's the
Servo-BEAK. As above, you set the tilt before launching; the Gent360-Servo pushes the shutter button with a servo-actuated finger, rotating the rig and taking pictures until the card is full or the batteries empty.

Like the other BEAKs, this kit includes all necessary frame parts, both servos, battery box with switch, and hardware. All you provide is 3 AAA batteries, a camera, and a kite.

Unlike the rigs above, the Servo-BEAK can be easily upgraded to radio or AuRiCo control with the addition of a tilt servo.

Recommended cameras include all the Canon Digital Elphs, all of the Casio line, the waterproof Pentaxes ... or just about any small (less than 14 oz.) point-&-shoot digital camera on the market.

SERVO-BEAK just U$117.00

Servo-BEAK Beginner's Bundle U$172.00

[Servo-BEAK, Flow Form 8 Kite with line & hoop winder, Fuzzy Tail]

[not shown]

WANT A BIGGER KITE WITH YOUR BEGINNER'S BUNDLE?

Beginner's Bundle Upgrade
U$80.00

For better all-round performance, upgrade your kite from the Flow Form 8 to the Flow Form 16. Includes 8" Halo Hoop winder and 500 ft of 200 lb black braided Dacron® line.

[not shown]

For radio control, build

BUILT AND USED BY MORE THAN 750 KAPPERS SINCE 1999

BROOXES BASIC KAP KIT (BBKK) is the kit we started with, now in use all over the world. It was designed for radio control, using model airplane servos to provide 360-degree horizontal (pan) rotation, vertical tilt, and shutter control. But the BBKK may be also used without radio control with an interval timer, called an intervalometer. It will take you three to six hours to assemble using basic tools, depending on how complex you wish to make it. It is an adaptable, expandable system.

[Click on the picture for a larger image that you may rotate with your mouse. It's a large file and loads slowly, especially with dial-up connections, so please be patient.]

KAP kit parts

kit diagram

«This was a snap to build.» — B.W., Dartmouth, Nova Scotia

«While building it, I kept thinking about how many years of trial and error and innovation went into it. I feel lucky that you've gone to all the trouble to make it available to people like me who don't have a shop or the skills needed to easily build a rig and get it into the air.»
— M.L., Berkeley, California

«What a great kit and excellent instructions. I had no problem assembling it and it went together quite quickly.... It made getting into KAP easy.» — T.T., Calgary, Alberta

«Well thought out, adaptable, it's exactly what I needed.»
— M.J., Barneveld, Wisconsin

«Five Star Rating *****... Prompt, courteous, helpful, and a pleasure to do business with.» — R.M., Auburn Hills, Michigan

Most autofocus, autowind, point-&-shoot cameras, whether digital or 35mm, can be accommodated by the BBKK. Cameras are limited to maximum dimensions of 5.5" wide by 4" high by 5.5" deep (14 x 10 x 14 cm), and must have a tripod screw hole on the bottom and a shutter button on top, and a recommended maximum weight of 14 oz. (While a small DSLR (such as the Canon Rebel XT or Nikon D40x) will fit, it's too heavy to hang from the servo and would require a gear package. Any DSLR would be better in the Deluxe Kit shown below.)

BBKK may be used without radio control with most point-&-shoot cameras with the new gent360-SERVO, or even more simply with a camera that has a built-in intervalometer, or that can be triggered by the infrared gentLED-Auto .

The kit will accommodate radio-control equipment with two to four channels, to operate pan, tilt, and shutter [see left]. The kit is designed to use Futaba S3003/3004 or Tower Hobbies TS-53 standard-size servos, or the Parallax (Futaba) Continuous Rotation servo. These specific servos are recommended no matter what brand of radio you plan to use.

Most finished radio rigs will weigh two pounds or less, suitable for use with such kites as the Sutton Flow Form 16, the Dopero, a medium-sized Rokkaku, or a 9-foot Delta or Delta-Conyne. Larger, more powerful kites are not needed, nor recommended. See our KITESTUFF page.

The BBKK package includes 70 pieces and a 20-page manual [left]. The kit may be purchased on this site only with U.S. nuts & bolts (also known as ANSI, SAE, or Imperial).

Included in BBKK are all aluminum frame parts, Brooxes Compact Picavet Cross, all fasteners & hardware, a set of KAP-Klips™, and complete, detailed, illustrated instructions. A typical illustration from the manual is shown below left.

In addition, you will need a two- to four-channel radio control system with two or three standard servos, OR a point-&-shoot camera with an intervalometer — and a kite, line, and winder, of course. If you choose radio control, we recommend the Tower 4-TH radio from Tower Hobbies.

To construct the kit, you'll need basic hand tools and an electric drill or small drill press. Click here to download a tool list.

BBKK just U$55.00