Hi Friends

I am a serious wildlife photographer by passion. I want to have a RC 4WD or 6WD Buggy that can take: (1) a DSLR Camera with a wide angle lens (Total Weight of Camera + Lens = 2 kg), and (2) a small video Camera (Total weight = 400 gms). The buggy shall be used in forest/pebble/swampy terrain. Basically, I am trying to develop something similar to a Beetlecam. Please see the following videos to understand what I am trying to do:

AND AND

My questions are as follows:

1) Can I straight buy a Maxx Crawler 4WD or 6WD, then remove the car body and fix a self-fabricated frame from the top (as shown in the second video link above) and then mount the cameras on it?

2) Would a crawler like Maxx or Maisto or Tamiya be able to take the weight of my cameras? Are they designed for such weight? Please note here that speed is not important to me, but the power to negotiate difficult terrain is.

3)  Alternatively, would I be better off buying something like a Dagu Electronics 4WD or 6WD (75:1) Wild Thumper chassis, and then mount my cameras on it? Pl see: http://www.rhydolabz.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1255

4) If I buy Dagu, what would be the possible ways to increase its power?

5) Any suggestions apart from the above, to put the above wildlife camera buggy together, are also welcome.

I am absolutely new to RC world, so please please help.

Thanks in advance

You would also want your system to be quiet else you can scare off the animals or attract attention of the big cats. I have seen instances(on Discovery channel) when a lion cub gets interested in the buggy and lifts it off with its tire in the mouth and runs. The man driving the RC Buggy is like the lion just took away my 3000$ camera. You wouldn't want that!
The Dagu wild thumper is a good choice. The chasis is built for such purpose and is easily customisable. It can carry upto 5kg so why do you want to increase the power(even though your load is of 2kg)?
With the Dagu wild thumper you will require a motor controller(its available at rhydolabz) which can be connected to the RC Receiver.

Here's the video..though they retrieve it back!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BvOy39_QH4w

Many Thanks for your kind reply, Himadri.

Can you tell me which are the electronic components that I need to purchase to get the Dagu 6WD going?

Also, do you know of anybody with some experience of assembling such a car in Kolkata, who can assemble it for me for a fee?

Again, thanks in advance.

Regards

Also, looking forward to some more guidance on the wildlife camera buggy from the vastly experienced members of this forum. Please help.

Regards

how did you go with the built