Bertrandt AG - AMG G55 XXL - Mobile Camera in the Desert

AMG G55 XXL - Mobile Camera in the Desert

G-Class Mercedes Converted to form a Base for High-Performance Camera “AMG expects flexibility,” said Marcus Grass, Vehicle Construction Team Leader and Ingo Schulz, Body Shell Team Leader, describing the longterm collaboration between Bertrandt Technikum and Mercedes-AMG. AMG entrusted Bertrandt with a very special customer assignment: converting a G-Class XXL into a vehicle for filming the wild life of the Arabian Desert. The particular challenge of this project was to synchronise technology and function.

Animated representation of the lifting roof.

Project requirements
Anyone who makes wildlife documentaries will tell you that wild animals are very difficult to track down. And when you do manage to find them, every second counts. The customer therefore needed an off-road vehicle that could accommodate a tripod with a large camera and lens for filming the shy inhabitants of the desert. The vehicle had to meet certain requirements, which included being able to withstand offroad use on desert tracks and the tough desert conditions, with sun, sand and temperatures ranging from 0 to 50ºC. The converted vehicle also needed to be able to “camouflage” the camera and the exterior had to look like a standard G-Class in order not be confused with other special vehicles, such as military versions of the off-roader.

Sealing and closure concept
The engineers focused their development efforts on designing a removable roof with a hydraulic column on a rotating plate. The camera and the cameraman would be located under this removable roof. The roof system had to continue to open and close in dusty, sandy, hot conditions, so the choice of materials played an important role. The first option was a glass fibre roof with a sandwich construction, but this could not be used because of the heat conditions. Instead the original steel roof was retained and a frame with guttering was developed, similar to that of a sunroof. The sealing system was adapted so that the roof could be manually locked after it had been lowered and so that no water would penetrate. In addition, the engineers experimented with different types of component in order to find out how much pressure was needed to close the roof. Ingo Schulz describes the opening mechanism as follows: “Two levers on each side are folded down and rotated. As they are turned the roof moves up about two centimetres from its base and is then raised by the hydraulic column.” To lower the roof again, the locking position of the rotating plate had to be correct, as the roof could only be lowered in the control position. For this reason, the Bertrandt engineers used ball-andsocket joints to ensure that the rotating plate locked in the correct position.

The design of the hydraulic column
The design of the hydraulic column presented the engineers with a challenge. It only had to raise the roof to a specific point, so that the camera mounted on the side of its tripod could film at specific angles pointing upwards and downwards. The roof and the hydraulic column were designed to rotate on the plate while filming. The roof remained horizontal and protected the camera from the sun.

ref_amgg55_03

1 Rotating plate: the key component of the design. 2 The substructure of the rotating plate in the vehicle. 3 The structure in place. Bertrandt’s development and conversion skills on display.

Rotating platform for the camera and free from play tripod
The rotating plate was the central part of the system and was located in the back of the vehicle. It had to be possible to turn it 360 degrees with relatively little effort. In order to allow the plate to be turned manually, a special gear mechanism was used. The rotating plate had to move smoothly. Because of its sliding action it also had to be free from play, maintenance-free and resistant to high temperatures. The plate had a diameter of 1 130 mm and was designed to accommodate a load of around 400 kg. The engineers mounted the rotating plate on a truck turntable which had rubber rollers instead of ball bearings. “It was a challenge to balance the weight on the rotating plate inside the vehicle and to achieve the maximum rotation,” explains Markus Grass. The uneven distribution of weight was a result of the weight of the roof and hydraulic column. The weight had to be distributed evenly across the entire circular plate. “We used a system from a truck,” says Ingo Schulz. The results were perfect!

Safely anchored in the desert
A very important criterion was the ability to anchor the vehicle safely to the ground in the desert, because the camera lens with a diameter of 30-35 cm could pick up the tiniest movement at a distance of 18 km. A levelling system and four retractable struts gave the vehicle a secure base.

Interior and trim
The interior trim was handmanufactured by Bertrandt from tread plate. The highquality appearance of the interior was complemented by levers, release devices and polished rotating components made of stainless steel. All the components with the exception of the base for the rotating plate, the tripod and the camera were manufactured at Bertrandt. This included the construction of the profile, the turntable, the rotating plate, all the steel components, stainless steel trim, small plastic components and rotating parts. “The project was a big success and the customer was very satisfied with our ideas,” says Markus Grass very pleased. “This is a good reason for continuing to develop our conversion skills.”

[ Back ]