jetblast96

Hey guys,
Just thought I'd share this. People are always looking for simple ways to mount a camera to an rc airplane, and I came up with one (sorry to anyone who had this idea before, just thought I would share anyway). Watch the video to find out

Mike

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jky1GZ2QyPE[/youtube]

Lnewqban

Great idea!

Thanks for sharing it.

I know that you are trying to combine the simplicity of using the bolt of the landing gear and keeping the CG location of the plane; however, anchoring it at the balance point of the camera-bracket, would eliminate dangerous stress on that nylon bolt.

jetblast96

Conveniently, the mounting hole I used (purely to move the camera back for CG reasons) actually is very very close to the balance point of the whole camera/bracket structure and the landing gear bolt is bolted into a reconstructed area when the landing gear ripped a chunk out of the fuselage a while back. The whole area is built up 1/4" plywood with 2 1/4-20 bolts now lol

fledermaus

Have you taken any video in the air yet? I wonder if the bracket you have is rigid enough or will it vibrate with the engine too much for good video?

rye

My Feedback: (10)

hi
i just used strong velco but tie a piece of string to it just incase

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5XE3z_xY4Y

jester_s1

1:34 of yapping before we actually see the mount. We don't need your life's story!

But on the positive side, you have a neat solution to the problem. I'm curious how the extra drag from the camera being sideways like that affects the flight characteristics?

jetblast96

Getting some footage hopefully on Saturday. And Jester: I'm a Youtuber, I make videos for my audience, and I do it in a vlogging (aka talking to the audience) style. Sorry you have to suffer through my videos, but thanks anyway . I'm glad you took the time and effort to time the whole 1:34 you had to hear my voice.
It would be interesting to see how the drag will affect it, I'm probably going to need a bit of rudder trim. This is all an experiment is all. And rye, I wish I could trust velcro. That adhesive is pretty weak, and I like my camera too much lol
I'll post the footage when I get some

Mike

Lnewqban

.....But the camera of the second video "watches" from the top of the plane,.............

If so, and the whole assembly shown in the first video is reversed:

Does the camera records in inverted position?

Isn't the CG of the airplane too high for stable flight?

jetblast96

Lnewqban, I'm not entirely sure what you're asking... Anyway the CG will be farther forward fro the camera but I have been able to counter it with moving my battery back. As far as the CG being high, the camera is at the bottom; unless I go inverted it should be fine. Also, the video footage is not inverted since the mount is on the bottom of the airplane and holds the camera from below. This makes the camera upright.
Hope that answered your question...

I'm going flying tomorrow with the plane and will try out the camera, I'll post how the footage comes out.

Mike

Lnewqban

Never mind, Mike.

I just got confused with the video of post #5 above, which shows the camera on top of the fuselage, and thought it was your footage.

Hope everything will work just as expected

jetblast96

First attempt footage:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fQD3kmupHw&feature=g-upl&context=G220cfe3AUAAAAAAAAAA[/youtube]
Had some trouble with vibrations, hopefully balancing the propeller will do the trick. Otherwise the footage was really cool, I'm going to work on making a more solid mount (the flexibility in this one amplified the vibration). Still some pretty cool footage. Adding this footage to my keychain camera in 1 flight actually made for a pretty cool video, check it out.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKu-mXoSevY&list=UUw3ffZrV56VWVc2wxcI_kIQ&feature=plcp[/youtube]

Lnewqban

Great!

As you can see, the keychain camera, mounted directly on the stab, had less vibration than the one mounted on the bracket.

For an electric plane, that video shows too much vibration, and it is generated by the total length of the bracket, from the anchoring point to the camera.

The sources of the vibration are mainly the turbulence of the air behind the camera and maybe any little unbalance of the propeller.

You have a cantilever system, which tend to amplify vibrations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantilever

I took a footage with a plane powered by a .40 glow engine, which horrible vibration I isolated with a chunk of foam between the camera and the bottom of the fuse.

The foam-camera assembly was fixed to the plane just with rubber bands.

The camera was mounted sideways; hence, it generated less turbulence.

Vibrations still were present, but you can see that the more compact assembly (closer to the fuse) reduced them pretty well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9H25wy2ujY

Nothing wrong with your original idea, it just needs improvements and further tests.

jetblast96

Thanks a lot,
The mount I made certainly amplified the vibrations, it is very easy to tell. I think this mount was a good start in my experimenting with aerial photography, and I'm going to try to make a few more mounts. I saw your footage and really like the quality, if you can do that with a nitro plane then I can definitely improve my own footage.
I have a bunch of weights/thicknesses/densities of foam lying around here, along with all types of rubber bands and a lot of scrap wood from my latest kit build; we'll see what I can make

Mike

B.Day

Watched your U-tube video. Was good for rearward pointing camera flight. But it shows lack of rudder usage. except to steer the plane on the gound. Too many flyers cannot use the left hand....Rudder is like the steering wheel on a car. It points it where you want to go. Better pilots know how to fly using rudder and it makes touch and goes better too...I have spent years training new flyers. Not trying to be negative just an obervation. Try to take this as conctructive critism..