Wingtip Micro Cam Attached to one of Bernie's Micro Servos

Really cool Kim,

I also enjoyed the view of your property, Ahh one day too I will have a few acres and fly in my own yard.

The cows looked tasty....... Go meat!

cribbs74 wrote:Really cool Kim,

I also enjoyed the view of your property, Ahh one day too I will have a few acres and fly in my own yard.

The cows looked tasty....... Go meat!

Cows+.50cal=good burgers!

Thanks! I wish I could claim some of it as my own, but alas, I am only a renter! The property has been in my landlord's family for a century or so, and he has quickly turned down all questions I've asked about buying a chunk of it.

However, he is a great guy, and our arraignment has worked well for both of us...each watching over the other's property now for 11 years...AND I think my assorted antics keep him amused.

Even with all the wide-open spaces though, I still find myself threading the B.O.T. down it's final approach between a set of power lines, across a fence and road, along with a cedar tree....keeps a boy sharp! He once even offered to cut down the tree, after catching me trying to knock my ZAGI HLG out of it's top limbs with some tent poles. But I like the birds that nest in it, and just having a few trees around is good.

Since I don't own a meat locker, I got to be very careful NOT to hurt (and buy) a cow ! I DO score big points with my landlord by taking out the occasional groundhog or two...with an AR-15...NOT the Barretts !!!

Kim wrote:Thanks! I wish I could claim some of it as my own, but alas, I am only a renter! The property has been in my landlord's family for a century or so, and he has quickly turned down all questions I've asked about buying a chunk of it.

However, he is a great guy, and our arraignment has worked well for both of us...each watching over the other's property now for 11 years...AND I think my assorted antics keep him amused.

Even with all the wide-open spaces though, I still find myself threading the B.O.T. down it's final approach between a set of power lines, across a fence and road, along with a cedar tree....keeps a boy sharp! He once even offered to cut down the tree, after catching me trying to knock my ZAGI HLG out of it's top limbs with some tent poles. But I like the birds that nest in it, and just having a few trees around is good.

Since I don't own a meat locker, I got to be very careful NOT to hurt (and buy) a cow ! I DO score big points with my landlord by taking out the occasional groundhog or two...with an AR-15...NOT the Barretts !!!

Kim yeah taking out groundhogs with a .50 would be like strapping c4 onto a gopher!

Kim wrote:Thanks! I wish I could claim some of it as my own, but alas, I am only a renter! The property has been in my landlord's family for a century or so, and he has quickly turned down all questions I've asked about buying a chunk of it.

However, he is a great guy, and our arraignment has worked well for both of us...each watching over the other's property now for 11 years...AND I think my assorted antics keep him amused.

Even with all the wide-open spaces though, I still find myself threading the B.O.T. down it's final approach between a set of power lines, across a fence and road, along with a cedar tree....keeps a boy sharp! He once even offered to cut down the tree, after catching me trying to knock my ZAGI HLG out of it's top limbs with some tent poles. But I like the birds that nest in it, and just having a few trees around is good.

Since I don't own a meat locker, I got to be very careful NOT to hurt (and buy) a cow ! I DO score big points with my landlord by taking out the occasional groundhog or two...with an AR-15...NOT the Barretts !!!

I see Kim, either way it looks nice, your landlord wouldn't miss a leg or two off one of those cows. That way you don't have to worry about a meat locker. Just tell him the groundhogs are bigger this year.

Very nice video Kim. Hell, my wife even enjoyed it.

Bob

So this servo...is it a normal servo mounted in the wingtip or is it made to operate a camera? The reason I ask is because I can't figure out why the movement is not linear. It looked good to me but, hey what do I know?

That was a great video. I'll show it to my wife, she'll like it too.
So how long do you fly it around before transitioning to gliding? A couple of minutes? Looks like the plane is happy either way.

I wish I had gotten into it back in the day, it looks like lots of fun, what now with cool stuff like those light servos and cameras.

nice tractor. IH?

What cam did you use?

cribbs74 wrote:So this servo...is it a normal servo mounted in the wingtip or is it made to operate a camera? The reason I ask is because I can't figure out why the movement is not linear. It looked good to me but, hey what do I know?

I'm afraid the installation is very VERY primitive...as are most of my homemade gadgets! The servo is one of Bernie's Cox Micros, with a simple ply/balsa box attached with tiny screws up through the servos arms. The whole thing is mounted to a balsa sleeve, held on the wingtip with scotch tape.

The video isn't bad, but I'd imagined (and want) a smooth, slow pan as it rotates. It's plugged into my throttle channel, and the indents for that stick cause it to jump as it's moved.

RknRusty wrote:That was a great video. I'll show it to my wife, she'll like it too.
So how long do you fly it around before transitioning to gliding? A couple of minutes? Looks like the plane is happy either way.

I wish I had gotten into it back in the day, it looks like lots of fun, what now with cool stuff like those light servos and cameras.

Yeah, this new stuff just blows me away!

I used a full film canister which gives the old Tee Dee about 5-6 minutes, and figure I got the B.O.T. to 1200-1300 feet. I can get a ten minute + flight on a no-thermal day...unless I mess around with loops and such. There's no throttle or fuel control, but I CAN kill the engine with a half-loop, leveled inverted for a moment, as I haven't put a clunk pick-up in the tank.

The camera is a "Key Chain" type I got from some (gasp!) Chinese outfit on Ebay for $25. I edit down the video once I get it loaded into my computer.

The B.O.T. is very tolerant of having things taped or rubber-banded to it's airframe (nose, wingtips, ect), and has packed an assortment of cameras and gadgets up to the lower stratosphere! You just have to make ABSOLUTELY sure that it is properly balanced EVERY time before it's launched! I use small zip bags with fine lead shot, measured to keep the balance (from all axis') correct, and held in place with more tape (I go through a lot of Scotch Tape!).

Any two meter sailplane ought to work, and I designed the engine pod to set farther back on the wing than most, with an extra chunk of lead in the nose when it's not packing a camera on it's snout.

Loving that Servo arrangement Kim.
AS soon as I saw the Date I thought 'that's my key fob'...
One of our lads has figured a way to correct the date but it's beyond me.
I think you've done it just about right. I mounted mine to the fuz
on our club trainer (irvine .46) and it shakes MUCH MUCH more than
yours, even on my various leccky 3ders on the fuz vibrates more than your's
I'd leave as is I think it's pretty damn good.
If you were really that worried about the indents you could take the ratchet off
throttle stick 'A la' 3d helicopter radio.

Thanks John!

My plan is to take the BOT to different locations and get some landmarks like our beautiful bridge here in Cape and the Arch up in St. Louis. We'll see how that goes!

I'm making a version for the left wing to show off my fancy film canister tanks ! Yeah, the date/time thing bugs me, and there IS a tutorial video on Youtube or Google that shows how the set or disable it. When I first got some of these cameras, I followed the steps and it worked, but only until the camera was turned off and back on...when the wrong date and time reappeared. So, I have to just tell folks to try to ignore it.

I think sailplanes are natural platforms for camera work, and have a host of back-burner kits to build "some day"!

I see more clearly now Kim,

Is it possible to slow down the servo? Change the rates or something? Keep in mind I don't have a clue what I am talking about.

Now that I have seen that picture I am wondering if having that camera on the wing changed the flight characteristics? Did you have to add weight to the other wing to balance it out?

Sorry for all the questions, I just think what you are doing is pretty neat!

John Goddard wrote:Loving that Servo arrangement Kim.
AS soon as I saw the Date I thought 'that's my key fob'...

One of the little 8gig key fob cameras could rest right on top of the servo.

Neat video,,thanks Kim.

cribbs74 wrote:I see more clearly now Kim,

Is it possible to slow down the servo? Change the rates or something? Keep in mind I don't have a clue what I am talking about.

Now that I have seen that picture I am wondering if having that camera on the wing changed the flight characteristics? Did you have to add weight to the other wing to balance it out?

Sorry for all the questions, I just think what you are doing is pretty neat!

Hey I love talking about this stuff (if it's not already obvious) ! I'm not sure that I can actually slow the rate, though it may be possible.

The drag of the camera caused me to use a BUNCH of right trim, and the BOT still had a bit of left turn tendency...hence some of the wobble in flight...but it was manageable. I DO remind myself to carry a little extra speed when landing, just so the BOT doesn't snap-roll at the last second.

I definitely had to counter the camera's weight, and used a small zip-lock bag on the opposite wing. I sprinkle fine lead shot into the bag 'till the BOT seems balanced, and just wrap around the tip wing with some tape holding it. I keep all of the little zip-lock bags from my Bernie and Matt orders for this purpose!

Good idea Kim,

My wife purchased a whole bunch of those little bags for jewelery making. I found they are the perfect size to store. .09 engines and smaller when not in use.

From the camera it looks as if there was no change at all in how it flew. That .051 really must be pulling hard. How many hrs do you think you have on it?

cribbs74 wrote:Good idea Kim,

From the camera it looks as if there was no change at all in how it flew. That .051 really must be pulling hard. How many hrs do you think you have on it?

It flew OK, just had to hold a bit of right in the rudder, and I'm spoiled toward getting the BOT to cruise straight and level unless I'm making it do something goofy.

I've had that poor .051 since the late 70's, and it's got 'bout a bizzillion hours on it ! It's been in various control-liners, and spent several summers in a House of Balsa P-39 Aracobra that lived a lot longer than anybody thought it would. It's been on the BOT since I traded out the original B.W. about 5 years ago, though I still have the BW on it's pylon, and fly it when the BOT's not packing cargo.

About two years ago, it started getting hateful with it's needle setting, and I thought it was just giving up the ghost. Tried cleaning the petrified castor out of the cylinder, different glow head, and such with no improvement. THEN discovered the plastic body was split at the intake. Replaced it with one of those aluminum bodies, and it's been back-to-the-races ever since!

By the way, it's had everything from 5% with syn to 35% with castor run though it, and it STILL cranks and goes...

Here is a link to RC groups discussion about the #11 key chain camera I have. You will get a bunch of aerodynamic back because it is just the size of a key chain fob. Some video showing it's sound and vid quality. very compact and lightweight obviously.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1362692

There is a newer one availiable and its being called the #16 camera. Basically the same sixe and weight of the other but much improved apparently.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1556994&highlight=keychain+camera

Thanks! Got one on the way !

Realized I hadn't charged mine in awhile, so it sits here happliy sipping on the computer.