# Mini cam mounted on a HO race car!



## slotcar58 (Jun 21, 2007)

Ed Delfin mounted a small video camera on a Wizzard race car and got some great results. The camera was less than $10 on Ebay! The links to the videos are posted under: Slotcar Races & Events: FHORA 5/21/11 Webcast - St. Cloud. You won't be disappointed! This is greatTurn your volume down before you run it!


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## roffutt (Jun 30, 2006)

Copied the links, for everyone's viewing pleasure; Click on the image to view the video.


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

That is cool, I did a similar thing with the Brother-in-laws mini cam but it was like $200. Could you get the info on the camera and post that as well.

Boosted


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## SDMedanic (Apr 21, 2011)

Do an E-Bay search for "Spy Camera". I have one that looks like a car key fob and it works very well on a Tyco truck chassis. I tried it on a faster chassis but the images are too quick for good viewing. Slow T-Jet speed gives the best video results. The truck chassis runs very well at those speeds.


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## win43 (Aug 28, 2006)

wowsers!!!!!!


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## Ovalhead (Nov 20, 2010)

Neil Young created CAB 1 for the model railroaders ( actually his children ) 10-15 years ago that works great in HO scale. I believe it is still a hot item to have for the video engineers who run their engines through the windshield of the actual HO cab. A little research and you should find info. fairly easy.

Truthfully, I would be interested in how it would work at much faster speeds...............

Cliff


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## shocker36 (Jul 5, 2008)

Awesome almost reminds me of LeMans


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Nifty.
I would be more interested in having these cameras mounted in small buildings around the track.
I think it would be sø cool to broadcast a race on a large track, with live race coverage.
Instant replay, onboard cameras, wow, would be way cool.
How to you keep the cord from getting all tangled up?


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## bearsox (Apr 22, 2006)

*Mini Cam Mounted on an Ho car*



NTxSlotCars said:


> Nifty.
> I would be more interested in having these cameras mounted in small buildings around the track.
> I think it would be sø cool to broadcast a race on a large track, with live race coverage.
> Instant replay, onboard cameras, wow, would be way cool.
> How to you keep the cord from getting all tangled up?


I was there and there was a webcast at the same time of the actual race event . I do see that it would be interesting to have location cams perhaps doing a split screen that can bounce from cam to cam and toss in replay of wreckage when it happens . Parlay that with the full track cam to cover the big picture and an announcer and voila ! LOL big time racin in a small scale package.

Bear :wave:


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## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

Cool ideas- my group did webcasts of our races over 10 years ago. Surprised more haven't done this up until now.

I recently picked up one of those HD Go Pro cameras to play around with. Does some amazing high quality MP4 video with a fish eye type view. My goal is to capture all the fun sliding, spinning and of course crashes in corners for slo-mo replay. This camera offers 60fps video in the lowest res setting but even that isn't fast enough to capture crashes very well. That's seems to be the biggest hurdle- you need a camera with a high speed shutter and those aren't cheap. I've managed to do slo-mo replays in an editor but the resolution isn't all that great. I hope to put more together to send to YouTube and share.

As for in-car stuff in HO's, it's just too fast to enjoy. You need to slow the replay considerably to create anything worth watching, especially in tight sectional track corners or it isn't enjoyable to watch. I have one of the micro color wireless cameras and while the technology is pretty cheap, the speed of the cars produces less than desirable results for live output. To create the dramatic racing feeling you need to slow the video output a lot.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

Doba and company do put out an occasional video. Those are extremely well produced, funny, and show some serious racing too. What he needs is a "bus cam"... :lol:


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## bearsox (Apr 22, 2006)

*Mini cam Mounted on a Ho car*

I wonder if we are just trying to get our head too far and too quickly out over our skis so to speak. If the technology is not able to work with the speed we have chosen ... perhaps adapt our chosen speed ? Understanding it's harder to film a Cheeta than a Turtle perhaps try these ideas on the slower pancake based cars 1st like a base box stock TJET. If that works move faster and faster to the VANISHING POINT. Had to get that name in as it was such a cool movie LOL. But hoping the idea makes some sense .

Bear :wave:


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## Dslot (Sep 2, 2007)

>



That's one heck of a technical breakthrough. 

Not only can it see the track from the car's vantage point, but it can see four years into the future!

I'm sold.

-- D


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

Very cool, I ordered a camera from Ebay, $13
should get it soon, will post some vids as well, hopefully from the new track.

Boosted


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

I keep coming back to this. What kind of cameras are these? Can you put up a link?
What do they look like mounted on a slot car? What powers them? and mostly....

How well could you drive a slot car with just the in car camera view?


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## slotcar58 (Jun 21, 2007)

$8.99 shipped!

http://www.meritline.com/car-keys-m...?hq_e=el&hq_m=2210856&hq_l=99&hq_v=f1f9c29c1d


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

The camera my brother-in-law had looked like the one in the link below. We mounted it to a flat Shadow body with some foam 2-sided tape. Surprisingly it still handled decent. I ordered this camera

http://www.meritline.com/mini-dv-smallest-video-camera---p-45387.aspx

Boosted


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## SDMedanic (Apr 21, 2011)

NTxSlotCars said:


> How well could you drive a slot car with just the in car camera view?


The short answer is you couldn't. The camera records to on-board memory and you cannot view and record at the same time. 

The cameras are too large to mount on a car and run at any reasonable speed. I have mine mounted on a Tyco Truck chassis. The camera takes up most of the available space. I tried it on a BSRT G-3 but the truck chassis seems to work better. A good speed that allows one to view the track as it is passing by as opposed to watching a blur is very slow. On my track I set the camera up to do 10-12 second laps with good results. A good skinny tired T-jet will lap in 9 seconds. Any on-board racing action has to be faked as the camera car just can't keep up if you want a decent picture.

Wireless video cameras are about twice the size if you ignore the fact that they also need a 9V battery. I have seen folk mount wireless cameras on tractor trailer rigs with good results. The spy cameras have a built in battery. My only problem is dealing with the flicker from fluorescent lights. 

Will see if I can post a pic of the camera car tonight.:thumbsup:


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## SDMedanic (Apr 21, 2011)

A quick movie of my track. Camera car is going a bit fast but its not too bad.


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

Man, that is just freakin awesome! I gotta get me one of these and shoot Ventura Highway!!


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## bearsox (Apr 22, 2006)

*mini cam mounted on a Ho race car*

As i suspected a TJET would be the ticket to a better view . Now i would bet a near bone stock would even be a better video as it would be slower yet. Love to see the cam setup on a bone stock TJET ( ok slipons silicones ) in a race. Perhaps like what we had at Leos with 1st a front view for some laps then rear for a few ! Could be cool to see ! 

BTW Steve the track looks great !

Bear :wave:


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## SDMedanic (Apr 21, 2011)

Dennis,

That video was shot using a BSRT 902 G-3 magnet car. I believe that the Tyco truck chassis is a better platform as it is more consistent at slower speeds. With two guide pins you can take front and rear camera shots by just rotating the truck chassis 180 degrees. Will post a movie taken with the truck later this week. 

The weight and size of the camera is significant. With a T-Jet camera car you are putting a T-jet on top of a T-jet. Packaging the camera to lower the battery might make for a better platform but I am not sure the gain would be worth the effort.

Thanks for the comments on the track. We had the first race on it earlier this year in the MSRA series and The Bear exceeded all expectations!

Later,

Steve


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## bearsox (Apr 22, 2006)

*mini cam mounted on a Ho race car*

Humm the video was good so the platform was as well for a tour. The only issue then would be for racing type albeit faux racing video at realtime speed. In that event it reverts us back to TJETS unless ...... can you dial down your PS to a minimum voltage to run the G3's and have a 4 man field run a 2-3 min racing heat filmed each way in forward and reverse ? Now that too would solve things and look awesome .

Bear :wave:


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

didn't Hot Wheels release a set with a video camera car that works nearly identically? except that it is a gravity die cast car. but the camera records the event and it has to be downloaded to another medium? and, I think there is a tiny monitor screen on the bottom to view the video? seems I saw this on one of the various chats I frequent?


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## SDMedanic (Apr 21, 2011)

bearsox said:


> Humm the video was good so the platform was as well for a tour. The only issue then would be for racing type albeit faux racing video at realtime speed. In that event it reverts us back to TJETS unless ...... can you dial down your PS to a minimum voltage to run the G3's and have a 4 man field run a 2-3 min racing heat filmed each way in forward and reverse ? Now that too would solve things and look awesome .
> 
> Bear :wave:


Tough crowd. Not asking for too much? I suppose you want partial views of the camera car as well in the forward and reverse view shots????  

Steve :tongue:


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## buzzinhornet (Jan 20, 2000)

alpink said:


> didn't Hot Wheels release a set with a video camera car that works nearly identically? except that it is a gravity die cast car. but the camera records the event and it has to be downloaded to another medium? and, I think there is a tiny monitor screen on the bottom to view the video? seems I saw this on one of the various chats I frequent?


I remember seeing something like that too Al. I think the cars might have been bigger than 1/64th tho'...


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## NTxSlotCars (May 27, 2008)

I can't believe this one was uploaded five years ago....





These cameras listed are cool, but maybe there will be some smaller technology coming soon?


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## bearsox (Apr 22, 2006)

*mini cam mounted on a Ho race car*



SDMedanic said:


> Tough crowd. Not asking for too much? I suppose you want partial views of the camera car as well in the forward and reverse view shots????
> 
> Steve :tongue:


Na Ed did do the forward and reverse shots at Leo's so it is simple enough . The in race and getting 4 guys to run a G3 car at those low speeds and have em not get ansy..... that may be a bit tough LOL !

Bear:wave:


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## Slott V (Feb 3, 2005)

This is still my favorite HO in-car video. It's put together well and the Roger Miller song is great and adds some extra fun to it. The Big Ryder semi hangs it out there pretty well in the corners.


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## bearsox (Apr 22, 2006)

*mini cam mounted on a Ho race car*

Wicked cool Scott thanks for sharing that one ! Love me some Roger Miller zaney tunages and in this case they made this even more fun to watch !

Bear :wave:


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## Boosted-Z71 (Nov 26, 2007)

Love the Semi bicycling up on the outer wheels, very cool & Roger Miller, OMG, that was all my parents listened to on the home stereo. Nice memories

Boosted


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