Large Scale Central

A Panning Camera Car

Model Photography
#1

Panning Camera CarCamera Car w/Camera

Panning Camera Car

This is the shake down test of a ‘panning camera car’ I built. It is at an open house at Dave Funk’s Deer Creek Railroad. It allows to camera to follow the curves relatively accurately, I think…

[youtube]http://youtu.be/abhNwJuzV54[/youtube]

I made the mechanism loosely based on the design by John Steele from the October 2010 Garden Railways. The linkage lengths and location came from Mr. Steele’s engineering.

I cut and fitted the active link to ‘lock into’ in the truck’s molded bracing. The rest was easy. 1/4"x 20 bolts, washers and nylon lock-nuts to fasten the trucks and camera mount and a carburetor linkage stud to fit into the slotted linkage. For the center bolt for the camera mount the threads had to go to the hex head and the brass camera lock nut was from my scrap bin.

His one suggested design improvement, that of a heavier overall car to reduce “bounciness” of the camera prompted me to use Ipe’ (Iron Wood) for the platform and steel wheels for added weight. It was only a 3 hour project with the re-design.

#2

Nice - Now lets see the video!

#3

I’m trying.

GOT IT!!!

#4

David Hill said:

His one suggested design improvement, that of a heavier overall car to reduce “bounciness” of the camera prompted me to use Ipe’ (Iron Wood) for the platform and steel wheels for added weight. It was only a 3 hour project with the re-design.

For added weight you may want to try USATrains Passenger car trucks. They’re made of metal and with the steel wheels probably weight over a pound a piece.

#5

Thanks Ken. If you watch the video, the camera seems to me to be steady and only slight sign of jerkiness turning the curves. Most of that is because there is a lot of ‘slop’ in the wheel gauging.

Ken Brunt said: For added weight you may want to try USATrains Passenger car trucks. They’re made of metal and with the steel wheels probably weight over a pound a piece.

#6

Looks good. Dave has a nice layout. If you guys are not busy you should come up to my meet Saturday. Not sure where Dave is in relation to me. PM me if interested.

#7

David Hill said:

Thanks Ken. If you watch the video, the camera seems to me to be steady and only slight sign of jerkiness turning the curves. Most of that is because there is a lot of ‘slop’ in the wheel gauging.

Ken Brunt said: For added weight you may want to try USATrains Passenger car trucks. They’re made of metal and with the steel wheels probably weight over a pound a piece.

It did look pretty steady. Another option would be to have the camera sit lower so it’s not perched atop a long screw, but the view looked good as it was.

#8

This is a better video to show how the pan works and the movement of the camera.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/K1pgiNzviGY[/youtube]

#9

Nice - That really enhances the ride-along view.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen your RR. Looks great. Tells us about your raised roadbed sometime.

#10

Jon Radder said:

Nice - That really enhances the ride-along view.

I think this is the first time I’ve seen your RR. Looks great. Tells us about your raised roadbed sometime.

Thanks Jon, and Dave Funk thanks you I’m sure. It is his road, I was just a hired hand (lunch) when it came to building the raised bed. Since I worked cheap, that is the level of the labor he was able to get out of me. ha-ha

How we built it was on 2x4s and 4x4s posts on pads set on tamped gravel screwed to a ladder frame that was covered with chicken wire mesh, a layer of weed fabric, track and ballast. The curves were 12’ long Trex 1" (5/4) decking, ripped in half. We then fastened 2x’s to the inner curve then bent that with a strap tie down. We then clamped and fastened the outer curve to that ladder with deck screws.

Dave Funk did a lot of the detail work of leveling, ballasting, painting, etc. when the MOW crew called off from work. Maybe he will post more on this when he sees this.

#11

David that is soooo much better then having the camera stare off into the nether regions when the car goes into a curve. And the engineer’s view was terrific.

#12

Nice piece of rolling stock Dave. That camera view is great as it follows the track path.

#13

Thanks for the layout compliments.
Dave told me he posted a video shot during my open house and members were curios about the layout.

The Deer Creek Railway is my 2rd attempt to do an outdoor railroad.
While Dave is very humble about his involvement… truth be told if it weren’t for Dave Hill’s help and encouragement it would never have happened. Thanks Dave!!
I knew I wanted an elevated line and was limited by a smaller in-town yard and my wife’s request that the layout not be an eyesore.
I also wanted to have trains running as soon as possible to keep my enthusiasm up. The loop was operational in 2 months.
In my search for layout designs I really liked the way Richard Smith did his Port Oroford Coast line. Info is archieved on this site about the POC .
I used his method of open drainage construction and box framing. I omitted the spline under my track and added more cross beams to better support the track and scenery. Curves were done with trex ladders. 4 posts are cemented in and the rest sits on 6x6 pavers in 6’’ of crushers. As Dave teases me about my German over-engineering, I really didn’t know what to expect as the layout would be exposed the weather so I designed everything to be adjustable. Most of the legs have washing machine leveling legs under them. It made it thru its first winter and only needed minor adjustment at the lift out bridge.
Size is about 20 x 40 feet and sits 8 to 16 inches off the grass. It’s pool table level thanks to Dave’s transit.
Aristo 11.5 dia. curves with 332 rail and 2 Train Li switches (great product),are on the single track mainline with 1 passing siding and 1 stub end siding. Split jaw clamps keep the rails together and electons flowing from the Train Engineer It’s my small version of Southwest Colorado in 1:20 scale narrow gauge.
As I don’t enjoy structure building and the weather seems to wreck them quickly I opted to stay more with a wilderness scenery and avoid towns ,industries, ect. A mine building was added this year for a source of traffic for the line and some switching.
Operations consist of mainly of watching the trains as I and friends sit on patio, chat and drink ice tea. Non- train people are amazed and really enjoy it. Kids love it!!
The layout has exceeded my expectations and runs flawlessly, is attractive and easy to maintain.
Summers are my busy season but I will try to post more layout photos.

#14

Well, it certainly is not an eyesore!