Neat

Neat video, are the 3d .stl files available for downloan anywhere?

Thanks,

It is sort of a neat concept

It is sort of a neat concept to have the image appear to be the inside of an F unit, but would it not look better if the inside was painted to look like an F unit and not black. Also if this is a printed model why are the inside edges so rough and fuzzy? It almost looks like they were cut from cardboard or paper. Sorry to Bash on you project, but I am curious to see if the things I ask could be corrected, I think they would make the video more refined. 

re: edges and paint

Focal length...

In other words the edges of the window are out of focus, too close to the camera, which would also make the inside if painted like an F unit also fuzzy and out of focus. 

3d Files

Not yet as there are some changes that I would like to make. I will post them on MRH if that is okay with them. 

Also I am going to borrow an HO flat car from a friend to see if I can make one in that scale.  He has a GoPro and mine is the Polaroid Cube+ and I will see if I can make the HO camera car work for both cameras.  The GoPro is just a little too big for my N-Scale layout plus I like the wifi link to my iPhone.

I Have Tried

Neil,

I don't take it as negative and would love to be able to do those refinements. This is printed on my home (less than $300) printer that uses PLA and I got most but not all of the dangles sanded off but not all & this is my proof of concept that I am sharing.  It is an FDM type printer & not an expensive SLA or resin printer.

FYI, I have made several attempts at doing some of the refinements that you asked about.  I have painted the inside white & the camera still shows black.  I have glued a photo of the inside of an F7 cab just below the windows & the camera does not see it at all.  I even had the right side window in one iteration but the camera did not see it at all. If you move the camera back too far so it could see such things then it is too far back from the window aperture & doesn't look right. So I gave up.   The things that you have mentioned might be able to be done in a larger scale with this kind of setup.  It might be able to be done with video post processing but I'm too old to start learning such things.

John

Thanks

Jim,

Good point.  Also, see my reply to Neil.

John

Just add the inside image of

Just add the inside image of a cab as part of post production.  The blank out plate aka cab image is not needed and it will solve a lot more problems and just look better.  Find a good photo from inside a cab and mask it over the video from the camera.  Very simple and easy to do.  It will fix focal issues,  less light getting to the camera etc. etc.

John, thank you for the

John, thank you for the understanding of what you have done and that all makes sense. It is unfortunate i guess, maybe not the right word. One day I am sure these cameras will be well above the level they are at today and we will have no problem doing these kinds of things. Maybe someone with access to a studio level camera would .... Never mind!

As Jim pointed out focal length is an issue with video. It can be fixed fairly easy today with a still picture, so maybe what AzBaja is suggesting would be a great fix. 

I think that is one huge issue with all the run through videos you see on youtube today. the concept is great, the scenery is great, but then you look at the whole picture and you see either the ceiling or the bottom of the upper deck benchwork and wiring and leds/lights. 

Keep up the great work with the printer John, I love the work you have done on that station. 

LONG LIVE THE SANTA FE!!

Some Could

Appreciate the comments & suggestions but that is not something that I ever intended to do. I just like to watch track level rides, both open view & through the simulated cab windows that give the illusion of being in the cab, so I created this for me in N-Scale.

John

Thanks

Neil,

I appreciate your comments as well and as I said to AzBaja, extensive video post processing is not something that I intended.  The professional videographer that films at the Colorado Train Museum does that sort of post processing but that is something that I never intended to do. This N-Scale camera car is for me on my layout or for anyone that wants the STL file when I release it. 

My first crack at this was about a year ago when I cut apart an old N-Scale F7A and tried to attach it to the front of the camera. That really did not work out very well as the camera is close to twice the width of the engine. I then came upon a company that manufactured a laser cut styrene kit to fit on an HO flat car for the GoPro Session camera.  It was basically a box that surrounded the camera with a slit in front of the lens that you could mount onto a flat car. I considered getting one of those but it would be way too big for my scale.  Anyway, the revised camera car is the result of the past year of playing around with this......

John

Smaller camera has worked for me

I've been experimenting with one of the tiny "spy" cameras that can be found on Amazon for $20 to $30. They don't broadcast live video, but they do fit on an N scale flat car. I used a piece of double-stick tape to attach it and it worked well. One of the these days I'll have enough video edited together to post on-line.

Nice Camera Setup

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your comments and picture of your camera setup. I took a look at the same & other similar cameras when I was looking for a camera.  I really like the ability to see what the camera is seeing during the run which is why I chose the one that I have due to its wifi ability with my iPhone. I could reduce its size by removing the protective waterproof case (I found a YouTube video on how to do that) and get it down to around a < 1" cube but I haven't decided to do that because I drop stuff pretty regularly.

Happy Model Railroading,

John

On-line viewing while moving

Yes, I think that being able to view what the camera is recording is a good thing. Hopefully one of these days they'll make one of those types small enough to fit better in N scale.

My camera does have video output via a USB cable, so I might look into using one of the tiny Raspberry Pi computers (about 1" square) to broadcast that signal over Wifi. I'll need to come up with a battery power source and somehow make the whole thing fit onto an N scale flat car. That will give me something to do during the long, dark Minnesota winter.

Great Idea

Tom,

That is a great idea. I'd be very interested in what you can come up with.

John