I know what you're probably thinking ..... "Oh no, not another PenCam thread"

Hey, I come in peace (and bring some build pics).

I couldn't resist and bought two of those little refub Aiptek PenCams like the one TBZEP recently flew in his StormCaster rocket. Not wanting to cut a hole for the lens in my Hustler or Lil' Hustler I thought about to mount the camera in.

While test fitting the camera in several tube sizes I had on hand I noticed it fit tightly in a LOC TC-1.52 tube coupler (although the lens doesn't allow the camera to slip into the BT-1.52 airframe without slotting/cutting). I had a Weasel kit I had never built and decided to have the nose cone slip fit over the camera top half with the lens opening cut into the nose cone, and the bottom half of the camera would use the TC-1.52 coupler as a sleeve to mount in the body tube. I thought it would be a good idea to leave the basic Weasel intact with only the nose cone modified so it could still fly as a stock kit by only swapping the cone.

Well, only after cutting through the nose cone shoulder and noticing the shoulder had a wall thickness of almost 5/16" I realized the cone shoulder wouldn't slip over the camera so I had to modify the inside of the nose cone shoulder "square" to slip fit over the camera.

I swapped out the stock 6" motor mount tube for an 8" tube and mounted the fins through the wall to the motor mount reducing the fin span using a tab depth of 0.2125", not much for an overstable rocket like the Weasel.

All in all I'm happy with it although in hindsight I should have just slotted the payload tube to accept the camera or opt for a larger diameter kit. It sims well with a variety of 29mm motors with the camera but I don't think I'll be flying it this weekend since it still needs paint. Every time I've flown an unpainted rocket something unexpected happens so I may fly it at the mid October launch instead.

I can post the RockSim file for the stock Weasel-29 if anyone is interested.

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Attached Thumbnails

                 

Attached Files

LOC Precision Weasel-29 Aiptek MODS.rkt (81.0 KB, 61 views)

__________________
Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

🚀 In Construction: Der Blue Maxx/Minie-Magg 5.5” & Vander-Burn MDRM Clone w/Stickershock23 Custom Decals
🚀 In Paint & Detail: USR Banshee
🚀 In Build Queue: Estes Doorknob w/Vander-Burn Rocketry Upgrade Kit [Sport Decor], Semroc Centurion-F, Semroc Egg Crate
🚀 In Repair: SLS Lil’ Hustler, SLS Aero-Dart 1969 Trim
🚀 Stay Tuned For Fall 2021 Launch Dates

LOL....My unfinished flight ended up with the booster half in a tree, so I know what you mean. However, the unpainted replacement booster made it back home.

How many seconds of video do you get with the pencam?

__________________
Don
NAR 53455
"Carpe Diem"

Don,

In AVI movie format:

624 x 480 (HR) 30 seconds @ 10 fps
320 x 240 (LR) 120 seconds @ 10 fps

Not much ..... doesn't have an SD card so all you have is the 16 MB Built-in SDRAM for AVI. I'm not sure about getting really good stills from the AVI on (LR) mode though. I took it out while driving on the I-10 the other day and let it film till it ran out and the video was pretty choppy but some of the stills looked good. Still, that's only at 70mph.

TBZEP what mode did you get your stills with, HR or LR? Your stills looked really good. Since there is no external way to start the camera when it's installed in the rocket I can't imagine pushing the start button and slipping the nose cone over the camera, and still having enough record time in the 30 second mode.

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__________________
Steve Naquin
TRA# 677 L2
NAR# 85518 L2
SAM# 0052

🚀 In Construction: Der Blue Maxx/Minie-Magg 5.5” & Vander-Burn MDRM Clone w/Stickershock23 Custom Decals
🚀 In Paint & Detail: USR Banshee
🚀 In Build Queue: Estes Doorknob w/Vander-Burn Rocketry Upgrade Kit [Sport Decor], Semroc Centurion-F, Semroc Egg Crate
🚀 In Repair: SLS Lil’ Hustler, SLS Aero-Dart 1969 Trim
🚀 Stay Tuned For Fall 2021 Launch Dates