iCar from Minuteman Scale Models
#8
Tyson Rayles Wrote:Micro-Mark and other companies sell a camera kit (camera, transmitter, reciever and battery clip) for under $100 with full color and sound. It's small enough to use in N scale but you need to use a second car for the battery (N scale only). You can plug it into a TV for a live pic or plug into a recorder (VCR/DVD or whatever) if you want.
Hi Tyson,
If you want video of your layout (and don't already have an iPhone), an iPhone + this car is certainly not a very economical way to go about accomplishing that end! Plus, you don't get the live feed that you are describing - which is cool. I see three niches for the iPhone / iCar combination:
  • - Those that already have the the iPhone and are get all excited when they find another way to apply to apply it to their hobby (i.e., me).
    - As a tool to video document other's layouts that also don't have an in-place video system - or don't have a way to record in a format that is easy to share more widely. I'll take this car next time I go on a layout tour and see if the owner will allow me to get the "on track" view.
    - A quicker way to get video published (you can publish directly to YouTube), if that is the intent. However, a side effect of the iCar's approach to getting the light to the phone's camera is the mirror - everything is reversed in the video. It can be easily corrected in a video editor, but that slows down the publish process. The video I linked above was sent straight from the phone without correction

One side benefit of using this for recording is the audio component - I've picked out a couple of bad pieces of trackwork that I didn't know about based on the sounds of the car traveling over it.

EZDays Wrote:Can you imagine this car in N scale???? Nope :o

Yes, I can - but it doesn't turn out well! lol
Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio
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