Turning An Old Smart Phone Into A Model Train Cam With Wifi

Рет қаралды 2,860

22 күн бұрын

I'm sure anyone can do this. You just need to sacrifice an old box car and find an old smart phone in your drawer of nonsense (we all have that drawer).
/ 1528082198113792
Amazon: www.amazon.ca/hz/wishlist/ls/...
Patreon: / scottrails
You can contact me directly at scottrodsgarage@gmail.com

Пікірлер: 66

@johnparker7874 20 күн бұрын

I have to admit Dave, it seems to work very well. Instead of tightening the truck screws, I would add a small piece of flat styerene under the car frame, between the truck and the car body, to limit the rocking.

@stevechilders2425 20 күн бұрын

Very nice! Interested in seeing the WiFi.

@user-uk8jr6zc9l 20 күн бұрын

That worked terrific. Now put a tiny mirror on it and it faces front only with a flipped view. lol; Great work, Jersey Bill

@James89378 20 күн бұрын

Great video loved the little tour I would say

@majortomtogc 20 күн бұрын

You need a Micro mark truck trimmer to make the wheels roll like butta…..and real Kade’s will fit those coupler boxes and clips perfectly.

@user-qy9mn6qi3i 20 күн бұрын

Works pretty good.

@danshobbies13 15 күн бұрын

This is the right way for a camera to be. What I mean by that is that if you are a passenger in a train, you’d be looking out the window at the scenery. Not down the tracks. Now if you want to give an engineers point of view then it would make sense to point the camera forward. Nicely done

@jessenoklahoma 20 күн бұрын

Well done, and very creative. Surprisingly smooth, Time for a table skirt

@Christiane069 9 күн бұрын

Excellent idea. You can control the car wobbling by using some shims on the under side where the trucks trucks are.

@monsvillerailways5736 20 күн бұрын

Great work Dave. One suggestion. Add a row of trees on what looks like the bridge so you don't see your shelves under the layout. Other than that it works fantastically well. Happy Modelling

@johnsterling7420 19 күн бұрын

Great idea Dave, love your videos and the mountain i look forward to watch you create and build your layout, keep up the great work my friend.👍👌🇺🇸😇

@theangelsmodellingandrailways 20 күн бұрын

Great idea, works a treat, nicely done Dave.

@OldcampRanch 20 күн бұрын

Well done 👍🏻

@ronaldmcinnes7840 20 күн бұрын

use a cut down spring from a thin biro pen that has a click on/off mechanism that will give better stability instead of the proposed washer.some of ho wagons are supplied with these springs.

@ScottRails 20 күн бұрын

It's cool. I was being overly cautious with the screw. It went much further into the base.

@casstelles 20 күн бұрын

If you are wondering who makes this car, it's an Athearn 57' Mechanical Reefer. The metal coupler box covers give it away. Also, KD red washers will help the coupler height to raise it up. This is a common problem with blue box era kits. As far as the project itself, it's a novel idea. The only thing that I noticed was the focus due to how close objects were to the camera. There may be a setting to change this to help the focus of the camera such as Macro mode. Beyond, that, it is a creative project which takes a different view with cameras on model trains.

@ScottRails 20 күн бұрын

Yes, my wife also commented on the focus. It’s quite an old cam, I don’t think it had the macro option. An other option for the height, I could fit bigger wheels.

@dundasjunctionmodelr.r-jam8267 20 күн бұрын

Dave I have a drill to help drill holes for those blue box coupler boxes

@johnparker7874 20 күн бұрын

Good use for a 60' Mechanical reefer, Built by Athearn, you choose wisely.

@coastinalong1525 20 күн бұрын

A good way to reuse an old phone. If you plan on using it in a long live stream you might look at picking up the power from the wheels and using an old car usb charger and to charge the phone from the layout to stop the phone from going flat while streaming. You may need a small rectifier or even a single diode between the charger and the wheels just for good measure.

@ScottRails 20 күн бұрын

Great idea, although I noticed the phone gets very hot while doing this. Might be an enclosed space thing.

@maxorus9 20 күн бұрын

What I personally would have done is made it so the camera is in the boxcar and then make it look like it's a pov from the inside.

@ScottRails 20 күн бұрын

You mean turn the cam 180 degrees?

@maxorus9 20 күн бұрын

@@ScottRailsThat'd work. Only issue is it'd look a bit odd with it not being centered correctly. I wonder if a passenger car would work better for my idea.

@rolandhersom239 9 күн бұрын

I mounted the SQ13 inside a passenger car but the horizontal fisheye effect was VERY evident. It did work well however, mounted inside pointing aft with the rear door and end windows framing the video. The camera also picked up rather good track sounds as well with track joint sounds sounding very close to realism. 25:47

@johnparker7874 20 күн бұрын

A #11 Xacto blade makes a great Kadee knuckle spring inserter.

@caboosech 20 күн бұрын

Great job on the video

@earlfreeman93 19 күн бұрын

Now that you have shown that this side view camera can work maybe someone out will produce a low center of gravity camera circuit board that will fit into a passenger car at affordable price.

@johnparker7874 20 күн бұрын

It's a Bachmann coupler in an Athearn frame. Of course it gonna wobble

@fezzolare 20 күн бұрын

put a bushing between the trucks and bottom of car

@HHExpress 20 күн бұрын

Dave, good Idea to use it this way but for my 'N'scale track it would not work. Its way to high. I'm checking to see if I can Build a WIFI cam with the ESP32 board which is way smaller

@BriansModelTrains 19 күн бұрын

smart idea!

@Ianshandle999 20 күн бұрын

Great idea, try gondola plus blutack…..much easier….

@ScottRails 20 күн бұрын

Blue tack does not keep its shape.

@Ianshandle999 20 күн бұрын

@@ScottRails possibly, I did this a while ago with an old iPod…much lighter

@Ianshandle999 20 күн бұрын

And a big lump of blutack

@kevo05s 17 күн бұрын

I have an idea, for smoother video and even more "passenger car like feel" I'd swap the trucks for the Kadee #513 HO Scale A.S.F. 100-ton Roller Bearing Trucks with 36" Smooth Back Wheels - Metal Fully Sprung. Being sprung it would absorb some vibrations and impacts when it goes to through a frog

@rolandhersom239 9 күн бұрын

Good one Scott. I have a spare old phone. I have made good onboard videos with an SQ13 cube camera but to the side, the fisheye effect is very evident. The phone I have would have difficulty clearing two bridges and a tunnel but if I mounted the camera lower by cutting a slot in the bottom of the car as well, to lower it more, it may just work. In any case it would be able to cover most of my layout and the video would be able to be incorporated with my other onboard video footage. Certainly food for thought. Thanks for the idea.

@rolandhersom239 9 күн бұрын

Since my earlier comment, I looked at my rolling stock and decided that I had no boxcars I wanted to sacrifice. The phone is too large to pass under the decking of 2 of my bridges and the tunnel as this section of the layout was built 62 years ago when double stackers weren't even thought about and to rebuild it to accommodate the passage of a video camera would involve a rebuild of massive proportions and at age 85, I think I could derive more satisfaction from running what I already have. I can still get good videos by combining my SQ13 onboard footage with the car mounted mobile phone footage. Seeing that I don't want to modify an existing car, I have decided to use a piece of 16 gauge steel to make a well wagon to mount the camera on. I can make it long enough to accommodate the length of the camera and also lower it to as close to the track as possible. A couple of bogies I have on hand and a couple of couplers I have on hand will do the trick. I can fashion a simple device to hold the camera at any angle I want. It doesn't have to be pretty, (and it won't), just functional. Thanks for the prompting, Scott! You opened a new train of thought. Pardon the pun!

@ScottRails 9 күн бұрын

I thought about using my one and only well car, but it would need too much fabrication to support my phone.

@keithanddianevanhorn241 20 күн бұрын

like sitting on a passenger train.

@YourLocalRailfan 20 күн бұрын

i see that you have 2 CP sd80s or90s now?

@modelrailroader5619 20 күн бұрын

I’m just going to say it, I was so disappointed you didn’t clean the rust off the metal weight while you had it apart…😊 that tour was surprisingly enjoyable, more like being a passenger than an engineer.

@ScottRails 20 күн бұрын

Hey, it adds realism, lol.

@debbiebernhardt5406 4 күн бұрын

Hello, I just did a lookup for smartphones towed by model railway trains and it led me here. Seeing how this is possible, I wonder if this could be used in conjectioj with a small area to run ad/vr games from Niantic. Not for cheating, but passive build with the desirable speed to count steps, km and even rewards with groups of phones.

@debbiebernhardt5406 4 күн бұрын

@@ScottRailsoh also, I have taken courses related to ulvdc current in cars and the maximum voltage safe is 50 to 60 volts. Is it possible to create a higher volt motor for those kinds of tracks just to tow heavy phones around.

@ScottRails 4 күн бұрын

@@debbiebernhardt5406 I have locomotives that could pull several of these phone cars. It's more important to have good wheels with good bearings, and preferably a level track.

@debbiebernhardt5406 4 күн бұрын

@@ScottRails thanks. Level tracks are possible, but the heat will be a factor, the 100 degree Fahrenheit issue for batteries due to extreme outdoor weather during the day. That is why I wanted to overcome it with a higher voltage of 48 and at least 20 amp fuse. 48 volt motor and a coax setup to connect a direct line would equate to 100 mbs total of 50 up and 50 down. The usb c phones can handle direct connections compared to usb 2.0 due to better data rate I was planning on building my own smartphone transit that works in counting movement.

@aaronl_trains_and_planes 20 күн бұрын

Maybe it was just me, I got a little motion sickness watching it go around.

@ScottRails 20 күн бұрын

Just like the real thing then lol.

@aaronl_trains_and_planes 20 күн бұрын

@@ScottRails Yup. Plus I was watching from my 65” TV.

@70rrsteve51 20 күн бұрын

Bugsy at 19:34!

@mreverythingcollectible334 20 күн бұрын

Love it the view came out awesome if I can say something it would be to make it go a little slower it kind of started making me feel funny trying to keep up with the window view but it probably was just me but it looks awesome it’s not too far and not too close 👌

@ScottRails 20 күн бұрын

Yes, I will slow it down

@TrainWork 20 күн бұрын

👍😀OperateOnOperator

@caboosech 20 күн бұрын

Go buy a used GoPro cube I got one for 50 bucks a few years ago and it works pretty good

@ScottRails 20 күн бұрын

Is it WiFi?

@georgegaab1375 20 күн бұрын

Maybe simpler, mount a base in a gondola car or flatbed? Maybe it would get. the bases of the buildings

@ScottRails 20 күн бұрын

Not really simpler. I would need to construct supports and find a way of attaching everything. Also, flat bed would not be any lower. If I was to rotate the phone so the camera was at the bottom, it would need to be positioned at the edge, and then we have a balance problem.