My camera is a Panasonic DMC-FX01. It's a year or so old. I think it's been discontinued by Panasonic.
The previous mount was a piece of right angle steel - "L" shaped, in other words. The camera was screwed to the "L" via its tripod mount. The other leg of the "L" was just screwed to the rear of the chassis - right behind my throttle servo. This truck is mid-tanked, by the way. I am also using the FLM extended chassis, so there is room between the engine & rear shock tower for my camera. Anyhow, I tried to insulate the camera from vibrations by just sticking a piece of servo tape between the camera & the steel "L" bracket. The view forward was pretty cool - looking over the throttle servo, you could watch the servo operate, you could see the spur gear spinning, you could see the front left tire spin and steer & you could see the shock operating. However, mounted this way the camera couldn't tolerate vibrations at all. I think the mount was too solid, to tell the truth. Also, the camera was exposed to whatever junk the front left tire kicked up, since the camera was not in any kind of a box.
The new mount is obviously in front of the front shock tower & above the front bumper. I made a box from ABS plastic to put the camera in. It is basically the front bumper now, lol. The camera is not mounted solidly into the box. It rests inside the box on some foam & a small piece of velcro - the "loop" side. The box is mounted to the truck via the front body posts & the front bumper - no screws or bolts. One last thing I need to do is put a piece of clear plexiglass over the box's white "lens tube". This will protect the camera's lens.
I have figured out a way to get the camera further back on the chassis. The view forward over the truck is just really cool. I made a few new vids from the rear looking forward. I'll post 'em asap.
By the way, I replaced the smoked HPI glow plug with a new 59. The engine runs MUCH better now. I think that plug had just about had it - it had one gallon on it. Now I just need to play around with the transmissions' shift points ... and my Nova Clutch engagement ... and decide on the best clutch bell size :stressed:
Then it'll be time to give my STS .30 a try :rock:
Here's the pics ...
MY CAMERA
I realize that this next image is a photo of a Leica camera, but the two cameras are identical.
The Box
