Attaching a Bullet Camera to your Plane
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 246
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From: Hampshire
Attaching a Bullet Camera to your Plane
Does anybody have any info on how one normally goes about attaching a bullet camera to the exterior of one's plane?
I realise the LAA will have some info and I'll be approaching them, but any info or experience that others here can share would be useful. There are plenty of youtube videos that show that others have done it, but info on how is pretty thin on the ground. My type has a steel tube/fabric fin, tube/fabric fus, and a wooden wing. No struts, but there is fixed gear.
I realise the LAA will have some info and I'll be approaching them, but any info or experience that others here can share would be useful. There are plenty of youtube videos that show that others have done it, but info on how is pretty thin on the ground. My type has a steel tube/fabric fin, tube/fabric fus, and a wooden wing. No struts, but there is fixed gear.
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,681
Likes: 10
From: Just South of the last ice sheet
I have a suction cup mounting for my Dogcam which sticks to the upper part of the inside of the windscreen except when it is really cold then it falls off!
I was tempted to use the clips and suction cups supplied to attach it to the engine cowl but that isn't a sufficiently positive method of attachment to my mind. The manufacturers state that this method has been used at 100mph on a car but I don't want to be responsible for my camera landing on some poor person's nut!
I was tempted to use the clips and suction cups supplied to attach it to the engine cowl but that isn't a sufficiently positive method of attachment to my mind. The manufacturers state that this method has been used at 100mph on a car but I don't want to be responsible for my camera landing on some poor person's nut!
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 4,598
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From: Amsterdam
FF, I have no experience with it myself, but you can get "handlebar" mounts for the GoPro line of cameras, which are originally intended to mount the camera on bicycles. I think they come in two sizes (diameters) and one of those might just fit an exterior tube on your aircraft somewhere.
For more permanent uses, you can use the quick-release mounts that come as standard with the GoPro, and attach with the (included) very strong double-sided 3M tape. Leave the quick-release on the aircraft, and snap the mount with the camera into it when needed. There are also screw-on quick-release mounts available, AFAIK. I know a guy whose Europa is positively littered with GoPro quick-release mounts. (Okay, that's exaggeration, but he must have at least three on the exterior alone.) He uses the double-sided-tape ones and I don't think any of them has come loose in three years of flying with them.
We've also had great success with the suction cup mount on composite gliders (wingtip, elevator and turtle deck) and the (composite) wingtip of a DR400. Although with the DR400 we backed it up with some duct tape.
For more permanent uses, you can use the quick-release mounts that come as standard with the GoPro, and attach with the (included) very strong double-sided 3M tape. Leave the quick-release on the aircraft, and snap the mount with the camera into it when needed. There are also screw-on quick-release mounts available, AFAIK. I know a guy whose Europa is positively littered with GoPro quick-release mounts. (Okay, that's exaggeration, but he must have at least three on the exterior alone.) He uses the double-sided-tape ones and I don't think any of them has come loose in three years of flying with them.
We've also had great success with the suction cup mount on composite gliders (wingtip, elevator and turtle deck) and the (composite) wingtip of a DR400. Although with the DR400 we backed it up with some duct tape.
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 832
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From: East Anglia
Get some of these and put them round your tubes and around the bullet camera.
Available from ebay eg:
100 x SIZE 5 CABLE CLEATS / CLAMPS ELECTRICAL SWA ARMOURED 12.7mm **REDUCED** | eBay
They come in many sizes. You can probably get a few from your local electrical hardware supplier.
Available from ebay eg:
100 x SIZE 5 CABLE CLEATS / CLAMPS ELECTRICAL SWA ARMOURED 12.7mm **REDUCED** | eBay
They come in many sizes. You can probably get a few from your local electrical hardware supplier.
Last edited by Zulu Alpha; 20th November 2012 at 21:43.
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,876
Likes: 1
From: Here
I've heard of a guy...
...who bolted on 1" RAM balls at various locations on the aircraft - then can just attach (at any angle as desired)/remove any/all cameras in about 10 seconds, (and they're utterly secure). Cheap, easy, safe.
Clearly, everything should be removed before take-off.
Fly safe, Sam.
Clearly, everything should be removed before take-off.
Fly safe, Sam.
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 14
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From: LSGS
as long as it's a proper bullet shaped camera (eg. not a gopro), I can testify that plain and simple duct tape works just fine on DA40 landing gears and DR400 wingtips
never tried a suction mount myself, as I was afraid it could become loose
never tried a suction mount myself, as I was afraid it could become loose
