In the summer of 2003, I bought an Aspire EP electric motor powered sailplane from my local hobby shop, HobbyTown USA in Longmont.  This is a complete, nearly RTF (ready to fly) sailplane, which includes everything you need to get started, including the radio transmitter and receiver, a battery pack, and the sailplane is nearly completely built.  I was in the air in about 30 minutes.  The Aspire features balsa and plywood construction, and is covered in Ultracote plastic film for the wings.  The wingspan is 2 meters (78 inches).  The supplied battery pack and motor offer adequate, but not stellar, performance, especially at this altitude (5100 ft).  I had flown R/C sailplanes 20 years ago, and was very proficient at it.  It didn't take me long to get back into the swing of things, and I had only a few very minor skirmishes with the ground.  I flew it hundreds of times during the summer of 2003, and then in the spring of 2004, started flying it again.  I had been using various digital cameras since 1998.  I noticed how small and light they had become, and how good the picture quality was.  I toyed with the idea of mounting a camera to the model airplane to take some aerial photographs.  Finally, in August of 2004, I decided to go ahead and try to make it a reality.  I started looking at small digital cameras, but the ones with decent resolution ( 2 Megapixel or greater) were still quite expensive, and I didn't like the idea of putting a $300 camera on a model airplane.  I had no idea how well it would fly. 

I found what I thought might be a good solution at Office Max for $80.00.  This Digitrex DSC-3000 3.2 megapixel camera is relatively small, weighs about 5 Oz., and best of all takes AA batteries (it EATS alkalines, so use NiMh rechargeables).  It has a SD (Secure Digital) memory card slot, and a USB interface.  The standard 8MB built in memory can only hold about 8 pictures at the default resolution of 2048x1536.  I bought a 128MB Secure Digital card for approx. $30 from Office Max, which will hold over 100 pictures.  I have also taken a 9 minute .AVI movie using this card. 

I wanted to be able to take pictures by command.  The problem was, the Aspire EP included only a 3 channel transmitter (rudder, elevator, and throttle).  I needed another channel to control a servo to snap the shutter on the camera.  The Aspire's receiver IS a 4 channel receiver.  By this time I had another R/C sailplane, this one with a 4 channel transmitter.  I swapped the crystal into the 4 channel transmitter, bought a micro servo, and tested the functionality of the combo.  Everything seemed to work fine.  I originally mounted the servo to operate the shutter button on top of the camera with silicone RTV (bathtub caulk).  This would allow me to remove the servo (and RTV) completely from the camera, if need be.  The resulting pictures turned out so well, I decided to go ahead and use 1 drop of CA (cyanoacrylate - super glue).  1 drop is sufficient, because they are two flat smooth surfaces (camera top and servo body).  This is exactly the type of application the CA glues were intended for.  I haven't had to pull it apart yet, but I don't imagine there would be too much damage to either the servo or the camera when I do.


I then set up the Hi-Tec HS-81 servo travel (actually just re-positioned the servo arm) so that at full travel, it operated the shutter button.  In the setup menu of the digital camera, I disabled the flash, and disabled the auto-power down feature (battery saver). I didn't want the camera shutting off  by itself in mid flight, with no way to turn it on again from the ground.  The camera's auto-power down feature automatically shuts it down if you don't take a picture in 3 minutes.  Fortunately, there was a menu option to disable it.

I mounted a piece of 1/8" aircraft plywood, with a hole drilled for the 1/4x20 tripod mount screw, on the bottom of the plane.  Another piece of plywood on the inside floor of the plane, and 3 wood screws secure it to the fuselage.  This allows me to easily remove the camera from the plane for charging the batteries, or connecting the USB cable to download the pictures from the camera.


First flight - August 04, 2004 - Nearly flew it into the ground after a vigorous hand launch.  It required a bit of up elevator trim, but otherwise seemed pretty stable.  The climb performance wasn't nearly as good, due to the added weight (6+ ounces).  First flight getting used to the handling of  heavier airplane, I didn't get much altitude. Here are pictures from the first few flights.  These pictures are scaled down to 640x480 pixels for the web.  The acutal pictures are 2048x1536 resolution, and are fairly good quality.  Not nearly as good as my Sony Cybershot pictures, but the camera only cost $80.


Xilinx building back parking lot in SW Longmont, CO.


SE corner of Clover Creek subdivision in Longmont, CO.
That's my house in the very corner, brightly illuminated fence angled in back yard.
White speck just outside of fence (next to small tree) is me. :)

Clover Creek Dr.  Note neighbors oblivious to quiet electric sailplane.


Adaptec building in foreground, Xilinx building in background.

(Plan to add additional photos as time allows)

Pictures of SW Longmont, CO. Aug. 29, 2004 - Digitrex DSC-3000 3MP CMOS imager camera.
Pictures of Boulder Rifle Club in N. Boulder, CO. Sep. 11, 2004 - Sony DSC-U50 2MP CCD camera.
Pictures of SW Longmont, CO. Sep. 12, 2004 - Sony DSC-U50 2MP CCD camera.
Pictures of SW Longmont, CO. Oct. 2, 2004 - Sony DSC-U50 2MP CCD Camera
Pictures of Roger's Grove Park, Longmont, CO. Oct. 21, 2004 - Pentax Optio S4i 4MP CCD Camera
Pictures of Roger's Grove Park, Longmont, CO. Oct. 31, 2004 - Pentax Optio S4i 4MP CCD Camera
38MB Movie, set to music by the Foo Fighters in Windows Media Player format - Digitrex DSC-3000 3MP CMOS imager camera.

This page and all photographs copyright ©2004 - Greg Douglas.