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 Posted - January 17 2012 : 2:53:38 PM
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anyone had one,bit old camera wise but is it any good ken
Edited by - catfordken on January 17 2012 2:54:43 PM
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Posted - January 17 2012 : 3:02:22 PM
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I have never had one, but always wanted to mess with one... and have hoped to find one cheap to upgrade it.
AFAIK it was decent tech for its day, but only B&W. I think in HO one unit was the camera and the other was a transmitter.
Eventually I built my own railcam using an old Life-Like GP38-2, and a wireless color cam kit I scored of [redacted] for $25. For a first rough attempt, I think mine turned out arguably better than those "hole in the nose" units...
/tyco/forum/uploaded/spiderj76/20120117150117_lenswindow.jpg
/tyco/forum/uploaded/spiderj76/20120117150200_underpass.jpg
http://goingincirclez.com/STC/TrainCam
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Posted - January 17 2012 : 3:24:47 PM
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I've had neither type, but the Hotwheels Video Car I bought does a pretty decent job for the price. I paid $25 on sale at Wal-mart the day after Christmas, but have seen none there since, Toys R Us has restocked them at $60. THey're color, and inside a 1/64th car, but I mounted mine on a flatbed HO car and pushed it with an engine, and it works fine. If you are willing to live with that, it's an excellent little cam AND it has sound,too! Not sure if Railscope, or even the modern rail cams, have sound.
AFA Railscope, I was watching some at auction over the last few weeks, not sure if operators or collectors were bidding, but I did see 2 or 3 up for auction, and all went close to, or over , $100 apiece. So I'd say the Hotwheels Car Cam might be a better choice for the price. I posted two videos on Youtube, also linked them here, if you search, pretty decent quality but needs good lighting to work well.
Jerry
" When life throws you bananas...it's easy to slip up"
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Posted - January 17 2012 : 3:56:40 PM
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Great....now I'm thinking of doing that to one of my units...
(Like I don't have enough projects....)
just me Ray... and just because I have Tyco doesn't mean I am not a model railroader
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Posted - January 17 2012 : 5:04:56 PM
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oooo I want one 
Tho I get one I'll change out cam to a more modern COLOR one hehe
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Posted - January 17 2012 : 5:24:56 PM
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| Ken, its drawback is that the signal has to go thru the rails to the receiver, dirty track affected its picture. The technology has surpassed it as pointed out, though it is a neat peice of vintage modeling. If I got one I'd just gut the camera and put a better wireless one in, you can get one on eBay for $40, then I'd enjoy the nostalgia with the upgrade...they are nice looking FAs in their own right.
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Posted - January 18 2012 : 2:20:48 PM
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quote:| Ken, its drawback is that the signal has to go thru the rails to the receiver, dirty track affected its picture. Originally posted by shaygetz - January 17 2012 : 5:24:56 PM
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Say what? Wow - I did not realize that and would not have guessed, but if I thought about it long enough, I guess "wireless" did not exist back then. How in the heck was this supposed to work - sending power to the train AND a clean video signal in the same conduit? I remember when turning on a vacuum in another room would cause a TV to scramble.
Actually, that "signal thru rail" concept sounds like a precursor to DCC... very interesting indeed...
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