Hi all,

I wanted to contribute my approach to mounting up the GoPro HD Hero camera on my Parkzone Radian. I thought about many different ways, then something simple just made sense and only took about 10 minutes.

- marked the CG on the fuse (above the wing opening)
- carved a flat spot the exact size of the flat surface base plate (part with sticky tape)
- block sanded it to ensure flat, and good adhesion surface
- glued a carbon fiber spar flush with the carved spot between fuse halves to reinforce
- mounted sticky, camera, and wrapped a big rubber band around camera & fuse (just in case safety net)
- went flying (in a blizzard)

It flies great, no problems. Since I stuck with the original CG, no fuss and also I can get a good view in any direction with the mounting hardware.

Here are the videos from the blizzard (same thing, one YouTube one Vimeo):

Radian 2/9/2010 S(NOOOO)W Flight Blizzard #2 (RC Aerial Video + Snow) - GoPro HD Hero Cam (5 min 39 sec)

Radian 2/9/2010 S(NOOOO)W Flight - Blizzard #2 (RC Aerial Video + Snow) - GoPro HD Hero Cam (5 min 38 sec)

Nice job on the mount.

I don't imagine you'd be getting much thermal action these days, eh?

Only issue I have is I want to be able to remove the plane parts from view altogether. I attached to the wing with Velcro, and without the case, for great video and stills. Extreme Velcro works great and holds it tight. Was thinking about just using the flat plate that had the clip on it from the shipping box and using tape or Velcro and mounting on the wing at an angle away from the nose. Almost no way to cut the wing tip and the front out of stills though, but in the video it's all clean.

Your still shots of the snow country are really great.

Very good video! Wow! Look at all the snow! The same storm that got us, after it passed us, intensified and you really got it.

Great pics and video, looks to be a smooth flying plane.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Throttle Cuervo - I can confirm... I was unable to find any thermals!

AeroRecon - Good point. I bought the GoPro Motor Sports package (to mount on my Z06 when weather gets better). It has an extender I might try, that will raise it up higher by about 2-3 inches. For my first few runs, I kind of like having the black plastic canopy (the reflections and perspective I like initially). I'm also angling the camera down about 10 - 15 degrees so that most of the time I am capturing ground. I've been thinking about other mounting methods.

quailbird - You're not kidding! Federal and Local Government has been closed all week. We're still waiting to hear about tomorrow, but I think we might actually get a break form all this shoveling and have to go back in.

cannondale1974 - Thanks! I have some video from after the first storm, I need to trim it and post it... it was pretty smooth on some parts of that flight and I shot that one in 1080p mode (and a second flight taking pics). And I forgot another flight I took too (third one I think) - right after sunset and with all the street lights on shining on the snow it looks really cool.

Getting this camera and putting it on the planes has added a whole new dimension to the RC flying for me :-).

Nice looking video and mounting job. I just purchased a Radian and I have a gopro helmet hero hd that I use for mountain biking. I haven't tried mounting the gopro to the radian yet but I would really like to find a way to do it so that there is no plane in the picture. Any ideas from anyone? Has anyone else done this? Could it be mounted beneath the fusalage somehow?

Originally Posted by bennerz19

Nice looking video and mounting job. I just purchased a Radian and I have a gopro helmet hero hd that I use for mountain biking. I haven't tried mounting the gopro to the radian yet but I would really like to find a way to do it so that there is no plane in the picture. Any ideas from anyone? Has anyone else done this? Could it be mounted beneath the fusalage somehow?

Without the case, just add extreme velcro to the front part of either wing, and a chunk on the bottom of the Hero. Then just angle L/R and U/D to get the view you want. I can get video without any part of the plane in the video. Stills? That's another story. On a wing mount, I still get the tip of the wing and the front of the nose in the pic. But, at 5mp, I can crop just a little and get those parts out of the pic and they still look VERY sharp and clear.

Was also thinking of velcro on the back of the Hero and under the wing near the root and mounting there for straight down shots. May just get all the plane out of the shot that way. Maybe add a strip of foam under the belly to raise it off the ground for landings...or just catch it, as I normally do anyway. But nice to have the insurance to protect the protruding lens.

Or, maybe rearrange the cockpit area completely and cut a hole in the floor area and have it point down. Hmmmm.....interesting.

Sweet video... Was that shot at 1080p or 720p? And when the camera is recording the video, can it still take still pictures at 2/5/10/30/60 second intervals?

Very nice video, love the sound of that motor / prop combo, what is it?.
The more video I see from these HD Hero's the more I want one.

Originally Posted by Dave Barrow

Very nice video, love the sound of that motor / prop combo, what is it?

Sorry for the delayed response. Stock motor, Castle Creations Phoenix ESC, Graupner 10x8 CAM Folding part 1329.25.20.

Originally Posted by Smalldog

Sweet video... Was that shot at 1080p or 720p? And when the camera is recording the video, can it still take still pictures at 2/5/10/30/60 second intervals?

The 2/9 video in this thread was 720p 60 fps. It takes stills too (but not video and stills at the same time).

I updated this setup to do FPV :-). Thought I would share.

Originally Posted by jknust

I updated this setup to do FPV :-). Thought I would share.

With a cool rig like that you better bring back some great footage over the Grand Canyon!!! I know the other reason you are going out west and I know that it is just an excuse to fly the canyon. You can't fool us.

Originally Posted by jknust

The 2/9 video in this thread was 720p 60 fps. It takes stills too (but not video and stills at the same time).

Almost no need to do both at the same time. The stills I am getting captured from the full HD video are the best I have seen from any of my mini HD cameras.

jknust: thanks for the quick answer on Vimeo for the link to this topic!