We’ve seen a radio controlled kite camera and tried to rebuild it in a simple kind with simple means.

Possibilities

First we tried to change the radio controlled triggering by small motors from Ueberraschungseiern. These weren’t strong enough. In the end we took a musical clock from a fabric animal.

Scheme of the kite camera

The two frame parts of the kite camera are made of aluminium. It’s low weight and easy to handle. Our largest problem was the triggering. We drew lots of plans and tried each idea. Finaly we took one of our first plans.

There’s an arm above the camera tensed by a spring. A pin keeps the arm in position. On the right side the pin is tied to the musical clock. The camera is fixed on the lower frame. A bolt in the triggering arm triggers the camera.

We’ve put he frame onto two small parts to find the gravity point where we drilled a hole. Here we connected the two frames with bolts and safety nuts. As they aren’t tight you can tilt the lower frame up to 90 degrees. So we can take pictures from straight on to vertical down. Last thing was to find the main point of gravity.