Show us your flying machines!
 

I was asked to post the spec of the hexacopter I'm currently using so figured I'd start a thread to show off your machines.

I'll post detailed photos of mine next week but in the mean time the spec I'm running is:


DJI 550 with Aerial Media Pros 650 heavy lift conversion
Aeroxcraft landing gear
Avroto 2814 motors
Opti 30A speedos
Graupner 11x5 e-props
Original NAZA with GPS
Turnigy 9x transmitter with ER9x firmware upgrade
4s 4500 lipo
Fatshark Attitude SD goggles
Sony 25, 3.6mm lens fpv camera
Immersion transmitter and spiro (mushroom) antennas
EzOSD transmitter, receiver and battery voltage regulator (on screen display)
YUN-1 brushless gimbal mounted on iris batwing plate
FPV model Alexmos gimbal controller
GoPro Hero 3 Black in metal skeleton cage, not clear plastic case

It's a beast!

Some of my currently operating fleet...

1.5 wltoys v911's and a rev1 spec v949

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...231_155601.jpg

Closest to furthest: another (maybe) v911, a v912 and a DH9053 co-ax

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...ps7d819992.jpg

Acro quad:
SK450 frame
3s 3000mah turnigy cells
Turnigy D2830/11 motors
Turnigy PI 25amp escs
Turnigy 9X (stock) with FrSky telemetry module and receiver
SF 1045 props
The utterly awesome KK2.0 control board running 1.6++ firmware
No GoPro, no gimbal, no weight (sub 1K, just, with 9K thrust = stupid fast)

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...psa5e10ecc.jpg

I'd love to see this thing fly - any video's Col?

Nope!

Assuming I remember correctly... Neal says it's a little bit faster than yours, but not a massive amount.

Fairy Snuff - i'll have to get myself to a York meeting and see it for myself :)
Also - have you seen the 'Afro' multi rotor ESC's from Hobbyking - ordered a set the other day :)

bugger... another order placed

My friends Cat passed away :(

So we recycled it into a Heli!

Great success :thumbsup::thumbsup:

http://www.jeremyriad.com/blog/art/3...orvillecopter/

Attachment 55583

Cheers James.

My week old kit:

DJI F550 flamewheel with standard motors and esc's
Graupner 9" e props
Naza m v2 with gps
Aeroxcraft landing gear
Aeroxcraft brushless gopro gimbal (due tomorrow)
Turnigy 9xr
GoPro Hero 3
lipo's 5000 4s and 4500 3s, trying to decide what is the best option.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB1hJfO3fEQ

Here's mine. No quads just helis.
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-M...709_075200.jpg

V911, great indoor fun and dead easy to fly.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_...709_075313.jpg

V922, Proper 6ch collective pitch flybarless heli. Small fun and doesn't always destroy itself when crashed. Will fly outdoors.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-V...709_075418.jpg

Trex 450 SEV2, Proper scary when flown in the dining room! Will kill itself when crashed.

My 450

Still need to play around with the camera mount - but it's getting there...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15062770/450.jpg

Looking good Andy.

Here is my TBS Discovery:

http://courgette.jml.net/~neal/RC/quad/TBSD_7272t.JPG
http://courgette.jml.net/~neal/RC/quad/TBSD_7273t.JPG
http://courgette.jml.net/~neal/RC/quad/TBSD_7274t.JPG
http://courgette.jml.net/~neal/RC/quad/TBSD_7276t.JPG

but you've seen it ;-)

What landing gear is that pal. Will it also fit a 330?

I reckon the landing gear is a must for me, as it gives it a little more crash area absorbtion ( if thats even a word lol )

Thanks

Col.

Beast!!

Nice gimbal, good choice :)

You fetching it Wed night?
How do you find the ezosd?

Yes I've succumbed to the dark side and decided its better than the Yun1 gimbal :lol:

EZOSD is really cool, I like it, plug and play, all the info you need nice and clear. I'm really happy with the rig at the minute, it's flying better than it ever has done, and that's even with 2 x 5000mah lipos that weigh a tonne!

Yes I'll bring it if I'm not working weds night :)

The first rule of RHR unofficial flying club is that you don't talk about RHR unofficial flying club ;)

some fantastic looking machines here. I'm wanting to get into Quads but have no prior experience at all. I'm looking for something which is ready to fly with minimal setup required to see if I'm going to be able to fly - before throwing silly money at it. I have a GoPro Hero 3 - and mainly want to record aerial video. I came across helipal and have been looking at the Storm Drone 4

http://www.helipal.com/product_info....oducts_id=8914

would this be a suitable "starter" quad ? or is there anything else out there RTF with very little setup ?

Cheers
Raymond

:thumbsup:

The DJI phantom is the perfect machine for you :)

Agree with James, cracking little machine.

RHR flying club does not exist, its a myth!;)

Plus one for the phantom , I got one as a gift , never flown anything before and this thing is brilliant ! The go pro fits well , just make sure you balance your props and you'll really cut down on the "Jello" effect when filming !!

Easy to fly , and has a brilliant return home feature if your nerve goes or you lose signal !!

Just one tip , I've put a notice on mine saying
"Cash reward if found" then my mobile number ! Don't fancy losing best part of a grands worth of kit if I lose the thing with the camera on !!

Thanks for the info guys. I had previously looked at the phantom but wasn't keen on its looks, but will give it some more thought.

I'm still doing research on this topic and have been looking at a Hex. Not sure whether to play safe, spend a bit extra and go for a DJI 550 based around a Naza GPS with a DEVO 7 (Walkera) radio or a 550 Clone based on an APM 2.5/9 with a Turnigy 9x radio ??

My budget is no more than £550 RTF and I notice that Helipal are now offering a storm drone 6 GPS within my budget completely setup/balanced and RTF out the box.

Not sure if an APM system would be too difficult to start with ? I've heard that there are more features like Autopilot but would require alot more undertanding and tinkering to get the best out of it.

Looked again closely at the DJI Phantom, but I'm just not convinced, I think I would rather have something that is more upgradable.

the helipal storm drone 6 GPS at the moment is what I'm considering

http://www.helipal.com/storm-drone-6...-platform.html

does anyone know of any UK based people/companies who build and setup these machines to order ?

Thanks
Raymond

Hi mate.

Can you already fly a quad?
Can you build it yourself?

If you can - do both, then buying parts will be much cheaper. The Uk shops I have looked at charge lots for ready to fly 450 / 550's etc.

I'd skip the Phantom if you like to tinker and plan to add more to the quad.

Storm Drone Hex looks nice - i'd skip the Storm Drone Quad though - it's an upside down 450!

There are too many choices - what I have learnt is this stuff is like the Buggies - buy cheap, but twice, or three times and in the end you end up buying what you should have bought to begin with!

If you go down the Hobbyking KK2 route, it's much, much cheaper and you won't feel bad about crashing it or loosing it!

I started with a 330, then I got a 450 to use with a Go Pro. Tried a few cheap Gimbals and realised you need to buy a decent brushless gimbal to get decent footage as well as a well balanced machine. I've quickly realised the 450 isn't going to cut it for video as I want really stable footage - so i'm building a 550 and going to add a Tarot Gimbal. If that doesn't work i'll sack it all off and just fly my 330 for fun as it's a blast :)

Good luck deciding.

I just couldn't resist the urge!

Following this flight part of oOple has lead to a drained bank account and several neglected cars left wanting parts. Hobbyking got raided and I now have my own 450 quad :)

I've done hardly any flying up to now but i really fancy a go at some aerial filming and hopefully some FPV. Anyway this is my creation, finished the build and setup today but now waiting for some calmer wind conditions to go and give it a fly. Looking forward to it!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...psf137776a.jpg

:thumbsup:

Nice one Adam :)

It's addictive.
Make sure you have auto level on for your first flights - much easier to fly.

Let us know how you get on.

thanks Andy for the info.

I have no flown a quad or hex before, as for the build, it does look fairly straight forward and I'm good with a soldering iron, however the part that concerns me isn't the actual build but the setup of the radio and flight controller, I think at this point I'd be lost.

Still looking at a RTF setup, hopefully based around a 550. I haven't looked into the KK from Hobbywing, so I'll do that tonight and see how this stacks up against the naza and APM options.

Thanks
Raymond

I didn't realise you were building one of these Adam! - No wonder you have no money for going buggy racing Lol!

Perhaps you ought to wait for Rich to get back to give it it's 1st test flight - I hear he's pretty handy with flying things?

Personally, although I find these things very impressive (& I like the idea of the FPV side of things) I prefer my planes to have wings ;)

Don't worry - its a lot easier than you'd think. If you build it / set it up following guides on-line and get the motors spinning in the right directions it's hard to do much wrong.

The KK2 is a breeze to set up as it has the on screen lcd so you can see what's what re the radio inputs working correctly. You can do all this with everything connected (the props off for safety) and when you are confident it's all ok - put the props on and fly it :)

I can't speak for other flight controllers as I don't have experience of them - but I guess they are all similar. KK2's lcd screen means you don't have to keep connecting it to a PC though.

I had a few issues with my crazy all in one esc - but once i'd re wired it - the Quad flew perfectly straight away.

This is the reason my TC5 is still waiting for some new out-drives Dan! lol

Took it for a brief fly tonight, still too windy to be honest but I just HAD to have a go. Took it very easy and was more nervous than i've been in a very long time time but it went ok. Just flew gently back and forth trying to get a feel for the controls, again very tricky with the wind but did ok. Judging orientation was a bit tricky at certain angles so im certainly considering some LED's and maybe even a bright foam ball to help spot which way its going. It ended when a gust got hold of it and took it over the next field, spent a few seconds trying judge which way it was facing but decided it was better to bring it down where it was. Fortunately it was over a corn field which helped it survive the landing which albeit a level landing was a bit too quick. As it hadn't gone too far away I was able to walk to the general landing site and the use the ARM/DISARM beep to locate it. Not ideal so i think the next move is to perhaps mount a voltage alarm to a spare channel so I can trigger it if I need help locating again, this is where the Naza's GPS return to home would be invaluable!

Great fun tho :D

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...arehouse_.html

The Blade 350 QX is out in a few weeks and comes complete with a gopro mount.

Also SAFE mode (return home, position and height holding and a number of other flying aids to stop you crashing!)

Cheaper version of the Phantom (£270 BNF, £319 RTF)

Looks good!

Just fitted my Phantom with a distressed carbon fibre effect skin ! Think it looks quite cool !

Build No 3 in progress.

Part 1 - the landing gear - done :)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...70/landing.jpg

Looking cool Andy !

Is this your third different machine , or third rebuild with existing components ??

Went flying again this morning , very windy , again !!
Phantom was okay and the footage was satisfactory !

The more I look at these threads the more I realise how much I'd like to upgrade from my phantom !!
I'm glad it didn't cost me anything in the first instance , it's amazing how quickly you outgrow things !!

In the meantime Andy , I see you've experimented with gimbals , was wondering if you fancy selling any that would fit my phantom as my GoPro is hard mounted at present with a small piece of Sorbathane sandwiched between the mount and the quad , works well , no jello but I want to upgrade !

Agghhhhhh more money ! These things are more addictive than cars !

Hi Graham.

Re Gimbals - I currently am using the HobbyKing one that uses servos. It works really well at keeping the horizon and the camera level, what i've struggled with is very slight vibrations. Not really Jello, i've got rid of that problem by 'hard-ish' mounting the camera / gimbal and using some rubber stand off vibration mounts.

With the slight vibrations, my worry is that even with a brushless gimbal setup, I may still not get a non rock solid image. I'm currently running Sunnysky motors and RC Timer Carbon Props which are balanced on a proper balancer - which helps massively :)

The video is great after I run it though After Effects warp stabilizer and i'm almost happy with it. That said I don't want to but a £300 GoPro Black and a £100 ish brushless gimbal and it not be lots, lots better !!

So - I'm building a 550 frame, with 6 x Sunnysky motors and carbon props. I've gone for the Aeroxcraft landing gear as it looks like the best one out there for mounting a gimbal. Probably going to go Naza Lite with it too, then put on my current servo gimbal and see if it's more stable / better than on my KK2 450. If it's good i'll stick - if not it's then Tarot Brushless Gimbal ismy last hope. If that fails, i'm sacking it off and flying for fun without a camera !

And yes - this is my 3rd build, started with a 330, then a 450, now building a 550. I contemplated a bigger Quad, but everything I have read says the 550 is more suited to video as it's more stable. Hopefully that will be the case :)

Thanks for the info Andy , I might just keep with what I've got & look to upgrade the gimbal arrangement if I decide to upgrade my quad too !

Saw a friend of mine in tescos last night who works for a filming company here in Suffolk , he's a pro 3D heli flyer & now flies a octocopter for Doozee!


Check this out !

http://vimeo.com/m/71245794

He's the one sat on the back of the convertible car !

Oops.

Spot the mistakes made today...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/15062770/oops.jpg

Found that the 450 with 10inch props can't fly / skim the ground like the 330 can! Scared me to death as I took the ends off 2 props - obviously as it was so close to the ground, no other damage.

330 - just got a bit all over the place as i'm trying to fly more aggressively. It took a beating before finally a barrel roll killed an arm.

Also - flew for a while on 1.6++ which is hairy at full tilt, sideways sweeping across the ground with the quad at around 60 or 70 degrees sideways.

Flying these things on a Naza, or even a KK2 with 'soft' settings and self level on is quite easy. Flying 'properly' is a whole different beast. I think that after today, it's going to take some time to master this....

You're probably aware of it, but you know if you turn mixing off on 1.6++ it's exactly the same as std self level?
It seems really boring after having mixing on, though!

Yeah Col.

Had a good play with the mixing - but on the 330 not the 450.

I needed to go down to 20 on stick scaling as it was nuts!

I know what you mean about it being boring flying normally - its a different ball game this acro mode. At least with 1.6++ it levels when your centre the sticks - I've no idea how I'd fly it if this didn't happen - I'm a long way off full acro flying !

The recommended way is to leave stick scaling as is, and add expo on the tx. Haven't flown enough to comment on which is best - my 450 is in a box in the garage in exactly the same state as the last photo!