Does anyone fly Quadcopters/Tricopters

[JAB1a]

Hi all,

Just wanted to share some of my video's of my latest hobby. I have started as a novice to RC quadcopters and also filming/editing and have done it all on a tight budget thanks to the wealth of knowledge on the internet.

 

Here are a few of the first video's I have made: these are avalible in 720p but not via these embeded windows

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was wondering if anyone on here does anything similar?

 

Please if you like the vids give me a thumbs up or subcribe

[pshuttle]

Some ace videos and great locations too. Good effort.

 

I went through a stage a few years back of learning to fly some RC Helis and I still fly them now, albeit fairly rarely. I do regularly still fly my model planes though.

 

I am not a member of a club or anything, I just fly them for the pleasure of it really.

 

Pete

[pshuttle]

Flying my foamie Christen Eagle:

 

 

Learning to fly a Belt CP and nearly beheading myself at the same time:

 

 

And a build drive video of one of my nitro cars:

 

[JAB1a]

Cheers Pete,

Great flying of the Belt CP, my house mate had one and when that puppy winds up it sounds intimidating. I tried Heles for awhile but just didn't find then as fun/easy or smooth as a quad.

Wicked flight of your foamie, have you ever got an onboard vids of your flights with that because that would look excellent (some people might get motion sickness from it tho).

Ive had a HPI Savage X 4.1 for about 6 years now and its so much fun and its taken such a beating but still keeps on bashing

[Gibbo]

Some great videos there. How much is the kit and does it come with the camera out of the box?

[JJonas]

Interested in this as well, my father just retired and got a Belt CPX as a retirement present.

 

Have you tried the Clearview RC Sim? http://rcflightsim.com/

 

If so how does it compare to the real thing?

Edited September 5, 2012 by JJonas

[pcstru]

Good stuff @JAB1a. I've bought motors, props, ESC's and a KK Multicopter control board. I need to CNC a frame when I get some time (or probably when my new workshop is complete).

 

Do you have any recommendations on the FPV kit?

Edited September 5, 2012 by pcstru

[JAB1a]

Good man pcstru, these things are so much fun, I started with the KK5.5 board but then moved to the Rabbit flight Controller by Love Flight (developers might have recently stoppped development of this board now), the RFC made the learning curve alot shollower and gives me the option to create a full UAV (flight paths/waypoints - auto takeoff/land - RTH) for about another £30. I built the quad on a very tight budget.

Im not doing full FPV yet as Im still saving for the googles but I suggest 2.4Ghz radio gear and use a 5.8Ghz video system with a cloverleaf style antenna on the TX, also make sure your googles are at least VGA, any smaller resolution and its just not as......."Wow I'm flying though the clouds"

 

Cameras are a minefield, alot of people use the GoPro's 1/2 but as I said I am on a budget so I opted for the Crocolis HD Cam (also called Extreme HD Cam) which is about £100 cheaper and it can be used for recording and full FPV at the same time.

 

My quad as a whole can not be brought in a kit but all the parts are on the internet or at home as you can tell by my tupperware pot, alot came from china direct.

@JJonas, no I have not tried a flight sim but its a good idea/cheaper if starting from scratch with flying.

 

New video, bit shakey but now 1080p

 

[Gibbo]

So can you recommend a good model and a supplier for a noob?

[JJonas]

So can you recommend a good model and a supplier for a noob?

 

found these two websites...

 

DJI Wookong WKM and DJI Naza F450 Kits | Quadcopter Kits | Droidworx and Photohigher | Quadcopters Uk

 

QuadCopter UK - Aerial Photography

[JAB1a]

Hi Gibbo,

My resources are...

Ebay - Everything

Pyramid models - Uk suppier of parts

Chinavasion - cool cheap gadjects etc but you have to pay import tax

RCGoups.com - Best resource for your multicopter troubles I have found

goodluckbuy.com - not to purchase anything but just to find parts

FPVCentral.com - alot of guys in the know here

google - Its your friend

 

the frame I started with is a X525 which is nice and cheap but built to last.

[JAB1a]

P.s as with anything, if you buy a kit copter it will probably cost you more than just doing your own research and buying the bits seperatly. Mine has cost about £280~ in the air

[pete]

There's also (as a source of info) http://diydrones.com

[plexer]

@SimpleSi 'Narwhal' Quadrotor Build - DIY Drones

 

Ben

[mossj88]

@JAB1a What sort of fly time do you get with these things, and what about range? I was looking into these as part of a "Bait Bike" project I'm doing...

[JAB1a]

@mossj88 the time varies from weight and flying style. I can get anything from 6-12minutes use, but I would say my normal time for my flying style is about 8minutes. You can hook up bigger batts or even link them for 2X capacity but then you are also adding weight.

@pete Great find on that site, I had not seen it before, @plexer straight away with the wow factor.....Raspberry Pi running Linux or Andriod Quadrotor.....Sweet!

[Gibbo]

What do you think to the Parrot AR.Drone 2?

[glen_j]

i used to fly rc helicopters and now fly mainly planes, quite liked the look of the ar drone but the range is quite limited for what i can gather.

heres a video of me flying and an amature competition a couple of years ago.

[JAB1a]

The AR Drone 2.0 is great, looks amazing, great tech applied and I am glad people have ported the software to Android because I wouldn't touch an ipad/iphone, not even with 'yours' lol. With regard to range you can do a simple mod to add your own 2.4G radio gear but then you loose the FPV side of the flight. I think the AR can lift a gopro hero 2 so it will fulfill many peoples needs but I looked into it for myself and the mods I would need to do to it after the purchase price of about £270~ makes it not viable at all. Scratch build is great aswell because parts are generic so a little bit cheaper.

 

All said I would love to have a play on one.

 

WLtoys v929 is AMAZING! its £40 for everything needed to get in the air (indoor or out) and it has great performance/3d Acro, you could do FPV via a small 720p@30fps wing/fly cam or even a micro 5.8Ghz TX and micro 420 cam, check them out on youtube.

 

@Glenj Great video, that hele is doing some amazing stunts, are you the pilot? Ive seen some smart guys have been using the tail booms from hele's to make varible pitch rotors for quadcopters and powering them with nitro IC, they are then able to do continued inverted flight like your hele.

[glen_j]

yeah thats me flying it is possible to use tailbooms for quads but they're easily bent being thin walled aluminium. i had a go at quadcopters too, built one using carbon fibre plate and 10mm square aluminium box from b&q used the kk controller and it flew pretty well, i lost orientation too easily on it so i gave up. i've still got the kk board and programmer for it somewhere.

[Gibbo]

The AR Drone 2.0 is great, looks amazing, great tech applied and I am glad people have ported the software to Android because I wouldn't touch an ipad/iphone, not even with 'yours' lol. With regard to range you can do a simple mod to add your own 2.4G radio gear but then you loose the FPV side of the flight. I think the AR can lift a gopro hero 2 so it will fulfill many peoples needs but I looked into it for myself and the mods I would need to do to it after the purchase price of about £270~ makes it not viable at all. Scratch build is great aswell because parts are generic so a little bit cheaper.

 

The video which sold it for me was this one:

 

[SimpleSi]

I'm looking to maybe try out a after school club DIY quadcopter with a RaspberryPi onboard and programmed in Scratch! but think I should start off by making a 2 wheeled - ground crawling robot first

 

Si

[JAB1a]

@SimpleSi thats a brilliant idea, wish I had a quadcopter club when I was in school I guess you would have to make a frame with enclosed props (health&saftey), there are frames out there like that but you lose about ~10% thrust through the mesh, or just keep off the props until fly time. The mind boggles with possibilities.

 

@Gibbo I see he is using 2.4g radio gear aswell, its a great quad and great video.

 

New video: FPV Quadcopter Plymouth

[JAB1a]

Here are 3 more video's I have made, the most fun to make was definutly the Brentor Church video, it was the strongest wind I have flown in yet...

 

Tavistock Meadows:

 

 

Brentor Church:

 

Davidstow Airfield:

 

 

I have got alot of footage of Launceston Castle which I will be making into a video soon....

 

Quadcopter bits and kits are springing up left right and centre at the moment, there are some great RTF Quadcopters now (not just AR Drones lol)

Edited October 10, 2012 by JAB1a
added embedded vids

[plexer]

Just bought one of these to be the brain of my build:

 

Arduino Mega 2560 R3 Latest 2012 Version - Made in Italy - Official USB Board | eBay

 

Ben