Now my next model update ....

[Spitfire]

One thing that has kept me away from my Spitfire model ... and moving it around the workshop so much over the last 2 years - is quadrotors

I got bitten by the quadrotor bug and have been embracing a whole new area of my hobby and - like Topsy - it just grew and grew.....

I discovered a new computerised control board called the KK2 - small - cheap and very effective - you connect 4 separate motors through 4 separate speed controllers through it - connect it to a receiver and it has roll, pitch and yaw gyros built in that will keep it pretty much level ... so here was the first one ... all designed and fettled by me - plywood centre plates - aluminium tubing arms ....



This is the KK2



So then I get it bad and realise that there's more out there ... fettling went up to the next level and I discovered Naza with GPS .... this is a controller that does all the same stuff as the KK2 but now it knows where it is in space and to cut a long story short you can take it 400 yds away then flick one switch - put the transmitter down on the floor and the quad will come back to you - land at your feet and turn itself off ... I kid you not
Admittedly it costs a bit more than a KK2 - but who's counting when you are learning and having fun.
So I went through a couple of incarnations of that then discovered the GoPro camera ... quads can easily carry a GoPro and you can film what it sees ... then you have to fettle anti vibration GoPro mounts .... THEN you discover FPV (First Person View) ... you mount a small video camera on the quad - get a wireless radio transmitter and receiver - mount the transmitter on the quad and you can now get live pictures from the quad with a screen on the ground .... so here's the latest quad with NAZA & GPS - a GoPro - and FPV camera - carbon fibre props ....



And you can't stop at one ... so now you have to explore a Hexrotor .... 6 motors - more stability - more lifting power ... Naza & GPS (yes another one )... carbon fibre tube and ply ....no cameras on this one though ....



Finally the best till last ... how do you see the screen on the ground when flying FPV ... well people prepared to spend hundreds use special glasses with TV lenses in them .... not me .... I get a welding mask shell for £13 - add a ply tunnel on the front - mount a small video screen in the tunnel - add the receiver - skew planar antenna and a battery and you get this ...... ta da



It looks mighty funny - but it works a treat .... here's a picture of me taking a picture of the screen inside the helmet ....



Anyway that's enough excitement for one day .... believe me that's the shortened version ... there's loads more incarnations of Quads and Hexs before i got to those latest 2 developing and fettling at its very best ...

I leave you with what a good quadrotor with FPV can do ... Team Blacksheep's Teatime in London ... all filmed live from a quadrotor ...

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

[Mayfly]

IAs very own Darth Vader

Your talents never fail to amaze me. With regards to building your own mask I get great satisfaction improvising and making my own things.

[Nickolas]

Dear Lord, this is just what I'm looking for. Can you put up on here or pm me with some info as to where to buy all the bits so that i can end up with a working quadrocopter thingy whatsit.
I'm looking for a project for 'my' (loosest use of the word) Air Cadet Sqn and this is it. Model making combined with some electronics and flying.
Do you know if they do an interface that allows toy to control the machine from an iPad/phone etc?

thanks in great anticipation.

[Spitfire]

PM sent

[Nickolas]

Thanks for the PM. been very busy with poorly Boss.
She has an old back injury from nursing (lifting a 'large' patient apparently.
Anyway she missed the church service to commemorate 30 years of our ATC sqn.
Monday she was not well so stayed at home. Tuesday could not get out of bed due to pain. TDC call an ambulance and despite getting gas and air she could not move for the pain. The paramedics then administered morphine and once she was spaced out enough to be able to move they carted her off to hospital. Came home last night though, on very strong painkillers. Going to be a long haul this time i think.
Got Sqn anniversary dinner this saturday wifey looking very doubtful.
Will respond to PM as soon as I can.

[RLN]

Hope she gets better soon, Nickolas.

[Spitfire]

I sympathise ... lying on the bed with an ice pack on my back as I type this

I've had 3 slipped discs over the years and MRI shows my lower back is pretty much bu**ered

So I lurch from one bad back to another on co-dydramol and chiropracters

Ice pack - hour later hot pack - then ice again ... does me good ... got any frozen peas

As I said ... my sympathy is with her ....

[Nickolas]

Awww thanks guys. Comments much appreciated.

Now that quadrocopter. what do you reckon it cost to put together?
I'm guessing that there can't be more than £50 quids worth of tube, and odds and sods from the model shop to make the structure.
Motors, connectors, radio and the gyros plus a few clever bits..... that's where the money really is.

[Spitfire]

Ok - well I can but do you a basic run down of what I think it cost.

The construction ...

3mm lite ply - I would have that as stock in my workshop - say £6 a 2ft sq sheet and I probably used a quids worth on making a shaped top and bottom plate - then a top shelf for radio gear.

Aluminium 1cm sq tube from B&Q - say £6 a metre and I used all of that.

Steel nuts and bolts to screw it together - again workshop stock - £3

Nylon stand off pillars to raise the shelf - workshop stock - £2

4 way power distribution board so the escs all solder to one board and then there's one battery connection off that - £3

4 x 20amp brushless speed controller - say £30

4 x 1000 kv Brushless motors - say £45

1 x 2.4ghz 6 ch receiver - £5

1 x Spektrum 2.4ghz DX7 Transmitter £100

1 x KK2 control board - £20

1 x 3s 2200mah lipo battery - £25 (and you really need more than 1 ....1 charging - 1 cooling - 1 in use = 3)

Then there's ancillarys .....silicone wire - heatshrink - bullet connectors - cables to join receiver to control board
another £10

Props x 4 (2CW & 2CCW) + a spare set (or 2)

Prop adapters - to fit the props to the motors

Possibly motor mounts if you don't screw them straight to the tube

Plus things like a charger for the Lipo batteries

That's about £250 - £260 all up (very approximately ish )

Now I am willing to let you have some stuff for free as it's a good cause ...

I could let you have - a KK2 control board and 4 motors with mounts and prop adapters and possibly 4 props = some nylon stand offs and some nuts and bolts and any other small bits I can spare.

But maybe a kit would be better - only £10 here http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem.asp?idproduct=37227 for a frame better than mine - motor mounts built in - legs added - hardware kit included ....

So with my motors and KK2 board and that kit you are halfway there Speed controllers - radio Receiver & Transmitter - batteries and some fettling. Lots of soldering to do - fitting plugs - heatshrinking them etc

I would get most things from HobbyKing - they have a UK warehouse and it's dirt cheap as it's all from China
Have a noodle around that site - just make sure on the left above the blue menu it says United Kingdom Warehouse. Prices all in dollars but they convert to GBP at purchase.

There's other options too - smaller kits - some almost ready to fly (ARTF) ... depending on what you want.

The really big thing is if you've not used model radio before - that's the pricey bit - and I can only go by what I use - but there is cheaper stuff out there ... look around HobbyKing

AND ...If you want to save ALL the hassle and have immediate fun ...then get one of these...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Hubsan-H107L-Improved-Version/dp/B00D8CRR12/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389917962&sr=8-1&keywords=hubsan+quadcopter

£40 all up - radio - flight controllers - motors - everything

The big quad is NOT for indoors really - the little Hubsan very much is

Lots to think about .....

[Nickolas]

David, Thanks again for the offer of the free bits. It is VERY much appreciated.
I will have to run the project pass the Sqn Boss and the CWC (I'm the Chairman but I will still have to convince the others it's not a toy!!!!!)

CWC meeting on first Thursday of the month so it will be early Feb before I got the papal smoke....

Standby.....

[Spitfire]

Standing by ....

Wait one