Landing lights in wings

The Turnigy High Density LED strips are perfectly suited for landing lights. You get one meter in the box and you can cut them every three lights.

I use 6 LEDs in each wing. They run on 12v which is great since I'm using a 3S LiPo in the plane.

I glued the foam back that I cut away to fit the lights. Now afterwards I don't think it looks that good. I'll come up with another plan in the future.

Soldering the 6 wires (2 nav light, 2 white strobe, 2 landing LED) to the MPX plug for easy attachment of the wings.

Shrink tubed and done.

Navigation lights in wings



I bought the Turnigy LED navigation lights. They have the correct number of LEDs and colors: one green (nav, right wing), one red (nav, left wing), two white strobes (wings, facing backwards), two flashing red (top of vertical fin, bottom of fuselage in front). The lights are controlled by a little PCB which is really light.

They connect to any free channel and are always on. In the kit is also two white landing lights, but since I'm going to use LED strips for that which are much more bright, I didn't use them.



I used hot glue to secure the LEDs. Unfortunately i had to redo this since the light wasn't that visible from the front. Now both lights are on the wing tip.

I'm using my metal ruler when i do the trenches for the cables. After cutting the trench with the knife, I use tweezers to peel the foam away.

There you go, fitted and ready.

Converting EZG wings

There are many different ways of modding the EZG wings (Multiplex #224159) but I used my cheap hobby knife. First I made marks on the wings where I'd cut and then just "shaved" the excess material off. Now the fit perfectly. After that I glued a 10 mm carbon fibre rod in the wing for stability.

Gyros for that extra stability

Me and Simon ordered 2 gyros each of the E-sky EK2-0704. They work really well and are cheap. Search for them on eBay and you'll probably get them for $0,99 each + $7 shipping.

Parkfun Fusion - First FPV test - Nokia 6120c

Yey, my first FPV test. Taped the Nokia 6120c on top of the plane at the COG.

The phone weighs 90g.

Flew well without any problems, so it's time to upgrade the camera to the next level!

Parkfun Fusion - Broke my nose off

Well, after glueing it all back together and flying successfully for a few days, I got cocky and started showing my wife how nicely it hovered in the strong headwind....until the headwind died...

I glued it back on again with even more Epoxy, and added three carbon strips for extra strength.

New stuff arrived

Today I recieved a new box from ElectronicaRC. I must say, they are actually quite fast.

In the box i found the LCD screen for my ground station.

It's really slick and intended for mounting on a wall or similar which suits me fine.

Very thin which means that it won't take up much space.

Also in the box was the two microsensors from EagleTree for the OSD Pro - altimeter and airspeed indicator.

Very small and light. A pitot tube was included in the airspeed package.

Repaired and airborne

After using a whole dual tube of Expoy, I have fixed my Fusion and flew it this morning.

I originally crashed because I was stupidly performing dive/climb manoeuvres that made the wings bend far too much. The whole thing nearly fell apart in mid air. On my last dive, I couldn't pull up enough, so the plane ate dirt.






As you can see, I have added carbon strips to the wings to make them more rigid. They really made a great difference this morning.

Now it's time to test fly with 100g of weight on the front for training before I buy a camera and stick it on.

Oops

I will be using a lot of Epoxy tomorrow!

Whooohaaaa - goggles working

Now I've done the mod on the Trimersion goggles. Thanks aaronredbaron for great instructions. I de-soldered the gyro and soldered wires for audio and video directly on to the board. I used an old firewire cable, which did come very much in handy because it has 6 wires into 1. I've just made a test now, I'm waiting for Elfa to re-stock firewire cable (4,5m) and a female jack that I'm gonna use in the ground station.

Gyro and antenna is gone. I added some tape to get the wires out of the way.

This is the wires added to the board:

- red: power

- black: ground

- blue: common ground for audio and video

- brown: video

- green: audio right

- white: audio left

Another purchase

Ok, I've done it again. This time I needed to complete my onboard equipment and the ground station.

First up is the altimeter microsensor that connects to the eLogger. It uses barometic pressure for correct indications.

I also added the airspeed indicator which uses a pitot tube to measure airspeed. It also connects to the eLogger.

This screen seems to fit good into my ground station. I'm gonna use it for initial setup and pre-flight check when I'm at the field.

Back to school

After like 20 years of not being in school I've been "forced" to actually study again. I'm gonna take the test to get an amateur radio license which you have to have in order to operate on the 1,3GHz frequency that my video gear use.

The test is about 40 questions on electronics, ohms, watts and rules and regulations around radio etc. Since I don't have this knowledge from before (took economics in school) it's a whole new area for me. I'm not too sure I'm gonna pass, but I'll give it a shot.

If you live in Sweden and want to take the test the browse to SSA - Sveriges Sändareamatörer for more info on how to contact your local radio club.

Parkfun Fusion Brushless Motor Mod

Converted a stock (400 type motor) Parkfun Fusion into a brushless and reliable aerial photography platform. It's a 4-channel copy of the EasyStar with functional ailerons. Hope to move towards FPV if I don't have any bad accidents!

Plane: Parkfun Fusion
Servos: 4 Hitec HS-55 feather servos
Transmitter: Hitec Optic 6
Receiver: Hitec Micro 05S
Motor: HXT 2835 (380S) 2200kv Brushless Inrunner
ESC: TowerPro w25A Brushless Speed Controller
Prop: TGS Sport 6x4E Precision propeller
Prop adapter/Spinner: Alu cone 1/4-28-3.2mm
Flight battery: Turnigy 2200mAh 3S 25C Lipo Pack
Navigation lights: Turnigy R/C LED Lighting System
Magnets holding wings: Strong Rare Earth magnets (10pcs/set)

The receiver and transmitter were changed to ensure a reliable control connection.

Electronics before and after.

Prop with motor before and after.

New spinner and prop.

Had to cut off nose to remove big bastard weight. Glued back on with Component Epoxy.

First test of brushless motor

Time for test flight now. If nothing goes wrong, I'll find a camera to stick on!

Eagle Tree OSD Pro w/ GPS

Today my stuff from Eagle Tree arrived. I ordered the complete OSD Pro with GPS. This system has it all, RTH, home arrow etc etc.

Landing gear from Airscape RC

This is what is included in the package. The cost was $34,95 + $12,98 in shipping and handling. Quite much for a gear, but it will fit perfect. Now I only have to decide wheather I'll go for taildragger (which the Easygear is supposed to) or a nose wheel.

Time for FPV - my equipment

After some thinking I've finally decided to build a full-FPV plane. I've been reading on RCGroups and FPV-community.com along with much influence from RCExplorer.se to come up with the stuff I have purchased or will purchase.

Airframe
Plane: Multiplex EasyStar Kit #214192
Wings: Multiplex EasyGlider wings #224159
Flap hinges: Multiplex FunCub spare set #702010
Horizontal stabilizer, vertical fin: Multiplex EasyGlider #224160
Landing gear: Airscape RC EasyGear
Steerable nose wheel: Hobbyking tail wheel assembly
Servos: Hitec HS-81 (rudder, elevator), Hitec HS-55 (ailerons, flaps)
Navigation lights: Turnigy LED lightningsystem
Reciever controlled switch: Turnigy
Lost model alarm: GWS BE-Found
Batterymonitor: ElectronicaRC Maxpro 3S
Motor: Turnigy B2835-3900
ESC: Logic Fusion Tornado 40A
BEC: Turnigy 8-15A UBEC
Prop: TGS Sport 6x4E, 6x5E
Prop adapter/Spinner: Alu cone 1/4-28-3.2mm
Flight battery: Team Orion Avionics 2100mAh 11,1V
Magnets holding wings: Strong Rare Earth magnets (10pcs/set)
Servo wire, cut to length: Flat, twisted #1, twisted #2
Servo terminals: Futaba, gold plated
Connectors servo/lights wing/fuselage: MPX Connectors

FPV gear, airborne
Video TX: ElectronicaRC 1,3GHz 500mW w/ heatsink
Camera: ElectronicaRC MSH-36
Flight stabilization: FY-20AII
Navigation/OSD: EagleTree OSD Pro incl. eLogger V3 and GPS
Altimeter: EagleTree Altimeter Microsensor V3
Airspeed indicator: EagleTree Airspeed Microsensor V3
Microphone: ElectronicaRC Airwave
Video TX antenna: IBCrazy inverted Vee from Readymaderc.com

FPV gear, groundstation
Video RX: ElectronicaRC 1,3GHz
Videorecorder, PVR: DViCO TViX R-2230, with Seagate Momentus 2,5" 500GB SATA
Goggles: Trimersion, hacked with influence by aaronredbaron
Head tracker: DT-3K Hybrid headtracker
Wind meter: Turnigy mini anemometer
RC TX: Futaba 10CAP w/ FASST 2,4GHz 10-channel module (FUTL8930)
RC RX: Futaba FASST 2,4GHZ R6014FS (FUTL7644)
RC TX case: Futaba Aero Team Transmitter Case Single
Screen: ElectronicaRC 7" TFT color monitor
Antenna tracker w/ pan/tilt: ElectronicaRC for EagleEyes
Video RX antenna: 8dbi patch from Readymaderc.com

Miscellanious
Tape: High strength fiber tape
Velcro: Peel-n-stick adhesive, very strong
Charge bag: LiPo safety charge bag
Spray paint: Grey foam safe