Yet.
No, I didn't fly it this summer. Cowardice got the better of
me when Old Ian crashed my F4U Corsair on a maiden flight! It
would break my heart to see this in
The Garbage Can Of Shame.
But that is for R&R. When I get serious about RC aircraft, I get into the multirotor drones.
Flight computer by NAZE 32 and/or the KK2.1.5
Evil provided by Minions and Yours Truly.
I thought I was a real aviation RC ace when I started building my own drones for a fraction of the cost of production jobs. Boy, was I wrong!
The flight computers I use are cheap throw-aways made for beginners! I figured I would finally kick things up a notch by going to a full blown FPV racing quad. I want the works: Fat Shark Immersion technology with on board camera and black box flight recording, on screen displays with battery monitoring telemetry and GPS - the works!
Let's start with the flight computer: The real RC wieners are using the latest Omnibus Flip 32 with the F3 coprocessor for super fast cycle times. In other words this co-pilot can analyze and correct the attitude of the aircraft several thousands of times per second. Of course, the board has all the latest in solid state accelerometers and gyros. You can adjust EVERYTHING on this board to suit your flying style - assuming you have one, that is. The wieners flying this board love it - especially when it screws up! Then they pull out the DMM's, the computer diagnostics utilities and the oscilloscopes to trouble shoot it. They seriously love this chit! I was up till midnight reading about this friggin thing trying to get my head around it last week. I'm an instrument basher by background with a tendency toward the engineering side of electro-mechanical devices. This is all electrical engineering/black box crap - several steps above my pay grade! I think I can puzzle it out but it means a helluva lot of work.
I'm told this is a pin-out diagram. Most of those terminals can
be re-assigned too - if you aren't confused enough already.
Of course, it doesn't come with the programming installed like it is with the Naze 32's or the KK2's - that's baby stuff! You have to flash the firmware onto it using an internet utility called Beta Flight - and all your systems better be able to communicate or something WILL fry when you hook up the power.
The ESC's (there's one for each motor on the multirotor) is another microprocessor and tells the electrical motor what to output for power. That's programmable and configurable too, and the communications protocols you use have to be compatible - or you fry the fuggin things and they're done for. Don't ask me how I know that - I'm still mad about it. This isn't something you do with the kids for fun and amusement. This is a challenge that gets under your skin and tries your patience.
Of course up here in Canada the fags at the hobby shop aren't good for anything past the kid stuff! I am on the internet each night with the Yanks trying to figure this thing out so I can use it when it gets here - and install it without frying it. You need to be a friggin computer geek as well as an electronics wiener to deal with this - and I am neither.
It's become such a pain in my ass AND an obsession - that I think I may just keep the Minions and the Crapcopter on the kid's flight controllers - and get a dedicated FPV platform for it.
The camera below provides the pilot with a cockpit view of the flying (or First Person View) with special VR goggles. The camera on top is a video camera that just records the flight. These ones are made right here in Canada too. I am going to use this one to annoy Pete The Meat, Flapz and The Crack at work. It's super fast and should be able to evade gun fire from angry ground pounders!
It's good to have challenges that keep ya thinking in life. I'll keep ya posted on how I do. I think in the next several months I should be over the learning curve and if anyone needs help - I may be in a position to provide assistance. Maybe.
Well - off to see the wizards and wieners. This'll be another night shot to hell. :)
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