Finally getting somewhere and where does all my money go???My Small journal.

[Colinevan]

Well it was inevitable really. Once another rc hobby kicks in its bound to cost. Iv not actually put any pics up of my quads but those that know me have seen half built half finished quads and finally it feels like im getting somewhere now.

A small recap for those that don't know me, I was unsure on what I wanted in a quad and so bought 2, a dji550 and a Tbs discovery. A visit to quadcopters revealed a fantastic 550 for smooth aerial vids and a disco pro for fast fun fpv. I decided to be sensible and get a 550 and upgraded the motors to torxpowers as they had a good review and seemed excellent quality.

Due to having young children, money was to be spent evenly over a while to get all the stuff I need. I initially concentrated with the 550 and bought everything I needed to make it fly such as :-
Turnigy 9xr
3 x 4500 4s lipos
Torxpower motors
dji 30a esc's
Frsky module and receiver
Various props
Naza lite with gps
All the accessories needed to make it fly.

At this point a thanks goes out to Mike - Northernmonkey and Andys for there help and advise along the way. Also Mike showed me some of his setup and I realised that this is not only a fantastic hobby but also a moneypit with impressive machinery .

I had previously bought andys 330 and ran that for a while along with the smaller toyish quads and helis which were all sold on to a friend. That was a steep learning curve going from a wltoys 959 quad with camera to a 330 that looked like it was flying at 100mph on full pelt. Small 330's are stupid fast ha ha.

[Colinevan]

When I sold the wltoys 959 to my friend we went to the local park to do some aerial vids. Due to him having a slight mishap he crashed the quad in what was the biggest tree in the park.

We spent a few hours trying to get it down to no avail. I felt sorry for him as he was only just learning to fly and so gave him a spare 330 frame I had to cheer him up . He was to build up this in a similar fashion when funds allow. A week later my mate tells me the strong winds had actually blown the quad out and he had recovered it. It had been plugged in for a week, rained on and fell from a mahoosive height and survived no problems ha ha.

He learnt to fly it and then decided to buy my kk2 330 and is just awaiting buying a transmitter and receiver set and he'll be good to go.

In the meantime I ordered a tarot gimbal due to them being cheap and of reasonable quality with good reviews. This arrived approx 3 weeks later and I then needed to source a landing gear setup.

[Colinevan]

After research and buying a cheap landing gear set, I return ed it as it felt flimsy and that it would explode upon landing. I decided that I needed the aeroxcraft setup .

This is not cheap by any means but is light and good quality. I was virtually set up and ready for buying the go pro and now have one coming for Christmas. With this in mind I started looking/reading up and researching up on osd's. I read all about the Naza mini iosd and saw Mike's in action.

These are really net and even show you what direction home is in the shape of a diamond showing the landing position. Im ny eyes if video fails this is fantastic .

The only problem being is that it wont work with my naza lite. I thought long and hard about what I wanted for the future and so decided to sell the naza and upgrade to the Naza v2 with gps setup. These have recently taken a massive tumble in price and so I bought 2. ( 1 for the 550 and the other for the Tbs ). I disassembled the 550 and rebuilt it up using the Naza and fitted the gimbal and landing gear setup, at the moment its not been test flown yet as I will probably need to go to bigger props as its getting quite a big machine now. Iv just ordered some 10" props to see how she goes.

In the meantime the TBS was stripped down of the kk2 and the naza was installed and wired up. This at the moment will be run with std dji motors and opto's although Iv been advised that the esc's are not quite fast enough and I need something like the Afro's on there. For the time being though I just want to get this flown and will fly it a few times before upgrading.

I could always swap the torxpowers out of the 550 to the tbs and put larger arms and pancake motors on the 550 with bigger props to get a reasonable flight time. But then again thats more money.

[Colinevan]

Tonight iv just put a reasonably large order in to Hobbyking for the start of my fpv stuff. I went for the immersion tx 600mw and the 5800 uno receiver. Iv seen these in action and from reading up a lot on forums they seem better quality than the boscam stuff. However I may also purchase a Boscam setup for the 550 as theyre very good value for money.

As work and family lifestyle mean I don't get much free time iv been flying the little hubsan x4 a lot recently. For the money there fantastic machines and great indoors. As most of my quads are getting quite big and heavy I also have decided to build another smaller fun quad. I was thinking along the lines of another 330, however I would like the option to put the go pro on it occasionally.
I thought sod it and have ordered another 450 with the dead cat conversion on it from hobbyking, the aim to be a light and fast machine but also have the room to fit a go pro on and this seemed like a cheap option. I allready have a spare fr sky receiver and a kk2 and so this wont take much to get flying. Plus its a relatively cheap machine and will hopefully be more advernturous in acro flying when my balls are feeling particularly big ha ha.

[Colinevan]

As winter is here iv also ordered a turnigy tx muff. Apart from looking like a pair of youngsters shorts I believe you can add a battery and some kind of electrical warmer .

Both andy and mike have them and to be honest I dont fancy dropping over 2kgs of quad out of the skies because I can't feel my thumbs .

I have also ordered a small 1000 mah 3s lipo to power the gimbal up and the led lights that I ordered. The 4s is supposedly too powerful for the gimbal and by the time I ordered another ubec I thought just try a dedicated lipo .

A lot of people say theres no benefit as im adding extra weight. But in fairness its worth a try. The lipo cost a whopping £4 ha ha.

The new frsky taranis is also getting huge praise and although iv not gotten fully to grips with my 9xr , the taranis seems to be taking the flying world by storm. Only problem is getting hold of one. Decisions decisions.

[Colinevan]

Well another update and another order placed. This time its all Mikes fault lol.

Iv ordered a dedicated Sony fpv camera for the TBS. Ordered from overseas and for less than £30 seemed like a good price. Mike also mentioned that the power output from the immersion was only 5v and the camera needs 12v.

Immersion sell a 5v to 12v STEPUP converter, these were ordered from Florida along with another immersion 600mw video transmitter for the 550 this time. Amazing things this step up(witchcraft) and the fact that the power should be clean and not give interference is a bonus.

[Colinevan]

Sooo Just to recap, when everything arrives I should have 2 quads that are good for video and fpv work. The big 550 will only use the go pro for its video transmission as well as for filming at the same time.

A point to consider should anyone else do the same is that because the gimbal will smooth out the footage, when using a none dedicated can. You some be able too see how the craft is coping in say a windy environment. It will look calm and smooth and give you a false sense of security.

This is one of the reasons why its important to have a spotter , although my dog and or my youngest at 18 months might not be up to the job.

[neallewis]

Where did you buy your immersion stuff from. where in UK offers it for a good price? is there a lot of saving to be had importing?

[Colinevan]

Originally Posted by neallewis

Where did you buy your immersion stuff from. where in UK offers it for a good price? is there a lot of saving to be had importing?

Iv always been quite lucky importing stuff and not had to wait that long. My tarot gimbal was well under £90 from memory and turned up 3 weeks later.

I ordered from hobbyking for the tx and rxand there much cheaper than ordering from the UK. Quadcopters.co.UK for whom I have bought everything else from want almost £70 for the tx whereby they're about £41 from memory from hobbyking.

I also ordered the other stuff including another Tx from a place mike recommended. Based out in Florida but may arrive quicker than the delivery from Hobbyking.

Hope this helps.

Col.

[Colinevan]

Oops would help if you had the name of the place in Florida haha.

Getfpv.com

As a price comparison, the STEPUP in the UK was something like £18. From fpv.com they're like 4 dollars.

Postage was cheap too. Just hope I don't get no nasty royal mail charges.

Col.

[andys]

Good read Col

Sounds very much like my setup. My 550 still has not flown with the video stuff / gimbal / gopro on there - not had time or the weather to try it!

The Tarot 650 i'm building with a Naza Lite is VERY nice - the quality of the frame make the DJI look like a toy! I'm 'almost' considering a Tarot Hex (like Jimmy) and transplanting all my 550 Gear into it....

Hopefully get it sorted over Xmas - get some pictures up so we can see the progress

Andy

[Colinevan]

Cheers andy.

I think sometime in the future we'll all have fpv chases lol.

Im actually really looking forward to having a go on the dead cat conversion with the kk2. I didnt like the idead of the kk2 in the tbs with all its cost involved so the dead cat in my eyes will probably be the most used.

Should be here in a few days as there in stock in the uk with the sk450. Bargain £26 for the 2 of them.

Col.

[andys]

Sounds good Col

I'm really nervous about putting my GoPro in the air - even on the 550 given the nighmare I had with my first Naza V2. Seems ok now - but it will take a lot more 'air time' before I trust it again.

Never had an issue with the KK2's !

Also - have you seen all the new frames on the Hobbyking Global site - some nice FPV style frames on there like the DeadCat.

Personally I want this one (not hobbyking though!) : http://www.actiondroneusa.com/

[northernmonkey]

Top post Col!

It's so easy to carried away with this hobby! So many things to buy and not enough time to put it all together.
I've got my disco pro to build, still not finished my qav400! Sold my 550 and thinking of flogging my tried and trusted disco setup

Gonna get my disco pro built over the next week or so, then finish the qav, really tempted to purchase one of those stingrays (collective pitch quad) but not sure if I have the patience to learn to fly it

Andy, stop being a pussy and get your 550 up in the air and upload some nicely edited footage for us all to see


Col, once it all arrives give me a shout if you need anything

[Colinevan]

Originally Posted by northernmonkey

Top post Col!

It's so easy to carried away with this hobby! So many things to buy and not enough time to put it all together.
I've got my disco pro to build, still not finished my qav400! Sold my 550 and thinking of flogging my tried and trusted disco setup

Gonna get my disco pro built over the next week or so, then finish the qav, really tempted to purchase one of those stingrays (collective pitch quad) but not sure if I have the patience to learn to fly it

Andy, stop being a pussy and get your 550 up in the air and upload some nicely edited footage for us all to see


Col, once it all arrives give me a shout if you need anything

Lmao at your comment to Andy. Must admit id not even thought about ditching it with a £300 camera so vulnerable. Might invest in 1m high extensions for the aeroxcraft ha ha.

I'll let you know when everything is here pal.

Laters Potatoes!

Col.

[andys]

Hi Guys - yep gave me a chuckle too.

Thing is - I flew a GoPro Black/ Gimbal around on the KK2 no problem - but the Naza Kamikaze action I endured has given me pause. Also the 550 will be running the Zenmuse Gimbal + GoPro Black - i've seen some horrible pictures of what happens when they hit the ground!

No doubt i'll get it all sorted - will post some piccies as I go.

Mike - I knew you'd end up with the Disco Pro

[northernmonkey]

All I've got to do is build it now! Nice little Christmas project.

[Sherbs]

I feel poor by comparison, I've only got the one quad, must be something wrong with me... Mind you, I don't seem to get time to fly that.

[Colinevan]

Originally Posted by Sherbs

I feel poor by comparison, I've only got the one quad, must be something wrong with me... Mind you, I don't seem to get time to fly that.

I'm also poor but have sold a few body parts, I'll send you a link if you like.

To be honest iv spent far less on quads than I have on cars. I remember years ago I had e 4 or so Novak gtbs when they were expensive along with expensive servos ect. Iv sold a Lt of car stuff and used the money on this instead.

If it makes you feel any better I hardly ever get chance to fly as well. my main machine is the husband x4 in work lol.

[Colinevan]

On a final note on spending I should have my Taranis here just before Xmas fingers crossed.

Not really got to grips with the 9xr fully yet bit like the idea of s bus.

Merry Christmas.

Col.