Airplanes are fun, and I like to fly them. Unfortunately, most RC airplanes have a severe flaw: they are big, bulky, and traveling with an FPV airplane can be a pain in a posterior. Sure, some can be disassembled into a few smaller parts, but usually, those parts are not small, and assembling the airplane is time-consuming. On top of that, the 250g weight limit hangs like a sword of Damocles over the RC hobby’s head. Everything gets so bloody complicated. And here comes the Drift!
Tag: Airplanes
Ritewing Mini Drak Center of Gravity
Ritewing Mini Drak is a fantastic R/C airplane. Fast, stable, and thanks to smooth lines and negative swept wing, it looks great. Thanks to negative wing sweep and a long nose, it has a very unusual center of gravity (CG). Mini Drak’s CG is located almost at the leading edge of wings.
The Center of gravity should be measured from the front edge of the front wing spar.
- For beginners as well during maiden flight it should be located around 25mm (1″) in front of the front wing spar
- It can be moved back to approximately 20mm (0,8″) from the front edge of the front wing spar for advanced pilots.
Remember that correct setup of the center of gravity (CG) is critical for stable flight!
INAV Airspeed Sensor – which one to choose
INAV flight controllers gives you the option to install airspeed sensor on your airplane, just like in Pixhawk and Ardupilot. And just like in case of Pixhawk and Ardupilot, you have several options in terms of the hardware. Airspeed sensors, also known as Pitot tubes, come in two variants: digital and analog.
Continue reading “INAV Airspeed Sensor – which one to choose” »
Flybot Flux Freestyle FPV flying wing
What happens when multirotor world meets flying wings? Flying ZM250 without arms is born. Today we will take a look at a new example of German Engineering: Flybot Flux Freestyle FPV Flying Wing
Bottom line is that Flybot Flux is just an amazing flying wing!
Ritewing Mini Drak – Above The Fog
Weather like this happens only a few times a year: raising fog, low sun and another layer of clouds… And very little wind. To be honest, when I went to the “airfield” I did not expect to use my Ritewing Mini Drak at all. The fog was too dense and too low. But then it raised and holes appeared… Awesome…
- Airplane: Ritewing Mini Drak
- HD Camera: RunCam Split Mini 2
If you want to know more about my Mini Drak, here is the link that has more details.
Want to fly longer with a drone? Here is what you have to do!
I will keep it short: drones are not designed for a long flight. Sure, you can put bigger props, bigger batteries and make it lighter, but comparing to even simplest airplanes, there is nothing to compare.
The conclusion is: try airplanes. They are cheap, simple, easy to fly with modern flight controllers and are much more efficient than drones!
INAV Airmode and Motor Stop on Multirotors and Fixed Wings
What are Motor Stop and Airmode features in INAV and how they differ from each other when used on multirotors and fixed-wing airplnes? Should you use Motor Stop on multirotor? Should you use Airmode on a fixed wing? Long story short:
- On multirotors, Motor Stop not recommended to use while Airmode is recommended to use. More than that, you can not use them both at the same time, since they exclude each other!
- On fixed wing aircrafts Motor Stop and Airmode are highly advised to use together.
My Reptile S800 Sky Shadow flying wing
I am fully aware that Reptile S800 Sky Shadow EPP flying wing is not a fresh topic. It is on the market for much more than a year and the internet is full of reviews. So it will not be a review. I will only say that I like S800 very much. Much much, much better than ZOHD Nano Talon 😉
Specs:
- Flight controller: Matek F405 Wing, the best INAV compatible flight controller for fixed-wing airplanes. Period
- Motor: T-Motor F80 1900KV – it’ an oversized mini quad motor. With 2408 it’s slightly too big for drone racers but provides a shitload of trust and torque for small airplanes. Oh yeah, it’s rated for 1000W 😉
- Propeller: APC 6×4 clone. Combined with the T-Motor F80 1900KV it’s enough for 120km/h flight. Too bad one has to cut foam on S800 to fit 7-inch props
- ESC: Racestar 35A Tattoo – just works
- Video transmitter: TBS Unify Pro HV
- FPV camera: RunCam PZ0420M
- Radio system: FrSky R9 Slim receiver with EU LBT firmware and FrSky R9M TX module. With the latest firmware, this thing finally works, but it’s kind of far from perfect…
- Power is provided by 4S mini quad LiPo battery. I had to replace the main compartment cover with 3D printed one and cut some foam to fit it. I like to keep my batteries unified so I can swap them between airplanes and drones
ZOHD Nano Talon FPV Airplane, part 2
After a maiden, I’m not very happy… Nano Talon is quiet, efficient and small. But flight performance is not overwhelming. Even quite far good. Let’s say it’s OK. But the worst thing is that I crashed mine due to hardware failure. ZOHD, where is quality control? This should not happen.
ZOHD Nano Talon – small V-Tail airplane
Small, light, quite well thought through. Here is how I’ve built my ZOHD Nano Talon, small FPV airplane using following components:
- Airplane: ZOHD Nano Talon PNF
- Flight controller: Matek F405-Wing
- Radio: FrSky R9 Slim long range receiver
- Motor: T-Motor F80 1900KV
- FPV transmitter: AKK X2-Ultimate 1200mW
- Camera: RunCam Eagle 2
- GPS: Beitian BN-880
- Software: INAV 2.0
First flight, quite soon. And I have quite a lot of expectations about this plane. Maybe even too much. But let’s see how it will handle itself in the air.