Gulf Racing Quadcopter

[carbonboy]

This all started one day when I pulled the RC truck out, had a play & it just didn't satisfy me any more. Having seen a few videos of this sort of thing on the YouTubes, I eventually caved in & started looking around at pre-built, ready to fly units. Being friends on FB with a guy who has been doing this for a little while, I kinda bugged him a few times with questions & he pointed out that for the money I'd spend on a pre-built unit (some with some serious downsides/flaws), I could build one. So, I did.

 

Twice actually.

 

Version 1 was my learner, aka Crash Bunny. Broke a lot of propellers & guards, nothing major. Flew line of sight only as I did not have the FPV setup at that stage. This still didn't prevent me from losing the thing completely over another property near me. Spent the next week combing three farm paddocks & climbed twenty-something pine trees in search of it, didn't find a single trace of it.

 

 

Expensive lesson learnt, Version 2 was built. Incorporating a front-mounted camera, video transmitter & a radio tracking device with a 3km range. All components were removed from cases etc & hard-wired to save weight by eliminating as much wire & plugs as possible. Also makes the setup much cleaner, no rats nest of wires going everywhere.

 

 

Frame

- ZMR250, carbon fibre 3mm upper/lower plates, 5mm arms & 3mm landing ‘legs’. Aluminium stand-off posts with metal M3 fasteners.

 

 

Power Distribution Board

- Team Legit Overcraft V1.2 PDB, with built in LED’s (white – front, red – rear), 100A power wires with XT60 connector. Allows for a very neat, minimal wires setup.

 

 

Flight Controller

- Afroflight Naze32 ‘Full’, 32 bit processor, built-in gyro/accelerometer/compass/barometer. Mounted on nylon stand-offs, more features than I’ll ever use.

 

 

Electronic Speed Controllers

- SimonK firmware, 12A x4, modified wiring & heatshrink.

 

Motors

- RC Timer 2204-2300KV x4.

 

 

Receiver

- OrangeRX RX615X, 2.4GHZ 8 channel. Removed from plastic case & heat-shrinked.

 

 

Transmitter/Transmitter Module

- Turnigy 9X with 9XR firmware, 9 channel, modified battery housing.

- Orange RX DSM2/DSMX, 2.4GHZ.

 

 

Propellers

- Gemfan ABS-plastic 5030 x4 or Gemfan CRP 5030 x4.

- Diatone carbon fibre propeller guards x4. Also shown here with foam landing pads to assist me in learning the art of landing, as opposed to semi-controlled crashing.

 

 

On Version 2, I added:

 

Camera

- Runcam 600TVL (Sony copy), 3.6mm lens.

 

 

 

Video Transmitter/Receiver

- Foxtech TS58500 5.8GHZ 500mw AV Transmitter.

- Foxtech RC832 5.8GHZ 32 channel VRX.

- Dual-band RPSMA mushroom antenna x2.

 

 

 

Headset

- Quanum FPV Goggles V2, 5” LCD monitor, affectionately known as a “Face Esky”.

 

 

Batteries

- Turnigy NanoTech 3S 11.1V 1500 & 2200mah LiPo, 35-70C discharge flight batteries.

- Turnigy 9XR 3S 11.1V 2200mah LiPo, 1.5C discharge transmitter pack.

- Quanum FPV 2S 7.4V 1500mah LiPo, 3C discharge headset batteries.

 

With Version 2 before I added the FPV setup, I strapped my mobile phone (Samsung Galaxy S5) to it & captured some great footage/photos just buzzing around.

 

 

Things didn't always go to plan though. Samsung Galaxy S5: 10/10 for durability. Quadcopter: 8/10 for durability. Cauliflower: 2/10 for durability.

 

 

Haven't flown in FPV mode yet, as I have just gotten it working, the weather has been $h1t & flying indoors can end very quickly & catastrophically. The video receiver on the headset has a secondary output, so I can connect it to another monitor or recording device. So stay tuned & hopefully I'll get some decent footage of places I plan to go exploring & the inevitable crashes that will happen. I have a decent arsenal of spares (these things eat propellers I swear), so fingers crossed it goes well.

[ke70dave]

Wicked.

[snot35]

Awesome! What sort of coin for the setup, if you don't mind?

[carbonboy]

To buy all the bits I used for V2, it'll set you back around AU$700 (inc transmitter & headset setups), with around AU$150 for shipping (multiple packages) & another AU$300 for the tracking device. Which sounds like a lot for a tracker, but when V1 disappeared it was worth about AU$500, so a bargain as far as I'm concerned.

 

I also have a spares kit & extra batteries etc that adds up to about AU$350, crashing is inevitable. To go 'all out' on a setup this size (250mm from motor centre to motor centre), you can easily go past AU$2,000. Which is a lot of money to potentially plough into the ground at 60+km/h. o_O

[carbonboy]

Gave FPV flight a go solo (without someone else as a spotter) for the first time on the weekend, didn't crash despite going through three battery packs (approx 7 - 9min flight time each). Then went back to free-flying & promptly launched it into my back fence. Smashed it up a bit, so while I was fixing it, I swapped some bits I prepared earlier.

 

[carbonboy]

A quiet afternoon flight in FPV turned into aerial combat when a territorial magpie decided to attack, so I decided to film it from the ground with my phone.

 

[carbonboy]

After multiple rounds of combat, it seems the magpie scored a few points. Took out the flight controller power supply & it was a straight drop to the ground from there. PDB is damaged beyond repair, now that they are available again, I have some coming from the states.

 

 

[carbonboy]

Spent some time installing some Need For Speed Underground type upgrades. Not exactly performance based, but they do make it easier to see & doesn't drain too much power in the process.

 

 

 

 

[B.L.Z.BUB]

I dub thee the "Gallo 12".

[carbonboy]

I didn't know pizza places made motors...

 

Put it on some scales, full flight weight comes in at 642 grams, 199 of which is the 2200mah battery. The 1500's are 129 grams, not much but noticable when flying, about 7-8 minutes flight time from them & 10-11 minutes from the 2200's.

[carbonboy]

Made a short video to show the LED 'flash' modes.

 

 

Had some more duels with the Magpies, so put together a compilation of the highlights.

 

 

And just for shiz 'n giggles, made a Top Gun-version.