HK Quad Copter X

I received my quad copter/multi rotor kits two weeks earlier but stalling my time to built it until recently i finally got time to built it because all those PITA (Pain In The @ss) work to reprogram, resoldring, firmware flasing and all those electronic engineering skill stuff to ensure perfection and zero faulty flight.   The quad copter size is mini 450mm in length run on 2800KV mini brushless motor, HK/KK multi controller board V2, HK SS 18-25A ESC, GWS style 6x3 standard + counter propellers and TURNIGY 2.4Ghz 9x v2 receiver.  I manually loaded Kapteinkuk's latest quad-x configuration firmware into the controller board via AVR programming and also reflash the firmware on ESC to increase the PWM response rate.  Took 3 days to build it to perfection. On first maiden flight it was total failure due to ESC cutt-off,  after dozen of failed flight i realized due to its weight it needs to have at least 3 cell with 35-50C burst lipo battery.  After using the following battery it maindened perfectly, smooth and excellent under heavy wind without further tuning the 3 axis gyro and PID rate.  Several cycle of flights i was so hooked up!  This thing fly like a dream, could hover on tight spots, fly like and aeroplane, hover like helis and have sharp manouver and 3D flight.  However the sounds was unbearable as if it sounds like swarms of bees going coming from afar getting at you.  Originally i was thinking putting FPV on this flying platform for public park fly exploration but due to its scary loud bizzare buzzing sounds i think it will freak people up around the park.  Someday i will bring it up for forest trail exploration on FPV to look out for mountain biking trails or get a good photo shot angle carrying CANON CYBERSHOT camera soon.  This would be a cool flying cam tool.

FPV flying in Miri RC flying field with my SKY SURFER.

First jump into FPV RC flight

Its been quite a long trip into flying finally i decided to jump another level, higher into advance flying. Its is called FPV: "First Person View" flight. Previous flight before i was doing Line of Sight flying (L.O.S) flying outside the cockpit a view of your plane from the ground like any normal R/C enthusiast do in traditional flying method. My flight always been attaching a video recording cam and let it fly and do recording while i'm flying from LOS, replay back my recording back at home on my monitor always keeps me amazed, curious but full of excitement able to see the whole world below me as from birds eyes point of view. The world is different up there and its more beautiful and adventurous. Through my journey into R/C flying i've discovereda new way of flying, so called FPV flight (First Person View) flying where you flying an R/C from cockpit point of view,live view wireless video feed sent from the cockpit to the pilot via video googles or ground video monitor where you no longer stand on the ground watch from below and control your plane from direct line of sight. Its a real pilot experience but the cost to setup is very high, need paramount setup skills and piloting skills too. My flying skills already on par and definately met the requirement needed for FPV piloting. I understand some risk and limitation so i decided to take 3 months of intense research, experimentation, risk management, seek advice from fellow FPV pilot online, watch and read articles, study some real aviation law and air space regulation, insurance and few factor of safety both public and general interest. It was a huge gamble for an R/C pilot like me since i don't see any local pilot doing this FPV flight so it was wise for me to keep on doing more research and survey.


Being a mountain biker who love to explore the world in and out of the jungles throughout the entire land it is natural instinct for me to born and discovery the beauty of the world surrounding me and so this FPV flying fits the void i'm missing in my heart. After 3 months of research and study, i manage to gather my startup budget to kick start my first FPV ambition. Bought some hardwares required for FPV mainly wireless FPV goggles, video transmitter and receiver, ground station wirelessDVR flight recorder, FPV antennas, On Screen Display OSD module, GPS navigation module, wireless telemetry system, BEC, pan-tilt head tracker set, 520TVL cam and fail safe hardware as required for sucessfull and safe starter FPV kits. Then it will take 1 month to setup on my existing plane which i'm going to use 1.4m winged SKY SURFER @ HK BIXLER glider plane for my first FPV platform which is popular among FPV enthusiast. It glider better, longer flight time, could carry FPV loads, made of soft foam, dihedral winged and less stall problem in the air if in an event of engine or servo failure.

After weeks on LOS (Line Of Sight) flight test and my friend as a spotter to check out my flight and assuring my safety concern the next few days it was greem and good to go to start strapping my video goggles on my head and ready for my first maiden flight. First maiden FPV flight was a success without any problem. All system was a good and fully functional without a glitch. Each day the flight path and distance gradually increase from 100m to 1.5KM slowly to make sure everything was ok. Public safety also was my major concern so i only fly on big open field clearn from anything below me. Sometimes i flew comfortably above the sea which is safer that way. Radio range ok, video feed ok, range ok, ESC, motor and plane itself also ok and i've tested under various condition: heavy wind, cold, hot weather, moisty morning, sark dusky day, various landing condition, glitch test, throttle off test, engine fail test everything was proven good and assured. I was lucky i did all my homework well to do deep research and studies on it and everyhing was well paid off without incident.

My first week into FPV flight was a bit nervous, cautious but at the same time full with excitement. Had my first glimps of birds eye view on the world below me. A month later after intense FPV flight daily i go even further but within recomended flight altitude below 400 feet. It was beautiful, the river was blue, the sea shines silver golden sunset, green fields, the sky looks blue, the clouds wispy and i can hear the wind whisper through my hear as i glide gently along coastal beach and into the sea. I see birds flying, ships passing by and enjoy the view around the beaches. I can move my head around since the camera equipped with "head tracking" device which translate my head movement into the camera pan-tilt mechanism to expand my viewing freedom. Wow! this technology is so paramount in R/C flying, i can even monitor and track down my aeroplane performance and navigation via On Screen Display (OSD) which give me intrumental reading about my plane condition, speed, height, power/battery level, signal strength and etc just like a real plane would. I'm so proud all this setup i did it myself and learned how things works which makes it easy for me to troubleshoot if things happens. My ground station also equipped with necessary hardware and device so i could track my plane progress and status from ground level which is great for safety feature. My friends buddies was amazed too with my FPV skills, they used to become my L.O.S spotter on my first month of flight and now the can let me go and let me fly on my own since its been almost over two months and daily occasion of successfull FPV flights without incident.

So far i have been flying all around local places definately far away from urban infrastructure for my typical flight. It was all good. Enjoyed my flight over the forest, river, sea and beaches and keep my flight safe and follow the rules and airspace regulation set by law. Before and after flight i always check my plane make sure its fit to fly and make me feel like part of aviation stuff. Going FPV flight have made me more aware, discipline and ethical r/c pilot because i've seen myself how flying look like from cockpit view rather line of sight because both seems to have equal risks, pros and cons. Not only make me a mature flyer but also appreciate each flight worth taking serious about and be responsible r/c enthusiast.

Since i'm the first local FPV pilot to step up on my FPV journey i need to watch out for future incoming pilot who step into this same field of activity, ensure each one given advice, guides and education to young r/c pilot to avoid future complication and keep this R/C flying hobby a good name.

Fits like a glove!

After nights of hardwork soldering, cutting, rearrage and tuning, the SIDEWINDER ESC fit perfectly and clean on my MB4 Truggy. Since its 1/10 scale version of ESC i've lowered the performance and acceleration punch to 50% since my 1/18 scale could go beyond what it was designed for. Just like my friend says: "Designed within the limit". So i won't risk breaking it by pushing the power beyond the limit.

SIDEWINDER 1/10, the speed brain!

Oooo...my crown jewel hardware! This stuff is pure engineering! Symbol of mankind achievement over the years of technological advancement in micro computer techno stuff...and yaadaa yaa daa.. I just got it yesterday after a good bargain over the internet. This is a rare item to bargain. As you already know this CASTLE CREATION: SIDEWINDER 1/10 Electronic Speed Controller will be use to replace the dead MAMBA 25 ESC. Saw and holding it made a big smile on my face. Can't wait to install it.

EZRUN V2 esc

OOOOOOooooooohhh!!.. as happy as a kid holding a big ice cream cone...check this out. Recently got me good bargain from my friends garage sale. Bought this 'smell new' ESC module (Hobby Wing EZRUN 35A-SL) from friend for half price to replace my dead MAMBA 25 ESC. USB plugin programmable, tough sturdy looks. 35 Amps to motor, heatsink and computer tunable modes....plus programming card too. Too bad minus brush motor support. MMmmmmm...smells new too as if he never use it before. wow!!.. Can't wait to try it out. Thanks Nick! Also CASTLE CREATION: SIDEWIDER 1/10 ESC coming soon! yay!

RIP MAMBA 25

Here another piece of high end technology that went down the sewer. Could have trade it with PSP if i knew that would happens. After hard bashing with my mini truggy around the dirt track a magic smoke came out from the rear, couldn't figure out what went wrong so i pull the ESC out and do some checking. The FET chip was over cooked due to heavy overload amps punch cooked my ESC! damn. I've even almost fried my hands when tested it on LIPO pack that cause more than 100 degrees celcius burns. Oh well, Farewell Castle Creation: MAMBA 25 ESC. I was worth 6 month of running.

Onboard cam-video ..Duel racing

Here's the video from our Saturday noon 12.30pm play. Got both me allokitty, akiraceo, and eru in it.:


Once again we go crazy on hot Saturday noon at 12.30pm buzzing around carpark with our small scale radio control car.
PSP cam onboard NANDA NRX-18 touring car belong to Akiraceo our forum Member....yup the cam is heavy so the car was not in a good balancing mode. The one chasing from behind is my modified auldey mini-monster chassis equipped with HENG LONG AM 27hz receiver, ESC-Castle Creation 1/18 SIDEWINDER MICRO brushless system 4200KV motor, TOWER PRO 9G mini servo, PN Racing bearings and aluminum gears and lots of hop ups. Turning cheap toys into expensive jewel!

As you can see NRX-18 uses Brushless system 6800KV motor value versus mini monster truck which uses 4200KV brushless motor. Both however equipped with the same ESC system: Castle Creation SIDEWINDER. Too bad i lose the race by 2 second. lucky i didn't put LIPO battery else that NRX-18 eat dust.

My live r/c car onboard video cam

Here our r/c driving video in Youtube:




Here you go, a recorded video on board my Mini Monster race against NRX-18 (Akiraceo from MCnet forum) that we race today. That was a cool chase.
Sorry for the poor onboard video cam record quality because i record on SONY W200i handphone cam (very small light phone) and accidentally set the color mode to black and white. Both R/C using same Brushless System (Castle Creation SideWinder Micro ESC). We played on round looped circuit car park. Played a few good laps.

Thank goodness the mini monster chassis and supple suspension helps stabilized the car while carry heavy cam on board. I think that the most ideal speed to record, not too fast not too slow just good enough to record the chase.

Yes its another overtime late night project...zzzz..zzz

Well its another sleepless nights for me, a broken computer, raining day outside can't ride my mountain bike, boring tv program, bored on PSP games...so i decided to spents some time recycling some of my expensive junks and make it usefull. So like lastime i decided to builts another performance R/C mini monster full proportional radio control models using 1/18 R/C parts. Below are process of stuff that i did.


Ingredients:
--------------------
RM$550 -Castle Creation: SIDE WINDER MICRO Brushless ESC + Brushless motor
RM$100 -HL Receiver (RX) 3 channel port
RM$69 -New empty mini monster chassis/case with locked diff
RM$55 -KYOSHO AM radio crystal (RX)/(TX)
RM$55 -TOWER PRO micro servo
RM$18 -Battery connector set with high amp wire
RM$27 -Fresh new NRX-18 Aluminium pinion gear with allen lock.
RM$14 -HL Crystal socket
RM$75 -8 pcs PN-RACING sealed ball bearings for wheels and drive shaft

Estimated cost: RM$963


Working tools
---------
-FINISHLINE 'Teflon' coated lubricant
-Narrow nose pliers
-Philips screw driver
-Wire solder tools
-Sets of Zip tie
-Tamiya craft pen knife


Construction process timetable
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8.00pm - Prepare all the stuff. Dismantle the cheap chassis.

8.10pm - Modify and cut the rear gear case to allow brushless motor and big Alumimium pinion gear to fit in. Use 4x zip tie to lock the brushless motor intact. Insert 4x PN-Racing bearings inside the gear transmission and both wheel arms drive shaft.

9.00pm - Modify and poke a hole beside the steering case. Insert PRO TOWER micro servo and screw in and zip tie it on two side of the steering servo.

10.30pm - Main chassis battery case will be wired with high amp thick wire, then solder. Battery connector to be soldered to the + and - tabs. Solder the on/Off witch via ESC wires.

10.40pm - Plug in ESC and Steering servo plug into CH1 and CH2 slot inside HL micro receiver box. custom remote crystal wire slot into two whole of crystal sockets. Then insert the HL Receiver(RX) inside the chasis case vertically, press fit. All required wires to be pull out to external. Then seal and cover the chassis housing cover to seal the HL receiver box.

11.30pm - Setup the antenna protected with long plastic pipe againts statics charges.

11.40pm - Rearrange all the bulk wires and zip tie it on to the chassis. SIDEWINDER ESC connected to the motor gold bullet plugs. This time the red and black color are connected in reverse direction because the chassis gear have two spur for torque power transfer. Connect Kyosho AM Cystal module to the remote crystal socket.

12.00am - Install back all the chassis parts, suspension, screw, wheels, tyres, springs, tower clip, switches, suspension pivot/bridges and etc. Lube all the parts with permanent water proof Teflon coated lube.

12.45am - Insert battery, Testing and tuning, Re-programming SIDEWINDER ESC programming setting.

1.00am - Test Drive.

1.30am - SUCCESS!!!!!

Tested behind the office this morning and it sprint way faster then MINI-Z and NANDA-NRX. Its spins uncontrollably as you experience brushless on NRX-18. Powered only 4.8V AA 2700mah battery is just enough to kill this mini truck. At last no more ESC over heat!! No more smoke come out from electronic yeehaaaaa!!!! I love it. Now i have two sets of mini monster!! cool!

Brushless ESC test result

Ok so today is my test day to tryout my new brushless system on my r/c 1/18 NRX-18. Powered only using normal 6V 100mah battery pack the car sprint like mad!!! The track size is flat taras big as football field which located behind my office. Just a minutes of run the pinion gear came loose so i re-tighten it back. On 2nd try it run without no problem. From one end to another end of the football size playgorund it took less than 3 second to reach the spot, The car almost tail spin thanks to 4WD transmission and it sounds like Jet engine due to its brushless motor property. It can easily drift!!! even without drift tyres. I was like standing there with my jaw wide open as i sucker for speed for the first time. Was way too fast then i've imagine. Less than 30 minutes later the battery runs out...which reminds me to get a LIPO battery next time. After that i took the car for inspection, ah yes few cracks on my body shell duel to extreme down force and almost worn out tyre plus some fine dirt inside. Wow!! that is isanely fast.

The big bang! SIDE WINDER BRUSHLESS

Yup, i trashed my old ESC on my radio control 1/18 scale. So, after morning church prayer i went to visit my favorite local hobby shop and Mr. Foo introduced me the most powerfull ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) system for 1/18 radio control scale plus with motor. ITS BRUSHLESS SYSTEM!!! and its RM$550!! The combo brushless ESC and motor set is made by wellknown R/C parts: CASTLE CREATION - SIDE WINDER MICRO (http://www.castlecreations.com) ..After thinking about long term effect so i decided to grab a box and Mr. Foo helped to setup the system for me to be tuned by hooking to USB cables and tuned through computer, That is awesome for a piece of micro technology but killer for normal people wallet.... yeah yeah its better than double upgrades in the future which cost more $$$, get now save later. I charged my battery, made custom battery power pack, a low CG 7.2V 2700mah pack. Hopefully tomorrow i can test on open space for sprint test. I hope it can blow me away with its awesomeness speed.