Mark's Quadcopter Page
Newest first. Click the link for pics, build and flight notes.Frieda-2, an Eachine E010 with Eachine TX01 camera / vtx. Replaces my lost Blade Inductrix (still on this page). First use of the NRF24L01 module I installed in the Devo-10 transmitter. Upgraded motors with Micro Motor Warehouse CL-0615-14 coreless. Recently cut the rotors down to 2 blades each, and used a paper punch on the ducts. Thinking of replacing the cloverleaf with a whip antenna.
Violet, a Picnic Quads polycarbonate 100mm frame with 8.5mm coreless motors, and a Micro Scisky 32 bit controller. Eachine TX02 (200mw) camera / vtx. The flight controller includes a DSMX radio and is using Cleanflight / Luxfloat. First polycarbonate frame, easiest build ever. Recently found cracks on the motor mounts, and discovered EXPO settings to calm her down enough for indoor flight. 55 grams AUW, 35 without the battery.
On hold: Sally, a fully autonomous 150mm / 450 gram micro quad. Mini Pixhawk flight controller with GPS, Afro Race 20 amp ESC's, and a bluetooth programming interface. Same video, OSD, and radio as Lucy. Same 3S batteries, 1306 motors and 3" rotors as Marcie. Have to learn all about APM and bluetooth interfacing.
Marcie, a Diatone ET 150mm with a 3S battery, and an Eagle Tree Vector flight controller / OSD / GPS / Logger. New FT200 VTX and XT30 power connector. All the goodies of a 450 on a 150 frame. Learned to test parts before installing them, improved design process. Built in parallel with "Lucy" below, bought a pro soldering station. Marcie is my favorite unit, but flying her FPV is illegal in Los Angeles, too small to fly POV, and too powerful to fly indoors. 430.7 grams.
Rebuilding again: Lucy-3, is a LTKR-120 mm. Getting an Emax F3 Femto flight controller. Rediculous 1104 4000kv motors with 3" rotors, Tarot TC300G5 6 amp 2-3s esc's. Eachine TX02 200mw camera / VTX. Das Mikro DSM2 / spektrum compatible RX with PPM output. Lucy was my first 2S powered unit, intended to carry OSD and GPS on a micro. Always problematic and difficult, hoping better new products will make her finally reliable.
"Peppermint Patty", is a Super-X brushless 125mm, once the smallest brushless powered quad on the market. She's equipped with a MultiWii (Naze32 type) flight controller, attached to a DSM2 receiver powered by Cleanflight firmware. 3 amp ESC's controlling tiny (but very expensive) little brushless motors. New Eachine TX01 25mw camera / transmitter saves 20 grams. Flown with the same Walkera Devo-10 transmitter I bought with Christine, updated with Deviation firmware. I bought this with some extra 1S batteries from Hobby King, and she was my first hobby grade micro. First experience with Naze32 / Baseflight / Cleanflight.
Longest flying: Tina, is my Horizon / Blade Nano QX3D with Eachine TX01 camera / VTX. Flew almost 10 hours with the original motors, just installed new ones. Should have started with this, very tough, can't cause any damage, fun to fly. First experience with non-Naza flight controller and 1S batteries. Flying with the Devo-10 radio on Deviation 5.0 firmware.
Hanging on the wall: "Gidget", is my DJI Flamewheel F450 made from spare parts from Christine. Installed 4 new DJI motors. Removed the Eagle Tree Vector (later put on Marcie) and installed a spare Naza Lite with GPS. Has no OSD yet. Meant to be a replacement for Christine, but I never felt good about distance flying after losing her. I don't expect to fly "Gidget" again unless the crazy registration scheme is rescinded.
Lost in 2015: Christine a TBS Discovery, disappeared without a trace. First big expense in the hobby, bought used with a pile of spare parts. As lost, Christine had a 1.3 Ghz video transmitter (big gold thing), a NAZA-M V2 flight controller, a Flytron Core2 data recorder, and a DragonLink control receiver. I think she's at the bottom of the LA river under the Burbank bridge. Would like to know if she's found, I spent a lot of time (and money) on that girl. Longest flight was about a mile away and back. Inspired by Team Black Sheep, distance was what it was all about.
Think it's broken: Estes Proto-X the first quad I bought. Until recently this was the smallest quadcopter on the market. After installing fresh motors it developed problems.
Looking for a better product: As much fun to me, The Ground Station evolves quickly as I learn more and needs change.
1-23-16: Here's the whole micro fleet in their hangars. Except Violet and Frieda.
