Since I'm building a FPV (first person video) based quadcopter, I need something that will display the copters telemetry a display or goggles. I'm going with the Minim OSD v1.1. I like that it is a mini Arduino (328P) based on-screen display board.
Thanks to Steve and his mini quadcopter FPV videos -- I'm going to build one for myself! Over the next few weeks/months, I will be chronicling my adventures of selecting and sourcing parts for the copter (with Steve's input/help).
My buddy Steve over at Finkbuilt just posted a new video on his YouTube channel he shot from his 250 sized Quadcopter and it's spectacular! Steve took this video at Gas Works Park on a nice sunny Seattle day capturing the experience in HD. He gets around a 6 minute flight time from the copter he built. I'm hooked -- Steve, I want one!!
When I was a kid I always had my eye on the Team Associated RC10 but it was very expensive. I was however still lucky to get my hands on a Tamiya Grasshopper (also recently rereleased), but it was never a RC10 replacement. I come to find out that Team Associated has rereleased the RC10 Classic kit for a limited time. Still made in the U.S.A. (or “a good portion of it is”) with the same basic parts (full list of changes here) — I believe the tooling has changed but for the most part they are identical (read about it more here). Even the most iconic component, the gold anodized aluminum tub chassis, is included except it has been updated to fit either a 6-cell NiMh or 2S LiPo battery packs.
I'm back into R/C Planes (my next one is the Micro-Telemaster). I did find out that getting into electric park flyers requires using Li-Poly batteries that require expensive chargers which seem to only run on 12-volt DC power supplies. Ideally, ones that can go up to 10A, but since my needs are only 2-3 Li-Poly cells, a 5A, 12-volt DC power supply works fine. The Hobbico 12v, 10A power supply costs over $80 and my version costs under $25! Check out the video above for the details. You'll need this Power Supply
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I've wanted to get back into R/C Planes for a while now and since I live across from a park I wanted to try out the new electric planes. I went to my local hobby shop (not many around anymore) and found a E-flite S.E.5a Slow Flyer 250 ARF. The kit is pretty much ready to go, you just need to glue a few things together and put your electronics in. I already have a Futaba 9 channel controller (T9CAP) so it wasn't a big investment to get started again. I'm amazed at how advanced electronic planes have become! I'm used to the Nitro .40+ planes but these electrics are really nice... the motors, ESC, batteries, servos and receivers are tiny! The whole plane only weighs 8oz... I will be flying
One thing I did find out getting into electrics is that all good Li-Poly battery chargers require a 12v DC power source and most of these power supplies, like the Hobbico, cost over $80 and that's not including the charger... so in my next post I will show you how to make a 12v, 5A source for under $25.
