TGG Meet Up Video
Fantastic edit of flying footage from the weekend.
Zebro 38 at the TGG Meet Up
From this past weekend.
Swamp on Memorial Day
Two flights from Sunday.
Zebro 38 Dusk Flight Stills
Some stills from a recent flight of my Z38 at dusk.
Zebro 38 Videos
These are just the videos from my Youtube playlist for the Z38.
The maiden flight.
The flight after the maiden. I got a bit lost in the middle but figured out where I was after a while.
Back at the large field a little later.
At the TBRC meet up hosted by Bender.
Zebro 38 Pictures
Here is a batch of pictures of my Zebro 38 flying wing! For me the build was a long process, but I’m pretty happy with the result.
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Motor: RCTimer HP 2812 1300kv
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ESC: Turnigy dlux 30A (manual)
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Prop: APC 7×5, RCTimer 7×5, Master Airscrew Scimitar 7×5
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Servos: TGY-306G-HV
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Battery: 4S
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Linkage:
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Dubro 2-56 threaded pushrod
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RCTimer 40x30mm control horn (clevis only)
- M2 screws + nylon lock nuts
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- Camera: SC2000 Super HAD 600 TVL
- Vtx: IRC 600 mW 5.8 GHz
- Receiver: IRC EZUHF 4 channel
- Shielded cable: Maplin, 9 strand on vtx side, 6 strand on rx side
The pictures are all a bit stale, but I have made only a few small changes. The main difference is the ESC is now in a small bay between the motor and battery bay.
Top views
Underside views
Bay views
Linkage — Note that I use 2-56 rods that came threaded at one end and then bought a 2-56 threading die to thread the cut end. Screw on clevises are used on both ends. All screws are M2 (various lengths) with nylon lock nuts.
Belated Updates
I have not posted any updates in a long time, even though quite a lot has happened. I’ll keep this brief and hopefully not take so long before I post up something new again.
- I built a Zebro 38 flying wing that is working great
- Team Basement RC held an awesome meet up with lot of flying wings
- I stopped flying my Spirit even though it is a great model because I was focused on the new wing
- My tricopter is nice but gets bad jello in its current design and needs another update
- I finally got an OpenPilot Revolution flight controller that I can try out and help with
- I have gimbal parts and motors for a brushless gimbal, but I did not get a controller yet
- I switched from my DX6i transmitter to the 9XR and am pretty happy
Related Links:
- Build logs for the Z38: OP, TBRC
- The TBRC Meet Up video (teaser)
- TGG Youtube playlist
- Youtube playlists for my models: Tricopter, Freewing Spirit, Zebro 38
Spirit FPV – Small island through an HD keychain
I made two flights with my Freewing Spirit and got a lot more confidence. Unfortunately the broadcast recording did not work, but for the second flight, I taped a keychain camera on top of the plane. That appears in is the second part of the video. The first part is ground video from my tripod.
More discussion on the OP site.
My new Turnigy 9XR
I got a new Turnigy 9XR RC transmitter from Hobby King in the hope that it can replace my Spektrum DX6i and provide some more functionality.
Getting out of the way my first comment — there is no printed material with the transmitter or anything on the box that credits the authors of the firmware or gives a location to see source for HK’s modifications. So it’s a plain and clear violation of the firmware’s distribution license. They should have had time to slip a sheet of paper into each box before shipping, and they are going to have to fix this eventually. Really no excuse. Moving on….
I basically concur with the favorable reviews you are reading out there. It’s a 9X that already has the popular mods done to it. The gimbal quality felt perfectly fine. The switches and trim tabs too. Mine has the hairline marks you read about, but it looks only cosmetic and I might not have noticed myself. It feels fine in the hands and is a bit thinner than my DX6i. The worst controls are the 4-position cross and up/down buttons around the LCD used to navigate the menu — they stand out as cheap and having poor feel compared to the rest.
It took some fiddling to get working with my EZUHF, and the solution is not ideal. The transmitter has both JR and Futaba connector ports. Plugging into the JR port turns on the transmitter, but it cannot supply power to the tx module that way. Plugging into the Futaba port on the other hand does not turn on the transmitter, but this port will supply power from the transmitter to the tx module. Without a trick, the EZUHF just squeals like a bad PPM signal in the Futaba port. In the JR port it seems to work, but the action is very flaky, clearly something wrong — I didn’t resolve this yet.
The trick for the Futaba port is to insert a 3.5 mm plug into the JR port to begin using it. This turns on the transmitter and makes the PPM work. This video shows the procedure.
Here is the earlier video from before I got my EZUHF to work at all.
Along with the transmitter, I got the ugly DSM2 2.4GHz tx module with an external antenna. It seems OK, but the antenna is in an inconvenient location. I have not tried to use it at all.
I also got the metal case they offered for the transmitter, thinking I might use it regularly. Actually, I think it is a little too thick and bulky and I don’t think I will really ever use it, so a bit of a waste. The venom case for DX6i is far better.
The firmware is very configurable and it is a nice step up from a DX6i to have so much more functionality in the form of switches, including one 3-way one and also 3 knobs. The stick calibration and transmitter customization features look really good. Of course that is the ER9X firmware.
Hopefully I can get the EZUHF working entirely smoothly, and then I will be very happy to use it in place of my DX6i.
fpvadventure 