well, we have come up with budget and idea about what we want to achieve with AP/AV. Now, it is time for multicopter selection, and setup.

Now, if you have never flew RC, stop here and go buy yourself a AR drone or Blade MQX as welll as copy of good simulator. get comfortable flying the blade MQX before venturing further. This is good advice if you don't have good RC flying skill and it is stress free way to ease into multicopter.

If you are ready for first larger multictoper. I would recommend F450 frame. ARF kit is affordable way to get into the first serious multicopter. Combined with naza, it makes for good starter ap/av setup.

For AP/AV controlling vibration is paramount to success. Good quality motor and props are very important in fighting vibration.

Motor:

the downside of DJI kit is the quality of the motor. The qc has gone down IMHO from early production, so sometimes you can get motors that cause bad vibration. If you'd rather have an alternative motor, I would recommend sunnysky 2212 /920kv or better yet 2216-800kv motor as alternative replacement, but only after you are over the initial crashing phase. DJI motors are easy to replace and commonly available and can use upto 10" graupners or 9" zingers on 4S . . 2216-800 will turn upto 11" graupner or 10" zingers and on 4S, that is lot of thrust. For cheaper prop. use 8" dji with lighter load practicing....Continue Reading

instead of continuing my AV/AP beginner series, (which I will continue after this brief interlude) I bring you a How to article on modifying the BLS 950 servo for external potentiometer. Now, almost all higher end servo shares common trait, so you can use this article for them with appropriate changes for design percuilarity.


WARNING: The SOME OF THE BOTTOM PLATE OF THE BLS950 SERVO IS GLUED TO THE PCB ON AND IF IT DOES NOT POP OFF EASILY DO NOT PLY IT OFF. YOU CAN DAMAGE THE SERVO IF YOU USE FORCE TO TAKE THE BOTTOM OFF.


now, if you want to turn this into 360 continous servo instead of external pot, you don't have to cut the potentiometer wire. you need to remove the mechanical limit pin and the plastic pot turner off the bottom of the main gear. center the potentiometer and reassemble. that is all you need to do....Continue Reading

Setting REALISTIC BUDGET.

now, you understand that there is no free lunch and you have made good assessment of where you want to go with AP/AV. I kinda went over this in TANSTAFL , but we will go more into details in setting realistic budget.

First. assess what you have. Radios, Camera, etc. most people do have some of the items that you will need, and while it may not be ideal, it will get the job done. This is especially true for cameras.

CAMERAS:
rule number1: forget DSLR. I know people love their DSLR, but until you are ready to risk several thousand bucks everytime you fly, forget it. In fact, Best place to find a good camera is probably in your drawer.

Don't think you have to have latest greatest camera. Just because you saw someone posting great video or still from such and such cam, it does not mean you need the same to get good result. For example, I've been using Panasonic Lumix GF3 as my test camera. I got it off ebay and amazon (2 of them) for bit over 300 bucks each with 14mm pancake lens. this is about same price as gopro hero, but output is far superior. This does not mean gopro is a bad cam. in its case, it is nearly indestructible and produces very much usable video. I just needed something in Nex5 class without the tariff. Nex5 with 16mm would cost almost double that and with hacked firmware, the video quality is quite good off GF3. I would say superior in some cases to Nex5. for my use, I did not...Continue Reading