A few pictures of my resurrected f550 clone. White for front, green right and red left. You get the point.



Had used an ar6110 dsmx, changed it to an ar7010 for all functions.



All zip tied and ready for top plate. Also mounted VU on underside for visibility of LEDs.

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i decided to make this beauty an fpv wing. seen another modded and decided to go for it. basic assembly with epoxy and some gorilla glue. setup is corona mg939 servos (awesome ones too), D2826/6 2200kv motor on a 6x4 prop, mystery 40a esc and dsmx receiver. fatshark 200mw 5.8ghz transmitter with a 520 micro camera from readymaderc.



magnet on lid and wing. dont want to see the canopy fly with my gear. the rod is just to hold the magnet down while it cures.



installed the verticals but first painted the yellow.

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After watching a lot of videos on either too expensive fpv cases or cases are used for fpv gear storage only. I decided to make an economical portable and storage case. Already ordered 9" slave monitor for inside of lid, short and long range antennas will bolt to outside. Antennas will also store inside when not used. 1.3ghz system will transfer to 5.8ghz for fatshark remote access. Basically no wires to me from either frequency. Case doesn't have to be next to me during flight. Inside vehicle could easily be done during extreme hot or cold days. Biggest headache is all the little parts from china. Most of which are too expensive or not made here at all. Progress and list.
1. Harbor freight case under 30.00
2. The 9" monitor was 43.00 shipped but not here yet.
3. 20" extensions for inside case with external sma mount 5.00 for 2
4. Bag of 50 barrel connectors 26.00 (will need more when I don't have any!)
5. 1/4" birch wood. 5.00
6. Banana plug adapter and crimp connectors 10.00
7. 10 male and 10 female jst cables 4.00

First layout testing fitment the day I got the case.



Radio shack banana connector.

I recently purchased a xeno for only 20.00. beautiful wing but many issues i didnt like about it. power system with shaft is expensive and not practical, servos are bottom mounted, which i dont like at all, folding of wing presents some structural issues and last during low speeds seems like verticals are not long enough.

first mod, gorilla glue the center and say bye bye to folding wing. its small enough to fit in any car.



second mod, not only move servos to top but also line them up with fold of elevon. common Multiplex! a simple thing to do, perfect alignment of servo to elevon to minimize binding.



third mod, remove carbon fiber piece and insert a cf arrow full lenght. just eat some of the center plastic and voila! strong wing.

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last wing i made was 150". i tried too many things on such a large wing. main or coolest part was detachable sections with cf arrows holding it. not only did that create a heavy section but the flex was still there. recently i have been building blunt nose wings. main reason is damage to the nose is minimal and a stronger section. here is my latest while trying to keep the K.I.S.S. method of building. its a simple aluminum frame, 1/8" plywood battery tray and motor plate. i might add some cf arrows for flex with the addition of foam pieces parallel with the metal. this is so the frame doesn't cut into the blue foam and make it wider. some pictures of my progress.





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a lesson learned again. dont decorate the crap out of your new wing until maiden. i made some serious mistakes on this one. first was tip chord was too long. it wouldnt even balance on a 2200mah. some pictures of the build. by the way template number 2 has been cut and all mistakes corrected, i hope. pics of V1. to add more pain. i made 3 of them without testing one first. big ouch!!





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So i decided to build a blunt nose. why you ask? tired of doing some damage to the pointy nose of wings. also wanted something cooler and new. so i made a template for a 46" with the mistake of not taking into account that all the things in the middle folded, would add more area to the top. i basically cut all pieces the same length. so at gluing time i ended up with lots of dihedral. this wing was for practice fpv with 2 1300mah 3s and cameras in the middle. the 900mhz system was so dirty that it would brown out my receiver at 2.4ghz. the flight was wobbly and had all kinds of issues. i came home disappointed. then i decided to close all areas of the lipo and place a single 2200mah. keep it light and simple. this wing is now one of my favorites. flight time is at 15min with about 30% left. a park 480 1000kv on 9x6 pushes it. this is a short one at 35mm wide by 30mm long.

pretty template.



learned lesson. top center piece should be last after all glued.



some of my now standard build techniques

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after a long break from building and barely wanting to even fly. i got the urge to build and build only one thing, wings! the 26" went thru 4 versions until i was happy with it. a new building technique that all my wing have. a 2" by whatever width 1/8" thick plywood. with a cf arrow in front. the usual cf strips to reinforce the nose and simple foam for the profile. The K.I.S.S. method is what i live by now. lots of power and smallest possible lipo. this wing hits close to 100mph. maybe 50.00 or less in parts. but this is just the beginning.

well, its been a busy few months of building. thanks to craig, aka hansauf, aka chorizo. for a beautiful reaper. we had a few reinforcement issues and props to deal with. all is well and feels great to have 2 of them in the air at the same time.
currently running a 7x6 prop pushing north of 500w. motor brake has prevented more broken props. a weakness of all reapers when you cut too much in the back added flex. a cf arrow fixed it all.
babies on the wall.


Reaper during surgery



a few touches added for visibility only. i love the star trek details craig added.

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It's been long overdue that I do a blog on my reaper. It has taken lots of work to get it flying like it is. This is intended to also help others with more economical ways of building the same thing based on my experiences. Here are some earlier pictures of my wing. The plastic board fins lasted 2 flights and are junk. They have a nice neon but are useless.



Painting was easy but the paint is not durable and I worry that laminate won't hold over paint if I choose that.



Originally I used the recommended power setup a 3035-1700kv I think. While it powers the wing ok, I find it average and struggling at about 300w. I then used a 3536-1400kv on 4s with a 7x6 prop. Pushing around 70mph it was fun until 2 things happened. First I flew a funjet at over 130mph and wanted more out of it. Second I semi folded the reaper on a hard bank. Here is a picture of the motor and the 2000w sitting next to it.

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Thanks to one Of my rc buddies I own a habu. The nose broke off almost clean but thanks to my 3 friends carbon fiber, epoxy and gorilla glue it's fixed. I have to say that to date it's the most forgiving edf I have flown. I installed a 6904 fan with a turnigy motor and a 4s 4000mah pack. A little too heavy but still flew decent. Then I used a nanotech 4s 2650mah and much lighter fun to fly. Next is red paint on some top areas a soon to be repaired het 2w25 and 5s 3000mah pack.

Well my mini slinger is almost finished. Used A frame cf and single glass fiber in front. Laminate is 3mil heat activated. Put some time into modifying this little guy. At 540g flying weight she is not the lightest but sure had power. Hope to maiden tomorrow if not windy. Winglets still have to be installed and painted. Towerpro H40a with turnigy 2836-2350kv on 6x4" and 3s 1300mah nano-techs. I have actually been pushing nano's too much and on another setup uneven discharge is daily. Some pics






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