Well, almost.

I soldered up the JST receptacle for the voltage monitoring - after having to remove the bottom plate to get to some solder pads - and I started in with zip ties on the ESCs.

Although I hadn't finished tying everything down, curiosity got the best of me.

APC now makes multirotor props, but the 10x4.5 units I bought came without the customary APC prop adapters...and the darn things were just a bit too large for the motor shafts. Fortunately, I had some adapters which were enclosed with my spare props for my Armattan CNC 258 quad. Success! I've just found out something reassuring in that regard; the hobby shop has a package of prop adapters for a whopping five bucks. I'm picking up a pack tomorrow!

After a quick double-check of the controls on the control board's LCD display and a sensor calibration, on went the props, in went a battery and out the door I went.

There's nothing quite like seeing something you've assembled from a myriad of parts actually rise from the ground. Nice and smooth, too. The controls are in need of some fine tuning, but the fact remains the thing actually flew and in control! Once everything is properly strapped down, I'll get some pictures.

I sure do wish that my efforts last year to get my money pit flying once more were not in vain.

At least I can take some solace in knowing those efforts weren't entirely wasted since the components are coming together on a newer, better project.

I'd blogged about the attempted rescue on my part of a Rotor Concept HPQ1 quadcopter which had a burned out control board and for which I'd spent entirely too much hard-earned bread. It never did fly right even after a KK2 board and four Afro ESCs; a friend and quad expert told me that the motors weren't up to snuff since everything else indicated the board was working properly.

Fast forward to the last few days.

Chris Leroux of Armattanquads.com sold me four of the 1800Kv HiModel RC motors he uses in most of his builds. Just over ten bucks a piece.

Add to that a DJI Flame Wheel F450 frame and the custom acrylic control board mounting plate which Chris made for me for use on the HPQ1 and I almost have a new quad made entirely of affordable, discrete components.

Props, tie wraps and a JST plug for the board's battery voltage monitoring function are about all I'll need from the hobby shop.

This has been a fun project, so I invite you to stay tuned for a full report and some pictures of the finished product.