I've recently added some upgrades to my twin-motor Mini Talon, and thought I'd share some pics and videos.

The camera pan can now carry a GoPro Hero 7 and a Foxeer Cat 2 together. The mount is one of Mark Q's designs, but I modded it with an extension off the side for the FPV cam (pics below). Here's a video testing the pan rotation with the GoPro mounted:

Mini Talon Camera Pan Test (0 min 12 sec)

The nose has also been streamlined and the control horns have been upgraded to thicker steel rods and more sturdy control horns. I've also provided a pic side-on of my motor mounts to show how they are slightly up-tilted. The uptilt is very minor but very important of this twin-motor build for easier hand launching.

I'm also now running some Gemfan Flash 5552 props on the BrotherHobby Avenger 2806.5 1300kv motors, as I found these props are extremely quiet and still provide a high top speed (80mph). These props are probably a bit underpropped on these motors so I would still recommend the APC 8x6 props if you do not care about quietness, but if you'd like to try very quiet flights I highly recommend them.

I'll update this post with more specs shortly, but if you have any questions just drop me a message.

Some of the 3D printed parts designed by Mark Q can be found here: http://www.itsqv.com/QVM/index.php?t...g_-_Mini_Talon...Continue Reading

Just thought I'd share some additional pics of my twin build since adding a 3D printed canopy (ABS), mounting the VTX, and installing the upgraded control rods. The control rods are 2mm steel and reinforced with JB weld to reduce any unwanted movement - for maximum precision and strength. I'm also using ball joints and washers on them. I may cover the JB weld with something later to make them look a bit nicer.

The crossfire antennas are mounted within the wings to keep drag as low as possible (one in each wing). Signal strength doesn't seem much affected with them being inside the foam. 🚀

*Check out my earlier blog posts for more specs if you want them.

Nano Goblin Twin Motor - Flight Footage
For those interested in how my upgraded twin motor build turned out; here's some DVR from a quick evening test flight.

Nano Goblin Twin Motor - Evening Test Flight (16 min 9 sec)

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So, far I've only really tested it in manual mode, without the Ardupilot stabilisation, but due to all the reinforcement of the wings (lamination), metal gear servos, and counter-rotating props it's already super stable without stabilisation. It has almost no tail wag even in manual mode, so I imagine it'll only be even smoother when I get Ardupilot tuned and yaw working.

These flights are all on 4S 1300 100c packs. I clocked 177kph (110mph) level flight speed on these packs, but I think It'll do even more than this as this was just a quick burst. It maintains stability at these speeds. It can also go completely vertical without stalling out. Flight time is around 15min on these packs.

Flight weight ended up at 480g with battery, which might seem heavy compared to the stock goblin, but it isn't really when you have this much thrust (500g per motor). It still handles totally fine and has good stall, launch, and landing characteristics (see DVR).
I'm very pleased with the results so far.

I certainly recommend this beefed-up twin mod for anyone who wants a faster more stable Nano-Goblin.
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Full specs for anyone who didn't see my earlier post:

Motors: x2 Xing 1408 3600KV
Props: x2 Azure 3060 (counter-rotating)
ESC: x2 Spedix 20a (Panasonic FM caps added to reduce noise) Servo: x2 Emax ES3352 Digital Metal Gear (Running at 6V)
Upgraded Control Horns: Radio Active F-RCA109A
FC: Matek F405 Wing (running Ardupilot)
FPV Camera: Foxeer Cat 2 Micro
Battery: 4s 1300mah 100C lipo
Flight time (cruising): 15min
Weight with battery: 490g

I thought I'd share my 'upgraded' twin-motor nano goblin build so far. The point of this build was to try to maximise top speed and flight stability at high speeds.
I'm going to use it to experiment with active yaw stabilisation, using differential-thurst and Ardupilot. I'm curious if this will help straighten out yaw waggle in light winds. This has apparently been reported as quite effective on other flying-wing models, so we'll see if it has any positive effects on the nano goblin. If anyone else here has already tried active motor stabilisation, I'd be interested to hear your experiences.
It has 3mm laminate all over, then a top layer of Hobbyking film, so it's extra rigid. The motors will be counter-rotating too to keep things as balanced as possible at high speed.
It's running a pair of high torque EMAX ES3352 servos at 6V, which should help to improve high-speed handling and responsiveness.
I will post more about it soon once I have it set up correctly.
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Some specs for those interested:
Motors: x2 Xing 1408 3600KV
Props: x2 Azure 3060 (counter-rotating)
ESC: x2 Spedix 20a (Panasonic FM caps added to reduce noise)
Servo: x2 Emax ES3352 Digital Metal Gear (Running at 6V)
Upgraded Control Horns: Radio Active F-RCA109A
FC: Matek F405 Wing (running Ardupilot)
FPV Camera: Foxeer Cat 2 Micro
Battery: 3s 3200 li-ion or 4s 1500mah lipo
Weight currently (no FC or battery mounted yet): 217g
Estimated flying weight with battery: 390g

For those curious, here are some pics of the installed 12mm lowered twin-motor mounts by MarkQ. The lowered motor mounts bring the center of thrust closer to the center of mass, resulting in better hand launching characteristics. I can confirm this is indeed the case after doing some test flights.

It can cruise at 39mph at 3.8amps - 4.1amps or 100mph at 40amps. So pretty good!

The mounts fit really nicely on the wing. A bit more aerodynamic than the earlier larger versions. I'm using the Brotherhobby 2806.5 1300kv Avenger motors with APC 8x6 or 8x8 props. ESC's were installed under the wing for added cooling. The ESCs are the 'T-Rex 60a'.

Here's a DVR video of how it handles:

FPV - Moorland Ambiance (10 min 48 sec)

FPV - Relaxation (3 min 43 sec)

FPV - Chasing Tail - Mini Talon Ground Surfing (3 min 34 sec)

My latest mid-range fast cruising quad build:

- Armattan Chameleon Ti 6" long range
- MB Primo 2208 2550kv Motors
- Spedix 30a
- 5.5" props (5552 Gemfan)
- TBS Unify HV 5.8ghz VTX
- Motolabs Tempest F4 Flight Controller (soft-mounted)
- TBS Crossfire Mirco

Having a little fun with some nose art on my Mini Talon.

*Using HK covering film (ironed on).

FPV - The Barrens (3 min 43 sec)

Check out this smooth camera pan mechanism

FPV - Horizon (3 min 6 sec)

My finished 'Mini Talon' build. Below I've put together a build log with all components used. I'll post a maiden flight and build video shortly.
Build Log:

- X-UAV Mini Talon
- Sunnysky 2216 1250kv Motor
- Hobbywing 60a V4 ESC
- YGE Caps Type 7 (soldered on the battery wire just in front of the ESC).
- APC 8x6E Pusher Prop
- Eagletree Vector Flight Controller
- Eagletree V2 GPS + Compass
- Eagletree pitot tube sensor
- Eagletree current sensor
- 5.8ghz 600mw Immersion RC VTX (will update to 2.4ghz video after the maiden flight)
- TBS Crossfire Diversity RX (stock antennas)
- Multistar 4s 5,200mah battery
- GWS S125 1T 2BB 25 Tooth (pan servo)
- Emax ES08MA II 12g Metal Gear Servos (wings and v-tail)
- Foxeer Legend 3 HD cam
- HS1177 FPV cam
- DPCAV Cam Switcher (http://goo.gl/Nzf28q)
- 3mm clear laminate, with yellow and black Hobbyking covering film on top.
- Flytron V2 strobe Nav lights
- Upgraded control horns (http://goo.gl/FN8GDP).
- 1943g flight weight with battery.
- Also has removable v-tail mod.

All 3D printed parts are Mark Qvale's designs. Parts are as follows:

- Front and Rear Landing Skids
- Heavy Duty Pan & Tilt (flat mount + corresponding canopy)
- NACA Intake (mounted on top back)
- Motor Mount
- Mini Talon Component Trays (center and back)
- Battery Strap Holder (all in ABS plastic)
- Pitot Tube Mount

Here's a quick test flight:

FPV - Snow Surf (1 min 16 sec)

...Continue Reading

My Mini Talon build log so far.

I laminated everything first with regular office laminate and then covered over that with Hobbyking coloured film. Very happy with the results so far. Feels very strong with the double layer.

*Still need to add film to the wings.

Long range, low level flight I made with the TBS Crossfire. Very happy with the range performace!

FPV - Mountain King (2 min 45 sec)

FPV - Long Green (2 min 35 sec)

115kmp/h low level cruise

FPV - Land Hole (2 min 31 sec)

Blackout B330 Layout Modifications

So I've had a few people message me about the layout modifications I've made to my B330. I've included some pics. As mentioned, my Naze32 is now mounted on the dirty plate under the clean plate. In my opinion this is a slightly better layout for the B330 as it gives you some advantages in handling and flight time with centre mounted bigger batteries.

- The FC is mounted on some small nylon washers with nylon screws holding it in place. You can see this on one of the images. It does not result in any vibration anomalies to the FC if it is tuned properly (PIDs at bottom).

- ESCs are mounted on the arms and connected to the outer dirty plate pads, not the inner ones. The inner ones are now under the FC. The FC is not touching the dirty plate, only the nylon washers. Your FC will need to have 'right angle' servo connectors to fit in without touching anything.

- The rubber spacers also have some washers under them to allow enough room for the FC.

- On the clean plate I have removed the firewall insert. You will need to do this to allow the 3300mah 4S 90C batteries to mount in the centre. This adds some risk to your forward electronics in crashes but the added benefits are worth it for me.

Total weight of the build without batteries is 798g.

Other things to note

- If you are running EZOSD like me you will no longer be able to mount the GPS receiver in the GPS hole on the clean plate, due to the battery. Instead I have it mounted on...Continue Reading

Super smooth flying with this new gear installed. Love how it feels!

FPV - Winter Session (3 min 47 sec)

Can't beat flying in the mountains.

FPV - Rocklake (2 min 29 sec)

Found a new awesome place to fly!

FPV - Wildlands (2 min 34 sec)