This is my latest plane I have for HDFPV. Basically it is setup as per the description below.
[attachment=694]
WINGSPAN :1380mm
LENGTH :860mm RADIO SYSTEM : Futaba 5 Channel RC system, 4 Servos (Towerpro 9G) And 1 30A Brushless ESC
PAN : 200 degree modded TowerPro SG-5010 for GoPro mount
POWER SYSTEM : 2410-KV1200 Brushless Motor
PROPELLER : 8 X 4 3 Blade
BATTERY : 11.1V-2800mAH-20C Li-Po Battery
MATERIAL : EPO Foam
VIDEO RECORDER : GoPro HD
Video TX : 500ma 2.4Ghz AvionicsRC
AUFW :1100g
(photo and maiden taken with 8 X 3.8 2 blade prop on motor)
[attachment=695]
I can say that this plane flies great, Easy to hand launch, Cruises on about 1/4 throtle and is relativley smooth to fly.
The main bad habit this plane has is the left to right wobble it has when you try to fly fast. I am thinking that I may remount the gopro so that it sits a little lower and further back. It may help but the plane does tend to do this when you are flying fast.
The main thing with this setup is that the rudder is linked to the alerons as this gives the plane better cornering. Aleron turns are ok by themselves but when linked to the rudder it is much smoother and performs better.
[attachment=696]
I am yet to try the plane off water and am looking foward to a takeoff and landing on the river nearby.
Hi Mr. B!
Thanks for your article!
This plane looks....pregnant
But it flies well as fas as I can see in your video! You got some vibrations on your camera, right?
Can't wait to see you first water take off!
Just updating on the IconA5 testing and progress. I have now removed the GoPro from the Icon as it was a killer in the air. It causes major havoc with the performance of the plane with a huge impact on the stall speed. This plane has a reall nasty tip stall if you fly too slow. It does give you a bit of warning in that it starts to sink all of a sudden (not much time to react to it). However on the up side this plane is built like a tank. I have had it stall out on landing approach a number of times now, Falls have been in the range of 30M - 40M up and straight into the ground It is yet to crease the foam on the nose of the plane yet. Compared to the Easy* heaps better . I have even had it do multiple cartwheels on the landings and nothing happens to this plane , So I would say that this is a very robust plane.
I am gradually getting rid of the tail wag from the plane, you can see this in the videos I have made with the Icon so far. I was running the 3 blade 8X4 prop and found that it stabilized the plane alot better. However I had to change the prop after the plane met up with the local Magpie and broke one of the blades in flight . After this I went back to the 2 Blade 8X3.8 prop but this really killed the recorded quality of the cam with all the left and right tail wagging the plane has. I didn't have another 3 blade so I thought what the heck let's try it... two 8X3.8 on the motor , Great it worked ok and I didn't kill the motor and even less wobble than the 3 blade, even though every now and then it was still there. The Cog is gradually creeping back from what the manufacturer recomends and this is having an improvement on this effect also. Any ideas on making this better are appreciated.
I have started to do testing with a Black Box video Recorder instead of the GoPro and am finding that the plane flys much better. There is less of an aero problem and speed is alot easier to control. I haven't had much time with the camera yet but inital indications are favourable for the video camera so far. There are limitations with the video and exposure however they don't worry me much at the moment. Just need more time to get some more video and test flights done.
Here is a video that I will be updating over the next few week as I get more quality video from the flights. I am staying under 1KM radius until I am happy with the flight characteristics of this setup and plane.
Hi all, Testing is still in progress but I am happy with the results and it is starting to fly a whole lot better. Here are a couple of vids from the setup at the moment. This current one is a test I did today inbetween the rain we are having here at the moment.
It looks kool in the vid with the rain comming at the camera.
The vid may change as I get other clips updated for test purposes over time so it may not be the original one from now but it will make it into the final vid from the second post here.
I have one of these fro nitrplanes.com, but I pulled the motor off to power my Guan Li catalina after I bent a motor shaft on it (same motor). I am interested in report of this plane as I have mine sitting in so called 'moth balls' waiting to be live.
Best of luck and I hope you have have many-mini-fpv planes as a result
I'm heavily interested in 'was the included powerplant enough'
(10-03-2010 05:26 PM)Flench Wrote: [ -> ]Mr_B , Off subject but I see your Fat Shark goggles there and was wondering if you have a video or pic's of how you got it set up with the patch ?
I have used a right angle connector on the patch construction which is connected to an antenna extension cable which was looped behind the patch till the connector would attach to the FS whilst supporting the patch slightly.
Then once in place the coils from the antenna cable were made to sit flat and the patch was wrapped in auto electrical tape. This makes the Patch much more robust.
Finally when connected to the FS, it is taped with a single strip of auto tape to the bottom of the patch and goggles just to stabilize the patch so it sits just right and doesn't move.
Works really well. I can do up the details for you during the week if you like Flench.
So as for ground station on this bird that's it. Really portable for an on the run FPV experience
The major drawback is the torque when dead sticking it It suits the plane just fine as long as you don't let up on the amps. Still this is not a plane for gliding anyway. It's a BoAT
It is yet to crease the foam on the nose of the plane yet. Compared to the Easy* heaps better 
. I have even had it do multiple cartwheels on the landings and nothing happens to this plane 
. After this I went back to the 2 Blade 8X3.8 prop but this really killed the recorded quality of the cam with all the left and right tail wagging the plane has. I didn't have another 3 blade so I thought what the heck let's try it... two 8X3.8 on the motor 
, Great it worked ok and I didn't kill the motor 
Still this is not a plane for gliding anyway. It's a BoAT