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Anyone else getting into drones or other unmanned aircraft systems? I've been playing with toy-grade quadcopters for years, like my Parrot AR 2.0, but things got more serious when I picked up an Arducopter-powered quad from a SpaceX employee's garage sale last year. Last September, I took the plunge and bought a prosumer-class drone, a Phantom 3 Standard.

The difference between toy quads and even the more advanced consumer toys like the Parrot versus proper GPS-equipped multirotors is amazing. M

This guy doesn't look like much, but it was designed to carry a digital SLR camera and three-axis gimbal - so it has a payload of about 5 pounds. That may not sound like much, but in drone terms, 5 pounds is huge.
The Phantom is pretty bulky compared to DJI's newer drones, but the upside to being huge is 20+ minutes of flight time per battery.

Mrs. Schnell is very tolerant of my hobbies (technology addictions?). I'm a lucky man...

Hey, I think I found Sasquatch.



Apparently he drives a white Jeep.

kcattorney wrote: ↑Wed Jan 24, 2018 7:06 am Hey, I think I found Sasquatch.



Apparently he drives a white Jeep.

...with a large dent in the rear bumper!

In my best Cartman voice: "Screw you guys. Seriously."

I’ve been flying fixed wing rc for 3 decades. I want to set up a few planes for FPV but I don’t really know much about it.

Keep me posted if you start working on an FPV plane. I need to get my heavy lift quad back up and running (it's my search-and-rescue vehicle for my Phantom), but FPV fixed-wing is on my project list.

I've been flying my Phantom FPV for a while now (I use the Samsung VR headset with my Galaxy Note 8 and the DroneVR+ app - it's much more minimal than the DJI software and Litchi). Flying FPV is SO much more fun than staring at the tiny screen in front of you or trying to keep an eye on your drone from a distance...

This beast is good for about 5 pounds of payload. In the previous photo, it had a 2-axis gimbal installed; I dumped the gimbal and will be using two fixed cameras (one forward, one down) to make recoveries easier. The receiver is 9-channel, so lots of expansion available for goodies. Like rocket launchers. A screenshot from DroneVR+ Phantom 3 prop compared to the lifter's CF prop.

If you haven't already, check out the FPV drone channel by AliShanMao on YouTube. In addition to having some respectable flying skills, he reviews a lot of equipment, including fixed-wing FPV, racing drones, etc.

Damn you people! Beyond a vague "it would be cool if" I've never put enough effort to even know there was such a thing as "FPV" for RC cars.

Now you have me wondering how I could best mount a camera on my 1/8th scale beastie. The trick, however, is that it tends to spend a good amount of time upside down so the roof mountings I've been seeing in videos just aren't gonna work. High speed collisions with curbs and trees kinda rules out the front bumper too...

Here's the FPV car I built. Worked great, but I had to dial back the throttle because it was far too top-heavy. A rebuild with a lower c/g and a better steering setup is on the "someday" list...

The gimbal I made for this project is just a 2-axis 3d-printed rig; I used the other radio stick to control the camera X/Y. I leave the gimbal stationary while driving, but it's cool for looking around once the car is stopped.