Multiplex Gemini FPV build

[pk-surfing]

Decided I wanted a biplane to build and fit FPV gear into, and it's got an undercarriage so will keep my friendly farmer happy.... 'Have you got any planes with wheels on !"

Fair chance it will be a slow build cos I've just ordered the motor and I want some slightly bigger wheels


The box


bits out of the box


takes a minute to clip the bits together !


Side view


view into the cockpit


was thinking of fitting the flight camera on a pan servo in the cockpit but I think the views going to be too restricted.




front hatch removed


straight down the front (no motor)


top wing removed, bet it would build into a decent model without the top wing  :)


underneath view with bottom wing removed


fuselage halves


top wing upside down on bench


some views of my cave out in the garage


Raptor 30 and 50, with my 2 year old Skywalker hung on the wall and a Wot4


Roo, quads, small helis, X4 FPV with yellow earplugs as u/c (can just about see it on the top shelf) etc


Hercules, Tri, Fox plus others

I really want a carbon fibre u/c rather than the piano wire one in the kit but can only find one the right size (and cost !) at HK and I don't want to order just now cos of the Chinese New Year.

More to come as the build proceeds

PK

[Coyote]

That`s going to be fun to fly :) 

[pk-surfing]

Now I've got the kit and started looking at it I can't decide where best to put the FPV camera, I was hoping the view from the cockpit position would have been less blocked.

Think I'll try sitting the FPV cam in there to see what the view looks like with a 2.8 lens, the photo I took was just by holding my iphone in there.

[Coyote]

You could always do a pan camera from the cockpit, then a video switcher to use a secondary cam say back at the tail looking forward ?

[pk-surfing]

That's a thought, I got a switcher ages ago from Simons shop I think but haven't used it yet.

[g.collins]

Now that is something I would love to have, I love flying my little parkzone beast.
that will be a blast bud.
:) G

Kevin Elder flying the Multiplex Gemini

[pk-surfing]

Ordered a carbon fibre undercarriage from HK today but don't know if it will get out of China before their New Year holiday starts... we will see.

I mentioned this to one of my flying buddies in Darlington..... when I got back in from walking the dog there was a set of CF undercarriage legs through my letter box..... he'd taken them off his Acromaster just so I could get on with the build, just proves what good mates we all have  :)

CLICK ON THE SMALL PHOTOS TO SEE THEM FULL SIZE



I'm going to fit a flight cam (on pan servo) in the cockpit at the rear to get the view the pilot would have, as well as a 1gram cam right up at the front low down set into the thick foam at the air intake just below the prop, and fit a video switcher so I can flick between the 2 views as I reckon the cockpit cam will be restricted for landings.



I'm going to rough fit a cam in the cockpit first just to see what sort of view it gives, also I reckon I'm going to have to spray paint most of the white foam a dark colour at least in view of the flight cam other wise the exposure is going to be overwhelmed by the bright white all around it.



Video transmitter will be an ImmersionRC and fitted on the belly just behind the undercarriage, with a short skew planar pointing downwards so a perfect position, I reckon the U/C legs are thin enough not to mess with the transmission too much.

PK

[FPVSteve]

I think the dual camera option is a really good plan, looking forward to seeing this flying.

[3DJIM]

Great choice, ive flown a few of these and they are real nice :), you also have same solder station as mine! great mancave!



Jim.

[pk-surfing]

Not far of finished now so will be adding more photos I've taken, here's some of the camera I've mounted on a 180 degree pan servo in the cockpit.

I'll post up some pics of the HK carbon fibre undercarriage and the internal electrics of the fuselage before I glued it together.





camera lead is inside a braided sleeve and glued with a bit of flexible UHU POR to the back of the camera so that the actual connection isn't flexing at all.
the braid is supported back to the camera base with a thin wire clip and everything works freely for the full 180 degree swivel.


Underneath the camera lead has a servo extension connector so the complete canopy can be taken off the plane.

[Coyote]

Nice, good idea with protecting the camera wire like that :)

[pk-surfing]

It's all ready for it's first flight, hopefully this weekend if I can find a flat bit of ground to take off and more importantly land it (so used to hand launching all my fpv planes).

Got in from work today just as the sun was going down but had a chance to test the pan cockpit camera and the video switching between the small camera tucked in the nose and the cockpit cam, this video really shows the difference in handling exposure between the KX171 (my very first fpv cam from 2 years ago)  in the nose and the Sony HAD in the cockpit.

Gemini cam test in garden on Vimeo

Also noticed a slight bit of ghosting (from the cockpit cam) when the front camera is live, need to free off the aileron link rods a bit as the rod looks to be flexing more than I like  :)

Might need to extend the GPS module out oto the top of the cockpit, it's inside under the foam at the moment but this video shows it's not picking satellites up during the test.

Some photos from today.....












PK

[Brucey]

Looks cool, like the two cameras

[Coyote]

Nice, liking the video switching :)

[FPVSteve]

Really nice work mate, looking forward to seeing it fly! Something different, I like it.