Eurofighter FPV build

[Funky Diver]

That is WICKED!!!  The attention to detail on the build so far is really shining through.

Just a thought, will you be recording video with the OSD on screen, just like that?  Would be really nice to have that stripped out for an inflight view :)

[Zeeflyboy]

Yeah, the only way around it would be to record onboard pre OSD.

I can however set up numerous OSD pages, including ones which are blank. That way I can flick to a blank page when I want to and it'll be a clear view.

I think the most intrusive thing though is just the "waiting for GPS fix" - once it gets a fix that goes away.

[Zeeflyboy]

just another video, this time from outside...

Also shows the view without OSD for FD ;) (I made a blank page that I can cycle to for when I want to fly with unobstructed view).

got some interference lines that aren't there when inside - must be a neighbour on 5.8ghz network I guess and I can pick it up in the garden. Something like that anyway!

As you can see, the RCV922 doesn't really cope with the bright sky at all well, I look forward to my new camera arriving!

FPV cockpit 2 (outside).m4v


oooh, and check this out. Think I need to build myself one of these

Eurofighter catapult launch

[Zeeflyboy]

So, sorry for the lack of updates, life has been in the way!

Alas not much progress has been made, but I am slowly nearing maiden-ready status...

So, what's new

I have been designing a catapult after seeing a chap on regroups who had come up with a great one. My initial sketches are below... the aim of this is to basically get a very powerful hand style launch, 100% repeatable and without me needing to try throwing a 1.5m long plane with goggles etc while holding a controller. It should also look firkin cool from the FPV perspective lol.

here are my rough sketches for my own design... it'll break down into 3 roughly 1m long pieces for transport and features a foot pedal release system.






other than that, I cooked up a strobe and nav light solution... very bright, visible even in the stonking sunlight today. I mainly wanted them for orientation at dusk if I had to take over visually, but they are actually bright enough to be seen in daylight too so that's a bonus! the camera doesn't quite capture the strobe, but does capture it's effects... take my word for it, the strobe is mega bright!


Eurofighter FPV project strobes


and finally, I fitted my sony HAD II camera... what a beauty. The sync issues I was having are completely gone, the image in my goggles is approximately 1 billion times better just as a result of that let alone anything else, the camera can now display the sky as well as the cockpit/ground, you can even see into the shadows and it avoids the extremely blurry edges and vignetting of the old camera despite using the same size 2.8mm lens... it got rid of some horizontal noise lines, and it even saved me some weight over the old cased camera...

I just can't recommend this camera enough... for just over $50 it's fantastic. It is slightly larger though so I had to come up with a special pan tilt arrangement. nothing difficult though.

Sony HAD II Testing




this is the exact camera if anyone is interested http://www.securitycamera2000.com/products/600TVL-Sony-CCD-Wide-Dynamic-Range-Color-Board-Camera-OSD-Menu.html

[Zeeflyboy]

right, that's it guys... I've crossed over the border.

I'm now officially totally insane.

I just took delivery of the first bits I need to build my launcher, and the thing is huge.... here it is laid out for an idea (sorry for crappy pic)



You can just about make out the pulleys at the top where the bungees will loop over and back down to the other end. It's powder coated 25mm aluminium square tube in 1m long sections. It will be joined using steel core, plastic outer joiners which will also allow it to be broken down into three easy to transport sections.

Would anybody be interested in a separate proper build thread for this thing? I can document the build if it'll be of interest to anyone thinking they might want to do something similar.

[FPVSteve]

I would! You're outdoing yourself with this thread, epic stuff :)

[Coyote]

I`d be very happy with that camera too, fantastic picture from a $50 cam :)

[Zeeflyboy]

Ok, a couple of people in various different corners of the web seem interested, so I'll try to document my launcher build a bit.

I'm afraid I think to make it worth my time I'd have to charge more than any sane person would be willing to pay lol. It's a labour of love, but it's taken it's sweet arse time.

[Coyote]

Please do, I`m building a bungee launcher for the X8 so any tips for launching this way or 4kg + planes on them, I`m all ears :)

[Zeeflyboy]

So been a messy chap this afternoon

Started work on the launcher...

Here I make the launch sled that rides up the rails... for this my first go I'm using MDF as it's fairly easy to work with. We'll see how it holds up, but I may replace it with 10mm ply if I need something tougher. It's a little heavy due to the choice of wood and I'll be using a hole saw to cut some big holes in it to lighten it up. I suspect a light (but tough!) sled is key to a durable launcher... faster acceleration for a better launch, less power needed on the bungees to overcome the mass, less impact from arresting the extra momentum at the end.

After working out a few measurements I cut my pieces:




And then started putting it together with some neat little rollers I found in the big local DIY place...




Box put together:





with the face section (to better withstand impact at the end) and with a section of rail inserted to test the fit - it's good thankfully!





Other than that, the intakes have been fibreglassed with proper resin rather than the lightweight WBPU as I need the extra strength here






and I have started work on mounting the wing spars into the main body. I had to cut an access hatch into the belly so that I could install my aluminium wing tube and the plywood baffles that give them a string grip to the foam. These baffles are then epoxied in place, along with one on the outer side of the fuselage, and then once finished the cut out foam section is glued back in place (later to be smoothed out and glassed over).











Now I have a small conundrum - I need dual spars in each wing to get the required strength (it may fly fine on one, but I want to feel safe pulling high G)... while the spars alone are immensely strong, they are in reality only as strong as the weakest link - the foam. I therefore need to spread the load out as much as possible. So what's the conundrum? If these two spars aren't perfectly aligned relative with each other, inserting the wing will be impossible. I have come up with a solution - using a pillar drill to drill two perfectly parallel holes in a block of wood at the right spacing, and then since one wing spar is already fixed in place I just lock it over the existing spar, and then glue the second spar in place... in theory this then gives me two spars that are perfectly aligned to each other.

So the problem - no pillar drill lol. Ebay has the answer however, and I always wanted one anyway so I went shopping! Hopefully that'll arrive by the end of the week or early next week.

[Funky Diver]

And RCExplorer tried to do justice to his P51...

http://youtu.be/yqjepaX_j_4

his top tip, make sure the cockpit is WELL secured

[Zeeflyboy]

Yeah I've seen his video before, awesome crash lol.

I've already come up with a small screw at the front to lock in the canopy. Don't want to repeat his mistake!

[Zeeflyboy]

I'm most excited about an offer I've had to go visit the real RAF Typhoons, even take some photos with mine and the slightly larger real ones next to each other... now i REALLY hope it doesn't go horribly wrong lol.

Anyway, the postman just arrived and very kindly handed me a small parcel. They say good things come in small packages, and they were right!

Sircana from circular wireless is truly an artist.... I've never seen such perfect antennas before. The only downside is that they now show up my eurofighter like the shoddy backyard shed DIY type work that it is lol. I still need to test them of course (may give them a quick run on my quad when I get the chance), but I can't possibly imagine how they could be anything other than brilliant.





boy has skills!

[SouthPawPaul]

Wow, those are some very pretty antennas. Prettiest I've seen.

You have two SPW antennas there. Isn't it normal to have a SPW (Rx) and a CL (Tx) as you get with the Blubeam set from IBCrazy (Alex)?

[Zeeflyboy]

Paul - no flies on you!

Yes, that would be the traditional recommendation... You need to consider the reasons however. The clover leaf is easier to get a good SWR on, which means a more efficient antenna and less stress on your vTX. It is also slightly higher gain than the SPW, so slightly better range can be expected.

However, it doesn't have as uniform a radiation pattern as an SPW, hence the recommendation sometimes to have one lobe pointing forwards for strong video on the way back. A SPW has a much more uniform pattern which is really not dependant on orientation, and has a smaller null... Albeit at a the cost of slightly lower gain. You can just run a higher gain antenna on the ground however of course.

Given the above, for a relatively short/mid range aerobatic aircraft a SPW on the aircraft would seem to make sense. Just that SWR issue left to consider - thankfully sircana is a frikking antenna god and manages to build SPW with such low SWR ratios that it's a complete non issue.

Hope that explains the logic.

Skyscraper - I can see one possible flaw in your design (unless I missed anything)... Your sled will hit the cross bar pieces that hold the frame together.

My design was actually made with different planes in mind. The sled is merely the base unit if you like. It is made small (I'm actually going to cut it down substantially from the pics I posted) so you can keep the weight down thus reducing the power requirement.

You can then mount an "adaptor" plate to the sled itself to suit different aircraft. For example for my euro it will be a 50cmx25cmx0.5cm plywood plate with a tow hook ring at the front, which is then just screwed onto the sled.

For a wing, it could be a smaller plate with raised bars on which the wing can sit and still get prop clearance.

You get the idea. The sled is merely a small piece that rides the rails, the adaptor piece attaches to it and is made to suit the aircraft being launched.