Eurofighter FPV build

[Zeeflyboy]

Still no EZUHF... fingers crossed for next week. It was posted about 10 days ago so it really should be here, last time I got something from holland though it took a good 2 weeks to come :(

Anyway, it's been raining all day and rather than do something productive I decided to do some work on the euro....

she's all glassssssed up baby! Here she is waiting for some tidying up... still lots of sanding and filling and sanding and painting to do!

[wgt40w]

Looking v. good and in a way I am pleased to report it looks like there's going to be a lot of rain showers next week, so I look forward to seeing further build progress quite soon !!

[Zeeflyboy]

Haha, yeah it's not looking good out here in Geneva either.

And just a little bit more work done on the fuse... looks much tidier than it did before when it was a mess of plywood and foam!








I probably won't bother getting the finish any better than this before I do the first flight, just in case it goes home in a bin bag....

[wgt40w]

Geneva ! Oh then don't plan for your maiden to be anywhere near the Lake !

Seriously - your plane is so special - Have you thought of fitting a servo operated parachute for use in a total component failure ?

[Zeeflyboy]

Do you know I actually did!

Attach a parachute recovery system to the CG, but dismissed it due to extra weight and complexity. I was thinking about using a small co2 canister to deploy it...

Instead I've just gone with the most reliable components I can reasonably afford. I also have some redundancy - eg if my super fancy and expensive kontronik ESC blows, or something else happens to interrupt power, I have a tiny 210mah nimh buffer pack that will provide power to land. It remains constantly charged up by the ESC during normal operation.

I also changed out all the no name servos for better spec and hopefully more reliable ones, even changing out the thrust vector servos...

I think if she goes down (apart from due to a launch failure) it will be operator error that will be the most likely cause! Once it's all up and running it'll have RTH enabled too. It's not that I'm expecting to fly out of range (definitely not with my EZUHF I should hope!) but that will be my safety net for a video system failure.

[wgt40w]

Like a lot of other people, I genuinely await the next installment of this project's progress.

[Zeeflyboy]

Cheers

Well, still no sign of my EZUHF, the postman must hate me :( I've been getting on with a few little bits and bobs and the number of things on my to-do list is dwindling fast! Most of what remains I need to wait for the EZUHF to arrive before I can get on with it.

Anyway while waiting for some paint to dry I decide to finish off my new "super simple" ground station...

I figure it's time I move up from simply using the built in rx on the goggles - I find my head always drifts down when wearing them and it exposes the null of the antenna to the aircraft a lot...

So, here it is! I'm hesitant to even call it a ground station, but I don't know what else you'd call it.... It simply consists of a 5800 uno with one of sircanas lovely antennas on it, a bit of plywood to make a case, a voltage indicator for the Lipo and a BEC to provide 5v to the FPV blackbox recorder. That's then all attached to a lighting stand which can be adjusted from pretty low to 2.8m high. All running from a 2S 4000mah hard case Lipo, although I've left it very easy to change batteries, size is almost irrelevant.

Video cables have been cut and turned into 4 pole 3.5mm jacks to match the immersion and fatshark in/outs with less clutter... I need to make some long video cables next for the full height extension!

Let me know what you think!

All folded up, convenient tripod type size (albeit a bit taller) to fit in a camera bag rucksack.




Deployed at normal height






Close up... on the rear you can see that I've set connectors for the battery and the uno into the back of the case for convenience. Lipo monitor can be set for both 2S and 3S Lipos.









And fully extended






I may add a 3.5mm 4 pole plug to 3.5mm 4 pole plug in the unit, and perhaps see if I can squeeze a video splitter in there so I can have two outputs for another set of goggles... always something...

[Zeeflyboy]

....And I've just finished setting in my wing retaining screws and corresponding captive nut in the fuse... I can hang the euro from the wing and shake and it stays put lol, hopefully that'll do!

I've also set the wing servo connectors into the wing, so they now automatically get hooked up when plugging/unplugging the wing.

So other than tidying up which doesn't need to hold back a maiden, I'm now all set on the construction front. Just waiting on the EZUHF to get the electronics set up, then check CG and make a little mount for the rearward battery once CG is established.

...exciting times!

[Zeeflyboy]

So, the launcher v1 is pretty much complete! Check out the AWESOME POOOOWWWWEEEERRRR lol.... if this can't launch my euro then I'm sod out of luck. I just need to add a cross brace between the front legs, and some pegs to drive into the ground at the back.

According to my elongation chart (still haven't found a baggage scale in the shops) I have about 16kg of tension on the lines at full stretch, and 8kg at the top. That makes for an average of 12kg throughout the launch... according to my sums to launch at 25mph with no thrust at all I only need 8kg throughout the launch. Should be fun!


Eurofighter FPV Project - catapult.mov

[Zeeflyboy]

Monkey tests the Catapult....

[FPVSteve]

This thing is going to blow me away if it works. Can't wait.

[Zeeflyboy]

IF lol...

I love your confidence, unfortunately I share some of the same doubts  :o

The test monkey reports back that it was like the hands of god himself were pushing him back in his seat, such was the power of his acceleration and now requests a day off  ;D

[wgt40w]

Launch catapult ??  Looked more like a Howitzer artillery piece being fired

:D    :D

[FPVSteve]

No no, I think it will work ... it's just always scary maidening something as you don't know how it's going to handle once it's up there.. the fact that you have so much time, money and workmanship in this makes it even more daunting.

Having said that, if it ends up as splinters of wood and tears I guarantee you'll get a million hits on YouTube, so get some ads running :D

[Zeeflyboy]

lol, my friend suggested I should rig it with some small explosives for the maiden...

Then if it goes, it goes with a bang fitting of the work and time put into it lol. Something spectacular!

I pointed out I'd rather save all the very expensive electronics for another go...