AH-6Z Littlebird Night-Ops build project

[skyscraper]

Just got done painting and assembling my centre console and collective stick...

You can see in the video how it works, but of course the servo was working in the wrong sense. Normally it's no bother - I just open up the servo and switch the motor wires followed by 2 of the 3 potentiometer wires... and this was no different, except that these servos are TINY. I have to reverse the cyclic stick elevator servo too so I might take some pictures as I do so just to show how small it all is.

I was pretty sure I would murder the servo while trying but as it happens it all seemed to work out okay, and now the servo moves in the correct direction to match the pitch commands.

[...]

You can get a servo reverser http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__17033__Turnigy_Servo_Signal_Reverser.html Or roll your own... http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/devicedoc/41239a.pdf. Second is available in sot23 package, so you could put it inline with servo lead!


Anyway Fascinating project !

regards
Andy

[skyscraper]

one of the most impressive thiings about this project as with the eurofighter.

its not done the easy way its done the best way.

i never even knew before now you could electrically reverse the direction of a servo with a soldering iron
some pics when you do the next one would be very informative, thanks ...

Aitch :laugh:

When I started out in RC in the 70's, that was the only way to reverse your servos. They didnt have transmitter switches and such!  My first "small" servos were around 60 mm x 25 mm x 50 mm though!  :)

regrads
Andy

[Zeeflyboy]

Yeah I try to avoid using servo reversers where possible - just extra mess, weight and expense when it's so easy to switch them around internally - even on these small fiddly ones its only a 5 minute job. Thanks for the links though.

I'll take some pics of the next one I do, being so small it's hardly a great example but the idea is the same.

Cheers!

[Zeeflyboy]

Cockpit is starting to look a little better...

[Zeeflyboy]

Couple of bits arrived today

new 3D printed head button - obviously this needs painting lol








And I re-designed the GPS holder - it's a lower profile unit now, and is a little larger to allow the GPS puck to be moved as required for declination... I'm also going to shield the lower section with copper tape on the inside, mostly just because I have some copper tape lying around but also because I've seen some claiming it increases GPS reception and has obvious benefits of reducing interference from on board electronics.







EDIT - painted the head button, looks much better than the tiny stock one methinks! Still needs a coat of matt varnish and some sanding but that came out pretty nicely.

[Zeeflyboy]

hooked all the controls up for a wiggle this afternoon - sorry for the crap video

AH-6 animated controls

[wgt40w]

Very realistic - great work.

[Badlands]

Wow! Attention to detail is amazing.

[Zeeflyboy]

cheers!

today I made a huge mess by getting Juan v3 up and running....

First up he had to be opened up, all the crap taken out and the pan/tilt put in...






Then I added his new arms... on both I am using a ball link as a shoulder so that the arms are nice and free to move around, then on the collective stick it's a simple hinge to make sure it moves fairly linearly backwards with the stick and on the cyclic it's another ball joint at the elbow for better freedom of movement. Both hands are attached using heli ball links which means the wrists can also be manipulated for best position.





Need to do the same with the legs next (but I've run out of parts) and then the whole lot will be fleshed out with some blue foam sanded to shape to fill out the uniform and make him look a little less like johnny5

Amazing how time consuming that all is lol.

[wgt40w]

   Can't wait to see a video of Juan having a yank with his stick !!

[Zeeflyboy]

you filth...


I'll wait until I've got the legs done too and then I'll make a video with the Pan/Tilt, arms and legs all moving.

[wgt40w]

     What have I said ??

[Zeeflyboy]

just left a rather large double entendre about stick yanking! lol

I just got finished doing some stuff to the FLIR so thought I'd post a quick video.

Incidentally this is also the colour I've settled on for the heli now - I mixed 10ml of the dark green with 3ml grey, 1ml black and 1ml thinner to end up with a colour that was more to my liking, all then topped off with a coat of vallejo matt varnish which gives a really nice finish, and slightly clouds the coat making it look a bit more old and worn... hard to capture in a quick vid but the effect is quite nice in real life.

here I'm just controlling it using the sticks on the radio wheras in reality it will be controlled by pots of course - that's why it appears to dart all over the place occasionally.

anyhoo - video

AH-6 FLIR Pod test

[wgt40w]

Your work makes most of us 'ordinary folk' look very, very ordinary !

Hurry up - Juan's longing for a good yank !!

[Zeeflyboy]

What ordinary folks? Think you need to keep it in perspective - to the general public what you are able to do with an rc model and a camera is far from ordinary!

between work sending me away, going back home, other things getting in the way and being called out of every standby going I haven't had time to do much at all...

However, here's a redesign on the base plate... it allows me to mount the SPS switch and ESC better, allows a little more room for the EzUHF rx and also weighs a little less while being more rigid.






In other news, my Gens Ace 6S 5000mah arrived and boy dey is big... and this monster eats two at a time for lunch!

Weight was spot on, about 775g each without connector so I'm hoping I can just squeeze in under 7kg when all is said and done. My previous flights showed a 270ish mah per minute burn at around 6+kg, so if we assume no more than 300mah per minute at final weight then they should be good for 13+ minutes to 80%.




I also just tried my hand at riveting for the first time.

Despite the name, it is in fact not riveting... it's a little tedious. If I was feeling Zen I might say therapeutic but at the moment I'm going to stick with tedious.

So the first method I'm trying out is using a rivet kit I found on ebay... basically it involves some gunk in a bottle and some syringes that will make your loved ones think you are into some hardcore habits if they are discovered out of context. Pretty happy with the method actually, the "gunk" dries down well without flattening excessively and it's easy to wipe clear when you put down too much or out of place.





Here you can see the markings (I just used a ruler and made a dot every 5mm)...





and here are the rivets after drying out (they will need painting over obviously)... I will be adding a panel in the middle too.