AH-6Z Littlebird Night-Ops build project

[Zeeflyboy]

So just done a little work on the heli before I go to work this afternoon.

I hooked up my landing light - rather than use a resistor I went with a proper LED driver, it always supplies a constant 350ma to the LED and backs off it it gets too hot etc. All I can say is DAYUUUM this thing is bright... hard to capture in a photo but it's actually uncomfortable to look at directly even outside.

It's a 1W LED with heat sink and lens assembly.






Other than that I've been doing a bit more filling and sanding on the left door. Seems it wasn't quite as smooth as I had thought lol. Looks pretty good now but I won't be able to tell until I get a coat of primer on it - then I can do a bit more smoothing... I also cut out the hatch in the fuselage and the door for the weapons arm using a trusty dremel....

Slight change of plans here too - I decided to epoxy the door in place and have it fixed. It lends so much strength and rigidity to the side of the fuselage that I just thought it'd be stupid not to take advantage of it.





Other than that, I ordered some gel coat so that I can start to make the moulds for the clear windshield. Should be straight forward to make - just paint some gelcoat on the inside of the existing canopy pulls, add some fibreglass and then out should pop a nice plug for the vacuum forming machine that is yet to be built.

[Zeeflyboy]

Anyway, bit of fun today... I hooked up the controls in the seat.

AH-6 animated cockpit controls

Using some tiny servos from HK... they seem great. Very light weight at around 2.5g each (manufacturer specs) but can run on up to 6v and are quite smooth... seem to have enough grunt for the application too with 0.17kg of torque.

Jobsa.

[wgt40w]

Fabulous !!

[Zeeflyboy]

cheers!

So, my screen arrived from adafruit yesterday and I just hooked it up for a test, without OSD for the moment as I don't have the time to hook it all up together...

It seems very nice - good clear screen and the image is good quality (much better than the video makes out in fact) and the screen is really very small form factor - there is very little size beyond the viewable portion.

It also powers on automatically which is just perfect. My only complaint is that they say the button on the back adjusts brightness - this is incorrect. It adjusts contrast - there is no brightness adjustment.

so, quickly tacked on some wires directly to the camera - this will be how I wire it up when I do it properly too, but I'll do a neater job and add some epoxy afterwards. This will be the best way to hook things up in the confined space of the camera pod. It also leaves the rear port free to plug in the OSD as required.





and the screen front and back, when installed I won't be using the connector of course - everything will just be directly soldered.







Video:

AH-6 Dash sneaky peak


and here is a initial draft of my video system wiring...

[wgt40w]

Glad you are just keeping it simple !!

:D :D

[Zeeflyboy]

It is quite simple.... Looks more complicated than it is.

When you start looking at the rest of the wiring for the heli though, it is a bit more daunting.

[Shikra]

Only just catching up with some threads.
Wow this is incredible mate. I always though a scale helicopter fpv cockpit view would be the mutts.
Fir play. Really looking forward to the final result.

[Zeeflyboy]

thanks


Wow, I LOVE shapeways....

Just got back from work and picked up my package that I missed a few days ago from a neighbour - contains my skid lights and pan/tilt unit.

Here are a few quick excited pics lol. I'm so happy with how they have come out, I'm really chuffed so far! I forgot to order the flange bearings for the pan/tilt but nevermind - I'll go order them this evening. It actually looks to be pretty smooth without the bearings but I'm sure the bearings will prove useful in the longer term....


Image hosting now imgur by popular demand - please let me know it all works okay for you


















Still haven't committed to my FLIR pod, and may just do a few little design revisions now after seeing the material in question.

[Zeeflyboy]

So, for those of you who don't get where I'm going with the pan/tilt hopefully this is clear!

Take one length of tube, and cut a slot to fit the servo...




Glue said servo to slot




and then assemble (please excuse the grubbiness! covered it in carbon dust....)



The best bit - the whole lot including linkages and servos weighs 15g! I'm quite chuffed with that.... The next big job is going to be hollowing out poor Juan to have his new carbon spine inserted. There will be a small bracket at the top near the "neck" to stop the whole thing wobbling.

[Zeeflyboy]

sorry, just two more pics, now bed time! This is the functionally complete unit, just need the two flange bearings to finish it.

[Zeeflyboy]

So, today you can call me Dr Zee.... I would like to introduce you to Juan 2.0













You can see how the unit has been installed inside the body, I whipped up a quick fiberglass bracket just underneath the top section which holds the thing in place and stops it from wobbling back and forth or side to side. I know he looks scary, but don't worry he's 'armless.... (sorry... sorry... I do apologise).

[Zeeflyboy]

AH-6 Pilot sneaky peak

[Zeeflyboy]

Oh trust me, they know some bounds!

Thanks though ;)

[skyscraper]

Wow. Amazing project!

Look forward to seeing the first fpv video  :P

regards
Andy

[Coyote]

This project is beyond impressive, the attention to detail and ingenuity is incredible :)