AH-6Z Littlebird Night-Ops build project

[MarkLincs]

soo cool

[Zeeflyboy]

cheers mark!

Wgt, Excellent - I would appreciate some photos if you feel so inclined? You have the newer version than me with an increased angle. Just remember you may have to remove your grab handle or reverse it to get clearance.

I also came up with a new way of mounting that you might be interested in...

Basically take 4 x m3 threaded spacers (minimum 20mm - at 20 it'll be flush but more is no problem), remove the back of your radio and drill 4 holes to match the 4 on the EzUHF holder. You'll need to countersink the holes and use countersink headed screws here as the back of the radio sits flush with the circuit board at the back.

As a precaution Just put some electrical tape over the back of the screw heads so there's no possibility of them shorting a trace.

This should give a really solid mount if you don't require it to actually be modular. I haven't done it yet as I may order the newer version you have and I spaced the holes slightly differently but the picture should help with the idea.




So one last little update - just started thinking about my controller. Still some hurdles to overcome on this front but with the incredibly kind help of people far smarter than I, we shall overcome I am sure :) Big thanks to Anders, the designer of the CW, Anthony, the firmware guru at IMRC, and above all Sircana of circular wireless fame for all the help thus far.

So first I've popped two red momentary switches on the back within comfortable finger reach, these will be for the pyrotechnics and/or miniguns. I'm going to try and find a guard that is suitable for them too, if I can't find one then I'll make one.



And If you hadn't guessed already, I quite like to be as neat as possible in my setups. So Next I hunted for a spare space for the channel wizard. I found an abundant cavern just underneath the left control stick where it is still above the battery line.





This will get wired into the radio then the plan is to connect some pots/switches etc, and I'll intercept the PPM stream then take it to the channel wizard.

While the precise details will change around, the basic idea is this - The channel wizard takes the 8 channels from the radio, adds one pot on a normal channel (9) along with two blank ones (10 and 11) and finally a multiplexed signal for numerous switches on the last channel (12) for a total of around 16 effective channels. This 12 channel ppm stream then gets sent to the EzUHF which is running the new 12ch firmware, and the EzUHF overwrites the two blank channels with data from the head tracker port.

The whole lot then gets sent through the ether to the Rx, where I can output the ppm stream to a ppm decoder in the front for the flight deck controls, camera pod controls, pan/tilt etc and to an onboard channel wizard. The onboard channel wizard decodes the multiplexed 12th channel and distributes it around the heli to the auxiliary controls.

That then leaves 7pins on the EzUHF rx which I can use to connect my 7 control channels (aileron, elevator, throttle, rudder, pitch, gyro gain, GPS mode) to the Naza, or if it's working (not 100% sure if ppm is supported yet, but I believe it is) I can send everything through a single PPM line there too.

As I say, that's all fluid and subject to change at the moment but gives the general idea of how it'll all work.


Oh, and here's a quick look at how the GPS unit will be positioned... in prime position to be lopped off by a low flying blade lol. I would position it closer (would look better too imo) but then I start getting closer to the servos and electronics that the manual says to keep good clearance from, so it's a compromise. The head has no dampers so it can't teeter too much, I don't think the blades will be able to come too close but we'll see when I get them installed. If need be I can design a slightly shorter pod.

Looking at the angle however, if a blade manages to reach the pod it'll hit the boom too further down so I'll be in a world of hurt anyway.

[FPVSteve]

All this beautiful work makes a little bit of poo come out when I see the Spektrum Tx that will be sailing it across the skies :(

[Zeeflyboy]

You see wrongly Steve!

Futaba 10C and EzUHF with diversity rx are being used here. DX8 is for my LoS stuff and just snuck into the photo. The one I'm holding is a 10C.

[Zeeflyboy]

Couple of not very exciting updates

Firstly, I cut out the pilot's side door as with the other side:




I also mounted my boom GPS mount... what a pain in the butt lol. It was like keyhole surgery getting it in and then getting it to line up straight was a bit of a faff! Got there in the end...






And more modifications to the TX - this is a latching 2 position switch which will operate my camera switch to change between FLIR pod and cockpit cam. In this position it's within easy reach of my fingers but not in the way when I'm just holding the Tx.




I mounted a cool little bit of kit from Mictronics which takes the RSSI/LQ from the bus port on the EzUHF and turns it into an analogue output for the OSD to read without losing a channel. I need to check this doesn't produce any noise but I hope not because I like now neatly it mounts like this!




and finally here is a nice little shot of Mont Blanc I took yesterday, random I know but I thought it was lovely lol.

[wgt40w]

Didn't realise you can get good skiing that high up at either Chamonix or Courmayeur !!

(Will do pics etc. when Shapeways parts arrive)

[wgt40w]

Hah yeah, a problem to solve is a good excuse to create something!

Did they ship your EzUHF holder yet?

And the aerial bung - they were ' being created in our factory of the future' as of Dec 18th. Awaiting UPS shipping email - no panic.

Friday Jan 4th - just been advised items have shipped.

Parce arrived Monday Jan 7th - been too busy to open yet. All being well, will do full 'Unboxing' session with pictures Thursday.

PS

The nice battery shelves you have made and fitted - how have are you worked out they will be OK to get the correct CofG?
My experience with fitting a scale body to a Trex 600E is that the body adds far more weight to the Tail than the front. As you are securing your batteries horizontally rather than vertically, the batteries will need moving a greater distance forward in the fuz to achieve a forward adjustment of the CofG, compared to the forward distance needed if the batteries were secured vertically - as originally.

[Zeeflyboy]

Yup, but the heli is a couple of inches further back than normal, putting more of the fuselage in front of the CG, plus the scale cockpit, screens, lights, pilots, 2 cameras, servos etc are all hanging off the nose. Also larger motor up front. If anything I'm concerned about if actually ending up nose heavy, but that was my aim as its easy to bring the CG backwards, not so much forwards.

I'm fairly confident it'll work out CG wise, but time will tell...

[Ratty]

This thing looks awesome. Very nice work. Cant wait to see it finished. Id be scared to fly it after all that hard work.


PS. Spektrum is awesome.  :P

[wgt40w]

Yup, but the heli is a couple of inches further back than normal, putting more of the fuselage in front of the CG, plus the scale cockpit, screens, lights, pilots, 2 cameras, servos etc are all hanging off the nose. Also larger motor up front. If anything I'm concerned about if actually ending up nose heavy, but that was my aim as its easy to bring the CG backwards, not so much forwards.

I'm fairly confident it'll work out CG wise, but time will tell...

Sounds like you have, as always, considered all aspects of a potential problem - I have faith in your judgement !!

[Flt Lt Biggles]

This is awesome keep up the good work Zeeflyboy

[Zeeflyboy]

cheers bud!

So I gave my CNC machine a proper workout today and cut my new custom frames. I took these on a nice slow cut and it took 50 mins PER side lol.

I'm pleased to say that at first glance they appear to have come out very well, we'll see for sure once it's all assembled again, although I'm a bit stuck for now without my custom bottom bracket.

The end result is actually much cleaner and better looking than the stock frames were.... especially around the slot areas etc. So my CNC machine is obviously less abused and more loved than whatever poor old device is cutting the HK600 frames.

[g.collins]

Looking sweet bud, this helly will be the most worked on project yet, are you keeping count of the hours.
:) G

[Zeeflyboy]

The hours are already countless lol.

I can finally see it all starting to come together though. Long way to go, but I'm making progress.

[Zeeflyboy]

So, put together the frame... here's an inside shot:




And together (minus baseplate). You'll notice the much shorter nose if you compare it to earlier shots of the frame, it's about an inch shorter on the nose which translates to more cockpit space, and of course the relocated elevator servo and the hole for the elevator arm:






Close up of my new 2.5mm CF motor braces:




Somehow, despite using G10 rather than carbon fibre, I have ended up with a frame that is more rigid than before... I literally cannot get this thing to flex in my hands no matter how hard I try. I have also improved the mesh between tail drive gears which was a bit too loose before.

Also, a couple of other bits hot off the press:

Panels for the quad launcher and mounts:




Anyone guess what this is?




So, problem is I'm now a little stuck until I get my custom bottom bracket machined... might come up with some bodge in the mean time that allows me to get on with things.

In other news - the weapon mounts and quad launcher arrived yesterday but my neighbour took delivery. Hopefully I'll be able to pick them up tomorrow. I'm also now contemplating my own 3D printer... it won't completely replace shapeways for the super detailed stuff but it will be seriously handy for many of my projects both present and future. I think I'm becoming desensitised to spending hideous amounts of money lol....