Darkback2 Learns Acro Feestyle with the Alien 5 Inch

Darkback2

New member

Here is an older example of my home loop. It is a lot harder in the summer because the plants are much more over grown. It is also a video I shot with my 360 camera which doesn't do well in low light...

DB
 

cranialrectosis

Faster than a speeding face plant!
Mentor
WOW. Nice home loop. That looks like fun and you have enough space to go fast! :)

I have been playing in my yard with the 4" Alien on 4S and the Twitchity mini-tricopter (6") on 3S. I am hoping this will all translate when I take the Alien 6" out to the field again. I really can't go fast in my yard unless I want to fly higher than the fence so I spend most of my time doing slalom around the fruit trees.

I dunno which is harder, flying in Summer when the bushes and trees are full and green or in the winter when the branches are bare and invisible. I think in the summer I hit more leaves but in winter I hit more branches and break more props.

A long time ago, I managed the billing system for the cable company up at Friday Harbor over on San Juan. I've been out there a few times. Your neighborhood is just freaking awesome!
 

Darkback2

New member
So I made a longer video featuring a return of the 360 camera. I got it fixed and have managed to mount it on the Alien 5 inch. One thing I can say is this camera makes the quad super nose heavy. This is interesting in that flips tend to be faster than you expect because the quad sort of whips around the heavy weight in the front, and unpowered stalls tend to be much less predictable. So When I fly up really high, invert and cut power the quad sort of "leafs" or "feathers" would be the best way I could describe it.

In either case, having a less predictable quad means you have to plan farther in advance. Here I am trying to make a virtual rollercoaster ride with my quad. I don't nail all the moves, and my go back and try again later, but here is a "first" attempt.


DB
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Please tell my you use a normal board camera to fly with and just film with the 360 one. Man that's like trying to fly on LSD. I couldn't watch the whole thing it did my head in. Nice flying what I did watch though.
 

Darkback2

New member
Please tell my you use a normal board camera to fly with and just film with the 360 one. Man that's like trying to fly on LSD.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I use the HS1174 to fly through. The latency on the 360 camera would be unbelievable. Thanks for the complement about the flying, I'm trying to get more predictable, but with the 360 camera on there it is a totally different flying experience.

DB
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Have you tried to fly using the 360 at all? If so I give you 5 points off my man card to add to yours cause thats just brave or insane either earns the points IMO.
 

Darkback2

New member
The camera and 3d printed mount weigh just under half a pound, ~225 grams. That is almost exactly twice what my Yi and 3d printed mount weigh. That said, the issue is more about density than anything else. It is half a pound concentrated into a very small area that is very hard to locate centrally on the quad. I may actually mount my battery on the bottom of the Alien so that I can mount this where the battery goes. Even that will require a new 3d printed mount.

Meh...I'm sure there are bigger problems in the world. :)

DB
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Finally got a chance to flip through all these vids. Looks like you are making great progress on the acro. Going through much the same myself right now. Need to hook my dvr up and record my FPV feed. Not brave enough to throw my GoPro on the front yet. So do you have a 360 monitor to watch footage from that 360 camera?

Cheers!
LitterBug
 

Darkback2

New member
Currently I have one of those boxes you put your phone in and then strap to your face. The camera does have wifi output that goes to the phone app, but the latency would be ridiculous as would the glitching as you fly in and out of range. I should test it just for fun, though I'm not sure I would be happy with the results. I have already had to replace this camera once due to a crash...

Some people call it bravery...Others call it foolishness. I like to think it is a mix of the two.

DB
 

Darkback2

New member
I just had the strangest experience. I flew my Hubsan H107D for the first time in months just now. We are going to a family reunion tomorrow so I figured I would throw all the quads in the car incase anyone wanted to learn how to fly. Because I haven't flown the Hubsan in a while I pulled it out. It was like trying to fly a bowl of Syrup. It felt so slow...and I couldn't see anything except the ground.

So strange.

DB
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Uh oh. I only flew mine once. You mean I'm gonna hate it more than I did then? Sounds like time to donate them to noobs.

Cheers!
LitterBug
 

Darkback2

New member
So...The wife and I got back from Winthrop about a week ago, and now I am driving down to LA to visit my sister. I had a really strange experience flying my quad this evening.

I found this open field in Yreka where I am spending the night and got my quad out. I haven't flown it since Winthrop mind you.

It was like I had never flown before. Every time I hit the throttle the quad popped up instead of going forward. My timing on flips was off...Heck...I crashed on take off the first time I tried to lift off out of the parking lot. Just flipped over like a turtle.

Took me 2 packs before I realized that I had lowered my camera angle by 20 degrees in Winthrop because I didn't want to go too fast in a new place... :-( I would love to say I adjusted my camera angle, went out to the field, and had a familiar flying experience, but by the time I had the camera adjusted and everything back together it was dark out.

I'll have to see if I can find a similar situation to fly somewhere on Highway 5 between Yreka and LA tomorrow.

DB
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
hehe I crashed a lot the other day when I put my new camera to the test and did the same thing. The very first thing I did was tilt too far forward on take off and dug the landing skids in under the taller grass and power slammed the quad onto the action cam. THEN to top it off once I did get air born I did the same thing somehow and broke the freshly made camera mount. I went back in and made a plastic sleeve and went back to zip ties for my FPV mount and set the angle the way I had been fly and just popped up and flew a little higher until I found the feel for the 2.5 mm lens vs the 2.8mm. Stoopid nature always interfering with my fun anyway..
 

Darkback2

New member
So wish I was recording my flights yesterday. I started by flying my blade 150, retuning it a bit following some advice from psyborg. I got it flying and flipping smoothly with minimal D (I increased P)...Flew 2 packs with it. Really happy with how it flies. Then I switched to my Alien 5 inch. I haven't flown it in a while because I have been more focused on getting my 150 flying well again. (had a crash that made things really not want to work.) I usually have some trouble flying when I switch, but yesterday...I took off...popped it up off of the very bench I was sitting on, and went straight into a front flip. (intentionally that is.) For the rest of the pack everything felt so smooth. I usually panic when I do a flip gunning the throttle as I come out of it, and there was still a little bit of that, but really more often then not I was able to keep myself from doing that and instead I was focused on my next move. Power loops felt so much better and I came out of them knowing I wasn't going to plow into the ground. I did a roll while heading towards a tree, but I knew where the tree was the whole time and was able to come out of the roll, correct, and fly around the tree without getting caught up.

All in all I think somehow flying the blade 150 has really helped me when it comes to flying the Alien 5 inch...I ended the flight feeling the way I do after a yoga practice. Had 2 more flights just like it...

DB
 

PsyBorg

Wake up! Time to fly!
Don'tcha just love them days. When everything feels in harmony with the rest of the universe and you can just melt into the flight.