@BATTLEAXE ...did you do the motor thrust angle on the bronco ,same as the explorer ??
Exploring the Explorer
- Thread starter BATTLEAXE
- Start date
BATTLEAXE
Legendary member
I have done the underside of the wing tips before and that seems to work as well. The orange does look cool though. I haven't decided yet. The Explorer that i built this from had black stripes and it was super easy to see, and watching @Headbang do his Sea Duck maiden reminded me of it. Thanks for the tip i will consider it. I do have lots of orange paint at home
BATTLEAXE
Legendary member
Yea i did. The thrust angle is the same on the nacelle but i didn't notch out the back of the wing to warp around the nacelle. Just left it straight and lengthened the fuse by 2.5 inches instead. It is a more scale look and at the time i built the wing i totally forgot about the notch, so i had to compensate for balance. I like how it turned out though. And it flies great.
Are you building yours yet?
Steve Fox
Active member
The photos don't do it justice, it's mega bright lol, it's proper florescent orange
My daily cub looks awful as it meant to be a temporary wing to get me flying the next day after I sliced the previous wing in two on a power line and the paint I had was running out and I just wanted to get something on there so it could be seen and didn't care how it looked , the one I've shown you here is how I normally paint them and it's a flawless finish with even coverage.
I often to bodge cosmetic jobs just to get airborne, the mechanical side is all that really matters when all you see is the view from your fpv cam and just want to get it repaired by the next day
As bright as my orange is, black contrasts so much against white that Its still going to give very good visibility, I just go down the 'you can't miss it' route ha ha.
BATTLEAXE
Legendary member
Yea i dont go as far as you do but when i get a ways off from line of sight its hard to tell which is up and you hesitate on the sticks to scared to pull out cuz it might be the wrong way... been there done that, many times.The photos don't do it justice, it's mega bright lol, it's proper florescent orange
My daily cub looks awful as it meant to be a temporary wing to get me flying the next day after I sliced the previous wing in two on a power line and the paint I had was running out and I just wanted to get something on there so it could be seen and didn't care how it looked , the one I've shown you here is how I normally paint them and it's a flawless finish with even coverage.
I often to bodge cosmetic jobs just to get airborne, the mechanical side is all that really matters when all you see is the view from your fpv cam and just want to get it repaired by the next day
As bright as my orange is, black contrasts so much against white that Its still going to give very good visibility, I just go down the 'you can't miss it' route ha ha.
All the gear you have in urs is for the high altitude flying?
just started doing the booms at the moment....not working from plans ,so it not gonna look like original anyway ..but want to keep to the general parameters...only thing original will be the core/fuse !!
BATTLEAXE
Legendary member
I can't wait to see what u have got goin on. Are you using a different wing? There was a guy here who is using the wing from the Storch.
Steve Fox
Active member
Yeah, it's a standard loadout I fit to all my planes, a forward facing cam. A down facing cam to keep tack of my ground position , a cam switcher, stand alone voltage osd (on planes that don't have a flight controller like my daily cub), 800mw vtx (GPS cub has a 1200mw), 30a esc and ether a racerstar 2212 1400kv or a racerstar 2830 1300kv
I run a 9x5 prop on the 2212 and ether a 9x5 ot a 10x4.5 on the 2830.
My rx in the plane is a FlySky fs-ia6b and my tx on the ground you know about.
For my fpv on the ground I'm using skyzone sj-v01 diversity that have a high quality 7" screen and a resolution of 1280x800, whilst analogue fpv is not that high a resolution, the high grade screen makes a huge difference over cheap ones and I can plug ether an analogue or hdmi HD external video source into them which makes them work great on a groundstation, I lay In bed once and watched a film on what has the effect of looking like a 100" screen lol
For my antennas I use a omni and a high gain directional antenna.
I have both linear and circular polarised of in both omni and directional and can change the format I'm using to suit, circular on a directional gives decent range and what I'm doing most of my flying on but linear has superior range on the same power.
BATTLEAXE
Legendary member
For a tractor style prop/motor set up are you setting up the cams in the fuse? Figured the pusher style would be a better fit for FPV
Steve Fox
Active member
Im used to looking though the prop anyway on my other planes but on the explorer i have the camera up very high on a pan and tilt and quite far back from the prop as well and it will not suffer much from looking thought the prop.
My fpv camera was mounted in a foam surround and mounted on the pan/tilt face but i recently cable tied it to the top so i could also mount the firefly micro on it as you can see in the pic.
You can also see that ive started making test fits of the motor in the nose, it hasnt been secured yet and im also going to make a new nose section which runs straight from the nose curve to the top without the 'windscreen' bump in it and ill have a hatch to access the battery as i wont be able to take the nose off without taking the prop off.
Steve Fox
Active member
as i was chopping the motor away from the top and then sizing it up in the nose it suddenly made me realise im gonna fix something which was a real issue on launches.
with the prop up top, the prop blast completely misses the elevator and it rely's purely on forward motion to have any effect.
on launches i couldn't understand why the elevator had no effect what so ever when i tried pulling up to stop it nose diving when i chucked it but looking at it again as im re configuring it i can see why!
with the Prop where its now going, the blast is in line with the elevator and it going to give it some authority on launch
with the prop up top, the prop blast completely misses the elevator and it rely's purely on forward motion to have any effect.
on launches i couldn't understand why the elevator had no effect what so ever when i tried pulling up to stop it nose diving when i chucked it but looking at it again as im re configuring it i can see why!
with the Prop where its now going, the blast is in line with the elevator and it going to give it some authority on launch
BATTLEAXE
Legendary member
Are you using a standard poewer pod?
You said you werent gonna use the aluminum mount. I am thinkin that would have fit on the front of the battery tray inside the nose...
Steve Fox
Active member
Not using a power pod, just a box section made of foam board and a aluminium firewall on the front f it for the motor to mount too.
i thought about re using the mount from the top but its heavier than what i have made and it also put the motor higher up than i wanted.
started making the new nose section, you can see what i mean about getting rid of the windscreen shape, it will allow for a large battery hatch and it will also improve aerodynamics.
ill probably put proper plastic hinges on it, i have loads of them and with the amount of battery changes ill do, a paper hinge will go bad real quick.
BATTLEAXE
Legendary member
Ok I see what you mean now. I never tried the plastic hinges on the FB. It would be interesting to see how it works out
BATTLEAXE
Legendary member
Have you seen this plane before
Steve Fox
Active member
you use plastic gear servos and killed them?
i go inverted in fpv but i wont do it line of sight, it will end in a crash for me too lol
Steve Fox
Active member
Not seen that beforeq, its nose is simlar looking to what this explorer is going to have but with a motor in it.
ive kind of been put off pushers, maybe ill give another a try at some point but flying so heavy on all my planes i need them to drag themselves into the air.
Last edited:
BATTLEAXE
Legendary member
Servos still work, the ESC came unplugged on impact so they got left that way. I might have pushed the elevator the wrong way obviously from the direction it was left, and panicked to try to roll out of a vertical nose dive... two things went wrong very quickly lol
Steve Fox
Active member
Ahh, that didn't cross my mind as I've never had a battery disconnect in a crash, they have nowhere to go when Velcroed inside a power pod and on the Explorer I wasn't happy with it just sitting on Velcro in that open space so have a battery strap as well on that plane.
