Hello RC Friends, my name is Kadon and I have been in the hobby for 6 or 7 years, I'm 14 years old and I am really passionate about building planes and designing my own, When I first flew FPV I had a nano QX FPV, I loved it and flew that for about 4 months. Then I started building my own flying wings and more, I have always wanted to get a good quad, I finally got an FT Gremlin and I built that and got it programed and working awesome thanks to the help of you wonderfull people on the FT forums. I now fly in full acro mode and I'm always diving through trees and ripping around gates. I really want to build a 5 inch mini quad before it starts snowing, I wanted to build an Xhover R5x frame on flitest, but I can't come up with that money before it starts snowing where I live, I looked at the Eachine Wizzard X220 and I saw some amazing reviews on it. For the price coming in at 145 it seems like a great quad, it comes without a TX and a battery, I would also love to build a quad but I don't no which components will be good for a cheap price, If you no any cheaper components please let me no, I have been working my but off and I'm ready to get a mini quad. I would really appreciate some ideas, Thanks and happy flying!
, I'm 14 years old, I can't afford a $500 quad, what's a cheap but still good build?
- Thread starter kadon
- Start date
I am very lucky to be able to work with my dad and build houses and all sorts of stuff.
PsyBorg
Wake up! Time to fly!
Heya little bud.
I have watched you pop in here and in a very short time do a whole bunch of things. People are stepping up and helping you and I am glad you are in the air with your Gremlin. I know at your age everything has to be now now now and the excitement factor is thru the roof.
Not to hurt your feelings but for yours and others safety sake I am going to suggest you forgo the 5 inch til spring. Here is why and I really am not trying to put you down in anyway. Playing with a Gremlin or one of the prebuilt micros is Ok for someone just learning. You can progress very far very fast with them. The thing is they are light enough and slow enough they can't do any real damage. The Gremlin can to a point but still not like a 5 incher.
Going by your threads specially with the rapid fire always an emergency I need help theme to them I have seen your skills and knowledge really are not ready for that step up to a 5 inch just yet. Making a soldering / wiring mistake on a Gremlin or a camera is one thing. About the most you can do is burn gear out which you have done because of the rush to go fly. Making those same mistakes on a 5s has the potential to burn your house down or seriously hurt you or someone else if you do not have the proper knowledge to be working on things of this caliber.
I would suggest you take the winter and fly your Gremlin as much as you can. Get on a few sims, I recommend FPVFreerider, Hotprops and DRL in that order as all three will teach you different skills and range in detailed set up from mild to hard so you get to really know what parameters do for a real quad. Save your money over winter and start by picking up a decent radio like a Taranis QX7 or similar. That way come spring you have a really reliable radio that you are used to from all the sims and know it inside out so you can set up a bigger quad correctly.
Then spend time reading reading and more reading. Specially basic electronics. Its nice to have the forums to fall back on for help but for it to be your only source of knowledge along with limited to no practical knowledge is just asking for real trouble. I also suggest before you start messing with 5 inchers no matter if you do it in spring or impenitently do it sooner but get one of those how to solder practice kits off the net or from radio shack if there is still one close to you. This way you will lessen the chance to wire something wrong, or have poor practices that will lead to issues that could possibly short out a 4s or 5s battery and explode or end up starting a fire.
Again I am not trying to be a jerk and I am not trying to scare you but you need to know when you take that step up the risks rise exponentially with that step. Hopefully others may chime in and maybe some with better personal skills then I have to explain it maybe better for you will put it all in less gruff terms because this is important stuff.
I have watched you pop in here and in a very short time do a whole bunch of things. People are stepping up and helping you and I am glad you are in the air with your Gremlin. I know at your age everything has to be now now now and the excitement factor is thru the roof.
Not to hurt your feelings but for yours and others safety sake I am going to suggest you forgo the 5 inch til spring. Here is why and I really am not trying to put you down in anyway. Playing with a Gremlin or one of the prebuilt micros is Ok for someone just learning. You can progress very far very fast with them. The thing is they are light enough and slow enough they can't do any real damage. The Gremlin can to a point but still not like a 5 incher.
Going by your threads specially with the rapid fire always an emergency I need help theme to them I have seen your skills and knowledge really are not ready for that step up to a 5 inch just yet. Making a soldering / wiring mistake on a Gremlin or a camera is one thing. About the most you can do is burn gear out which you have done because of the rush to go fly. Making those same mistakes on a 5s has the potential to burn your house down or seriously hurt you or someone else if you do not have the proper knowledge to be working on things of this caliber.
I would suggest you take the winter and fly your Gremlin as much as you can. Get on a few sims, I recommend FPVFreerider, Hotprops and DRL in that order as all three will teach you different skills and range in detailed set up from mild to hard so you get to really know what parameters do for a real quad. Save your money over winter and start by picking up a decent radio like a Taranis QX7 or similar. That way come spring you have a really reliable radio that you are used to from all the sims and know it inside out so you can set up a bigger quad correctly.
Then spend time reading reading and more reading. Specially basic electronics. Its nice to have the forums to fall back on for help but for it to be your only source of knowledge along with limited to no practical knowledge is just asking for real trouble. I also suggest before you start messing with 5 inchers no matter if you do it in spring or impenitently do it sooner but get one of those how to solder practice kits off the net or from radio shack if there is still one close to you. This way you will lessen the chance to wire something wrong, or have poor practices that will lead to issues that could possibly short out a 4s or 5s battery and explode or end up starting a fire.
Again I am not trying to be a jerk and I am not trying to scare you but you need to know when you take that step up the risks rise exponentially with that step. Hopefully others may chime in and maybe some with better personal skills then I have to explain it maybe better for you will put it all in less gruff terms because this is important stuff.
I understand, I no I may seem I'm just a 14 year old kid that doesn't no what he is doing, I have been soldering for about 3 years now and I have a pretty good solder joint
I also recently just built a second Gremlin for my brother, it's been a blast to fly with him. I taught him with my tiny whoop and a couple simulators. He got the hang of it really fast, And about messing things up and blowing something up such as a 4s, my dad has made me check everything with a multimeter multiple times. I have an old utility room for my workshop that is all cement and has many safe precautions. I think the age gets to everyone but that's alright haha. I also really like nitro and gas planes as we fly those a lot in my club, thanks for the tips.
Nitro = Nitromethane fuel. It powers two stroke (generally smaller, but there are some exceptions) engines on bigger airplanes and helis. Nitro is a bit of a dying breed as gas comes down in price and up in reliability. Nitro is pretty finicky too, but they make a really nice sound.
Trust me, they're not down talking you. There's a LOT to learn in this hobby, and I'm still picking up more everyday. They are probably trying to either keep you from doing something unsafe, or helping you find a better deal, rather than going for cheap, unreliable components (I think that is where this comment is coming from in relation to this thread.)
My Alien 6" is about $700 in the air with a GoPro. My Tiny trainer is about $45. I fly both with the same radio. A poor choice of radio will impact everything you fly. It's the same with your lipo charger.
IMO, you want a good balance charger and transmitter before you start building out your hangar. If you have one already, cool. But if you don't have a good radio yet, I would spend there first and use it to re-learn how to fly the Gremlin. I say re-learn because if you are going from something really cheap like a FlySky (Turnigy) to something that runs OpenTX with logical switches and telemetry and good gimbals, It's gonna take a few weeks to learn to use it.
Take more time to choose a radio than you do to choose your copter components.
After that it's a question of value. When I fly I crash. When I crash my Aliens they don't break. When I flew my Polakium (3d printed) it broke. Broken cost more in time and money in the long run. The alien cost $120. The Polakium $25. In 6 months the Alien was cheaper. YMMV.
When I bought my Aliens they were new tech. Now there seem to be frames that cost less and deliver similar or better results.
For a 5" copter I think you want at a minimum:
2204 2300kv motors. There are 2205s and even bigger/better but I wouldn't go down to 1806.
4S.
FrSky receiver with telemetry for voltage or current monitoring. This eliminates Spektrum and Turnigy (I expect some flame for this).
Bl_heli S ESCs 20A or better. Check out Aikon.
Carbon fiber frame with 4mm booms. X frame will tend to be more aerobatic but you need to be good to really notice.
Any parts you source in China will come with Chinese service (none). Buyer beware. Stay away from Ready To Fly Quads in the US.
IMO, you want a good balance charger and transmitter before you start building out your hangar. If you have one already, cool. But if you don't have a good radio yet, I would spend there first and use it to re-learn how to fly the Gremlin. I say re-learn because if you are going from something really cheap like a FlySky (Turnigy) to something that runs OpenTX with logical switches and telemetry and good gimbals, It's gonna take a few weeks to learn to use it.
Take more time to choose a radio than you do to choose your copter components.
After that it's a question of value. When I fly I crash. When I crash my Aliens they don't break. When I flew my Polakium (3d printed) it broke. Broken cost more in time and money in the long run. The alien cost $120. The Polakium $25. In 6 months the Alien was cheaper. YMMV.
When I bought my Aliens they were new tech. Now there seem to be frames that cost less and deliver similar or better results.
For a 5" copter I think you want at a minimum:
2204 2300kv motors. There are 2205s and even bigger/better but I wouldn't go down to 1806.
4S.
FrSky receiver with telemetry for voltage or current monitoring. This eliminates Spektrum and Turnigy (I expect some flame for this).
Bl_heli S ESCs 20A or better. Check out Aikon.
Carbon fiber frame with 4mm booms. X frame will tend to be more aerobatic but you need to be good to really notice.
Any parts you source in China will come with Chinese service (none). Buyer beware. Stay away from Ready To Fly Quads in the US.
French
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Kadon,
I'll help. Do you want a racer or a freestyle platform? If you want a quality DIY 5" I'd suggest parts similar to the following:
2206 2450kv motors (lots of power, but not top of the line expensive)
$80 - https://www.racedayquads.com/collec...badass-2206-2450kv-naked-bottom-racing-motors
CL Racing F4 FC (inexpensive, great layout, has a built in PDB & OSD, and plenty of processing power)
$30 - https://www.racedayquads.com/products/cl-racing-f4-flight-controller-aio?variant=50085311699
30A escs ('Id stick with speedix, aikon, or Emax bullet)
$48 - https://www.racedayquads.com/collections/all-escs/products/spedix-30a-esc-hv-3-6s-dshot-600-blheli_s
A knock off ~210mm unibody frame (carbon is generally carbon. I had a similar frame of for my first 5", and it still flies great)
$25 - https://www.amazon.com/Crazepony-Ca...5okkw995v_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&s=toys-and-games
RunCam Mini Swift (to save a few bucks. You could also get a full sized Swift or micro find a way to mount it)
$35 - https://www.racedayquads.com/collec...swift-mini-camera-2-5mm-lens-black-and-orange
VTX03 200mW VTX (it only has a dipole antenna, but easy to upgrade later)
$14 - https://www.racedayquads.com/collec.../eachine-vtx-03-video-transmitter-25-50-200mw
A receiver (if FrSky, I'd suggest an XM plus, XSR, or XSR-m)
$14 to $20 - https://www.racedayquads.com/collections/frsky/products/xsr-m-frsky-receiver
=
~$250 for the quad
1300mah 4S 70C batteries (these are cheap, but reliable)
$16 each - http://chinahobbyline.us/product/content/201607/516.html
I'll help. Do you want a racer or a freestyle platform? If you want a quality DIY 5" I'd suggest parts similar to the following:
2206 2450kv motors (lots of power, but not top of the line expensive)
$80 - https://www.racedayquads.com/collec...badass-2206-2450kv-naked-bottom-racing-motors
CL Racing F4 FC (inexpensive, great layout, has a built in PDB & OSD, and plenty of processing power)
$30 - https://www.racedayquads.com/products/cl-racing-f4-flight-controller-aio?variant=50085311699
30A escs ('Id stick with speedix, aikon, or Emax bullet)
$48 - https://www.racedayquads.com/collections/all-escs/products/spedix-30a-esc-hv-3-6s-dshot-600-blheli_s
A knock off ~210mm unibody frame (carbon is generally carbon. I had a similar frame of for my first 5", and it still flies great)
$25 - https://www.amazon.com/Crazepony-Ca...5okkw995v_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&s=toys-and-games
RunCam Mini Swift (to save a few bucks. You could also get a full sized Swift or micro find a way to mount it)
$35 - https://www.racedayquads.com/collec...swift-mini-camera-2-5mm-lens-black-and-orange
VTX03 200mW VTX (it only has a dipole antenna, but easy to upgrade later)
$14 - https://www.racedayquads.com/collec.../eachine-vtx-03-video-transmitter-25-50-200mw
A receiver (if FrSky, I'd suggest an XM plus, XSR, or XSR-m)
$14 to $20 - https://www.racedayquads.com/collections/frsky/products/xsr-m-frsky-receiver
=
~$250 for the quad
1300mah 4S 70C batteries (these are cheap, but reliable)
$16 each - http://chinahobbyline.us/product/content/201607/516.html
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Solid lineup. Should kick the snott out of the Eachine.
Liam B
Well-known member
Good list, French! 100% agree. You could also use some Emax RS2205's. They are only $14 each!
https://store.flitetest.com/emax-rs-2205-2300kv-motor/
https://store.flitetest.com/emax-rs-2205-2300kv-motor/
Liam B
Well-known member
Mhmm, I agree. I'm 14, but I flew for almost three years before I got my 5" quad AND was the soldering apprentice on my robotics team. So, don't rush. I rushed my first 5" and as PsyBorg knows, I thrashed the crap outta that thing and ignored everyones advice.
French
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The 2205s are great budget motors and they are built like a tank.
