My First Wing - TBRC Apex

ElectriSean

Eternal Student
Mentor
apex.jpg


I bought this kit last fall on the recommendation of my buddy Andrew (WRCKIT). He bought one at the same time and built it right away. I was a bit intimidated by the build, as cutting and gluing things together is definitely not where my talents lie, so it sat in a box with all the bits and pieces I cobbled together. This spring, Andrew was offered an opportunity to some aerial photography for cash and wanted to rent my Chroma. He agreed to build the Apex as payment, which was a total win/win. He did a fantastic job of building and setting it up.

Some specs:

TBRC Apex 700mm wing kit
Emax 12gr Metal gear servos
RacerStar BR2205 2600Kv motor
30A Emax BLHeli ESC
RunCam Micro Swift 2
Foxeer Switcher 200mW VTx
FrSky D4RII Rx
Rotorgeeks 4s 1300mAh batteries

I did the maiden with a 5050 tri blade prop, but later decided to go with a 5045 2 blade for efficiency. I can easily get 10 minute flight times with the 2 blade, though after that long the ESC and motor are pretty hot. I'm thinking the 2600Kv is a little too much for that motor on 4s (it's only rated for 4" props on 4s) so I'll probably replace it with a 2300kv I have lying around.

Obligatory Maiden video

Check out WRCKIT on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcZY8AZCF0Gr0GDpsLQxPRQ
My Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5KxVCTJjtVehQ9IHHnYVNw
 

ElectriSean

Eternal Student
Mentor
Congrats Sean. What are your thoughts about the fixed wing side of the hobby?

Thanks Jim :) I've always loved fixed wing, it's what got me into the hobby originally. Up to this point it's all been LOS flying with more conventional styled planes, the only pusher I've had before was the Explorer, and all my planes had tails. The biggest adjustment I had to make going to a delta wing is the complete lack of yaw control. I'm so used to using yaw with multirotors, I still find myself giving rudder stick input ;) I was kind of worried for my first FPV flight after so much time flying quads... The controls re the same, but you definitely work them differently. I was worried for nothing though, I guess all those years of flight sims paid off, it just felt natural. I'm looking forward to getting out to some more interesting locations, our club flying field is in the middle of a farmers field - absolutely nothing to look at but crops. The nearest tree is 550 meters away... Great for low-risk LOS flying of any kind of plane, but kind of lame for FPV.