Nano Goblin VS Mini AR Wing

BayDesigns

Active member
I’ve read lots of great things about the Nano Goblin, and it seems like exactly my kind of plane- it does everything well, with good handling and no apparent bad tendencies. However, it’s expensive, and I’m left to wonder if it might be better to go with another model. The Mini AR Wing seems like a good choice, but not nearly as good as the Nano Goblin. Of course, I’ll welcome any suggestions for other models. No matter what I end up purchasing, I’d like to do a full iNav setup. Would it be better to stomach the higher initial cost? Thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
I have 2 Nano Goblins and have been flying the first one since they were released. Full iNav in one, and FT Aura 5 in the other. They are good cruisers in calm air for FPV, but their light weight makes for a really bumpy ride on windy days. Stabilization helps on bumpy days, but not as much as having a bigger/heavier build. I have not flown the Mini-AR-wing, but one of the guys at the field has one, and he really likes them. The mini AR wing is significantly heavier at 400ish grams. The Nano goblin can fly <250g.

Video from recent maiden of NG#2 recently with a FT Aura5 and an AIO camera. This was a fairly bumpy night. I can see the differences in flight modes, but someone who hasn't flown one of these would probably think it was bumpy the whole flight. Take off was in full manual, and the high rate rolls were in full manual mode. Most of the rest of the flight was in 3 and 6 degree gyro stabilized modes.
 
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BayDesigns

Active member
I have 2 Nano Goblins and have been flying the first one since they were released. Full iNav in one, and FT Aura 5 in the other. They are good cruisers in calm air for FPV, but their light weight makes for a really bumpy ride on windy days. Stabilization helps on bumpy days, but not as much as having a bigger/heavier build. I have not flown the Mini-AR-wing, but one of the guys at the field has one, and he really likes them. The mini AR wing is significantly heavier at 400ish grams. The Nano goblin can fly <250g.

Video from recent maiden of NG#2 recently with a FT Aura5 and an AIO camera. This was a fairly bumpy night. I can see the differences in flight modes, but someone who hasn't flown one of these would probably think it was bumpy the whole flight. Take off was in full manual, and the high rate rolls were in full manual mode. Most of the rest of the flight was in 3 and 6 degree gyro stabilized modes.
What are flight times like on the Mini AR?
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
I have 2 Nano Goblins and have been flying the first one since they were released. Full iNav in one, and FT Aura 5 in the other. They are good cruisers in calm air for FPV, but their light weight makes for a really bumpy ride on windy days. Stabilization helps on bumpy days, but not as much as having a bigger/heavier build. I have not flown the Mini-AR-wing, but one of the guys at the field has one, and he really likes them. The mini AR wing is significantly heavier at 400ish grams. The Nano goblin can fly <250g.

Video from recent maiden of NG#2 recently with a FT Aura5 and an AIO camera. This was a fairly bumpy night. I can see the differences in flight modes, but someone who hasn't flown one of these would probably think it was bumpy the whole flight. Take off was in full manual, and the high rate rolls were in full manual mode. Most of the rest of the flight was in 3 and 6 degree gyro stabilized modes.

that doesn't look very stable, only times I had even stabilized flights that bumpy was when there was a storm coming in, strong winds going over the tree tops creating turbulence and even most of those days if I got as high as you were, the air would have smoothed back out.

I am looking into making use of the d term that finally got added into the fixed wing PIDFF config in iNAV 3.0 to see if I can get a smoother flight out of it.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
that doesn't look very stable, only times I had even stabilized flights that bumpy was when there was a storm coming in, strong winds going over the tree tops creating turbulence and even most of those days if I got as high as you were, the air would have smoothed back out.

I am looking into making use of the d term that finally got added into the fixed wing PIDFF config in iNAV 3.0 to see if I can get a smoother flight out of it.
Not going to help a 250g plane in turbulent air like it was that night. Even my stratosurfer which is rock solid was getting bumped around that night.
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
Not going to help a 250g plane in turbulent air like it was that night. Even my stratosurfer which is rock solid was getting bumped around that night.

maybe it was more turbulent then the trees made it look ;) my FT Dart is generally smoother then that, except times were I get issues from the wind coming through/over the tress. but if I get 20-30ft above the tree tops things tend to sooth right out.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
maybe it was more turbulent then the trees made it look ;) my FT Dart is generally smoother then that, except times were I get issues from the wind coming through/over the tress. but if I get 20-30ft above the tree tops things tend to sooth right out.
ALL of us at the field that night commented on how turbulent it was. Not just windy, TURBULENT. I doubt your Dart is 250grams. EVERYthing flies better than a light plane under those conditions.
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
ALL of us at the field that night commented on how turbulent it was. Not just windy, TURBULENT. I doubt your Dart is 250grams. EVERYthing flies better than a light plane under those conditions.

your right, it is currently 260g AUW with the 2s Li-ion pack... I have a few grams to shave to get it sub 250g.

and as I said, it must have been more turbulent then I could see in the trees in the video... around here it typically is better at alitude (as your not dealing with the turbulence from stuff)
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
your right, it is currently 260g AUW with the 2s Li-ion pack... I have a few grams to shave to get it sub 250g.

and as I said, it must have been more turbulent then I could see in the trees in the video... around here it typically is better at alitude (as your not dealing with the turbulence from stuff)
LOL, OK, that is MUCH lighter than I figured it would be.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
your right, it is currently 260g AUW with the 2s Li-ion pack... I have a few grams to shave to get it sub 250g.

and as I said, it must have been more turbulent then I could see in the trees in the video... around here it typically is better at alitude (as your not dealing with the turbulence from stuff)
What did you build your Dart with? I have one of the FT kits and am debating on using weight savings techniques during the build. Like removing excess paper, using E6000 instead of hot glue, etc.....
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
What did you build your Dart with? I have one of the FT kits and am debating on using weight savings techniques during the build. Like removing excess paper, using E6000 instead of hot glue, etc.....
  • Ross Foam board
  • stripped [almost] all internal paper
  • white Gorilla Glue for almost all joins
  • 3d printed motor pods - there is some weight savings possibilities here IE: LW-PLA, reduced 'size' of the print, etc.
if you use a more 'normal' weight battery for the craft size then my ~100g li-ion, you should be able to hit sub 250g fairly easy. A 2s 650mAh lipo is only 39g [at least the one I just grabbed with Velcro on it], which should still get you 5-6 minutes flight time. I was cruising at bout 5A per my flight controller.

I also had to modify the battery hatch to fit the li-ion pack.

I will say the motor pods are great over all, they get the motors up a bit, so the props aren't dragging on the ground.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
Hmmm. the motor pods I printed are lower and centered on the wing. I used PETG since the motors "may" get abused and hot. (2x BetaFPV 1106 5000kv) Used the low pods in the hopes that I can do a tailsitter VTOL. Having the airflow more equally over both sides of the control surfaces should help with VTOL. Looked at my build and the wing innards are already hot-glued so it may be too late to go super light weight. Think I'll E6000 the rest of it anyway and strip what I can. I have not folded the wing over and glued the top down, so still can still strip some of the innards to save a bit there. I keep flip flopping on using a FC or raw RX...
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
Hmmm. the motor pods I printed are lower and centered on the wing. I used PETG since the motors "may" get abused and hot. (2x BetaFPV 1106 5000kv) Used the low ones in the hopes that I can do a tailsitter VTOL. Having the airflow more equally over both sides of the control surfaces should help with VTOL. Looked at my build and the wing innards are already hot-glued so it may be too late to go super light weight. Think I'll E6000 the rest of it anyway and strip what I can. I have not folded the wing over and glued the top down, so still can still strip some of the innards to save a bit there. I keep flip flopping on using a FC or raw RX...
the default dart pods are under-slung, mine line the motor up with the wing almost perfectly. you can see my motor mounts here:
https://forum.flitetest.com/index.php?threads/what-did-you-fly-today.57878/page-436#post-665056

You might have an issue with doing a tail sitter VTOL unless your motors are better then the H-pack motors from FT, I can only get about 120-130g thrust max per motor, which isn't enough to VTOL it at 250-260g AUW. When I tried 3s, every prop combo would get the motor to hot on the bench (same 1006, but only 4500kv), so I don't think there is a way to get enough thrust per motor to get real VTOL out of it without burning up the motors. Or if there is, it would be rather borderline.
 

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
OK, same pods as mine. My motors are 1106, not 1006, so who knows... could also throw 4 motors at it for some added thrust.... I also have a good assortment of props to choose from. Think initially it will be raw RX.
 

sprzout

Knower of useless information
Mentor
I’ve read lots of great things about the Nano Goblin, and it seems like exactly my kind of plane- it does everything well, with good handling and no apparent bad tendencies. However, it’s expensive, and I’m left to wonder if it might be better to go with another model. The Mini AR Wing seems like a good choice, but not nearly as good as the Nano Goblin. Of course, I’ll welcome any suggestions for other models. No matter what I end up purchasing, I’d like to do a full iNav setup. Would it be better to stomach the higher initial cost? Thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions.

I've gone through all 3 different versions of the Goblin - the Nano Goblin, the FT Goblin, and the regular Strix Goblin. All of them are great fun, but the Nano Goblin makes guys at the field jealous when I tell them it will fly for 30 min. on a charge (I generally don't fly it that long, usually 10 minutes at a stretch to be courteous to others on the flight line). Its roll rate is phenomenal, and it whips around the skies. Couple of the guys have thought that we should use them for Combat, but I'd rather build the FT Goblin for that - it's a lot cheaper to rebuild if we have the inevitable midair. :)
 

JasonK

Participation Award Recipient
OK, same pods as mine. My motors are 1106, not 1006, so who knows... could also throw 4 motors at it for some added thrust.... I also have a good assortment of props to choose from. Think initially it will be raw RX.
Sorry mine are 1106s, I just typoed.

it is odd, the FT store page claimed the could do 2-4s, but even with a 2in prop (and even no prop) they were getting rather hot on 3s.