Gear and parts
Okay, as I have said previously, search, search, them search some more till you find a deal you can afford. Granted I had a few more dollars to work with then some but I still had the wife budget to deal with so I had to get everything I wanted with in the agreed upon range.
Okay so these are the goggles I purchased paid $200 for them, I found them on eBay but purchased these locally. Like I had said before I have seen Fatshark brand goggles for as low as 100 dollars (teleport) in a number of places. Up until I purchased theses goggles I have be operating with a small ground station mostly comprised of Hobby King and eBay/Amazon parts I think I built the entire ground station for about 200 dollars. Next time I dig this thing out ill take a photo of it.
My new transmitter, FrSky Horus X12S, I got this for a great price, it needed a couple things that I found on eBay/Amazon such as a new antenna and sticks, however (not sure if this is good or bad) this unit came with Open Tx installed on it, No doubt I would have installed it anyways but that also means it did not come with its original software or the files associated with it. Now this is where I wish there was a YT video that would walk my through option 2 or 3 (only videos I have found are the one dealing with they conversion when you have the stock files already backed up), which ever it is, to put this thing back to its stock configuration so that I may have a stock file to work with if I ever have an issue. I also understand that there are instructions on how to do this on FrSky web site but they are confusing to me and I rather not "F" up the radio because I don't understand.
More to be posted later this evening... to be continued
Ok so where was I, so I’ll have to do another edit and put up the last couple photos, as it is I am now down to the micro Kwad, the parts and frame, I ended up for the most part following the outline given by Ft on the sidewinder bundle they offer, I went with the HGLRC F428 setup. Here’s the differences I bought vs what Ft has, I purchased it as a bundle which was to include the VTX and the Elf Camera along with antennas or whip option (it baffled me that some VTX’s don’t come with these) which seem to mirror the design and specs of the run cam micro Swift 2. The bundle for all FC, PD/ESC board, VTX and Elf cam was 89 dollars, which was 10 bucks more then the stack alone and instead that 10 gives a camera instead of having to go out and purchase a micro swift Run Cam 2, or any other variation of micro cam, that would cost approximately 30-35 more dollars.
Next, the motors, Ft has the Emax 1106 motors for there design which are rather spending little thing at 14 to 16 dollars a motor. However I went on the hunt for a cheaper motor that would fill the requirement and specs needed to fly this little guy, I finally landed on the HGLRC flame 1105 motors which had very similar specs on them as the Emax. However these priced out better at approximately 11.50 a motor, pennies do count when your on a budget lol, however the bonus was these motor came with a complete set of props 2535 which oddly enough matched the outlines 2.5x3.5x3 props FT was including in there bundle. 4 motors and props came in at 54 bucks. So FC set up check, motors check, props check, next up the Frame. I purchased the FT sidewinder frame kit from FT, this little guy not only is cool looking but is light weight, has a natural re-enforced design, made of carbon fiber, met the price point (20 dollars), came with camera mounts designed for the micro swift style cameras and not to Mention the build design I was following. Well let’s not forget we need to pay our tributes back to FT for all they do for us , both new and old hobbits. I going to include the FrSky receiver in this area as well. Although I got my receiver for free ( seems the going price point for it is approximately $15), this little nifty FrSky XM plus is pretty cool and will tuck away nicely in the build. Beside I bought the FrSky Horus X12S transmitter for not only this build but also future builds like the founders airplane that I am looking forward to building and flying when that shows up.
The last thing I wil talk about is Batteries, hobby station and tools and a few accessories .... to be continued
Ok on these last few topics I ended up getting the tattu 850 mah batteries because of weight, spec and size. I purchased a few accessories for all the gear and transmitter that would fit my needs. First I purchased some face pads for my googles, for a number of reasons; 1 comfort, the stock googles only have cheap pads to choose from and there thickness seems to be dismal at best. 2 the thicker fluffier pads make of so less light penatrate through the googles. Ext up are the memory chips. I purchased a larger chip for the DVR function of the goggle and the second chip for the transmitter for future updates and programming. The 64 gb chips is built for speed and video recording. I was able to purchase both chips from Best Buy for 30 dollars because of a sale.
Ok and the last thing hobbies toolsand table. I am however greatly restricted on space because well “wife”,lol, I have a portable table I can drag up to the couch and do my hobbies on but my have all the necessary tools, update just bought a new soldering iron because well my gas one is too difficult to use on chips and lead to me melting a chip, I can’t say it is a upgrade but rather a need switch for this type of building. If I can offer any advice on a hobby table regardless of size keep it neat and you will have no problem keeping organized, especially considering the size of the bits and prices you will be playing with.
