helomix

Well The place I ordered my predator and whom I called the next day and he assured me it was in stock just refunded my money. I told him the other day to let me know if it was "in his hands" because I was going to order the power setup for it, and he told me it was...he lied. At least I had a feeling not to jump the gun and I held off ordering any parts for it. And now I already promised Genisis I would let him have the one I "won" off ebay...so I went from having 2 Predators to none. By the way the site is www.discountrctoys.com but if the site is showing in stock don't believe it.

GenesisFactor

You don't know how appreciative i am...

Pappy-86

My Feedback: (6)

Hello my Predator UAV is just sitting around collection dust as im not much into glider flying if someone has a warbird they might want to trade for it let me know. You can see my predator in post number 241. Will trade it with or without power system I will not remove servos.

GenesisFactor

what may be the cash value? this way helo might get his predator

Pappy-86

My Feedback: (6)

Hello Predator UAV with 4 Hitec HS-51 servos ball park 150.00 power system is an Axi 2212/20 with Jeti 18 advance pluss ball park $100.00 So with power system and servos plane is worth $250.00

GenesisFactor

what do you say, helo, $150 for a done up pred without power system, 2 done up? I'll pm ya!

helomix

I will take it!!! I will PM you Warbird and we can work out the details. Tnx Genesis for letting me know

GenesisFactor

You scratch my back . I owed ya one :-D. All i gotta say is that i don't care what the atheists say- God works in some crazy and fun ways.

Warbird, i hope you take care of my friend Helomix; he's done well by me!

JeffLee, i know you're reading this as instructed you how to get here, so please, realize that we've worked together on this and everything worked out great, pending warbird's and helo's sale.

On my end, i've just dropped another $260+ on this bad boy (that includes the plane). Still need to drop another $200+ before i'm done. Already spent...christ. Let me not go there. Please remember that i'm starting form bare bones nothing, so this includes lipos, battery charger an balancer, and other stuff. Thank God this project is being funded by another... At this point, the cheapest part of the plane, other than the servos, was the computer lol! Christ i hope i don't crash.

I think i also found my emergency parachute. Yes, like the real predator it will have one. I should get it to hit the ground at 4mph, assuming the wind doesn't take it. Of course, that's that particular one, and i need to see how much the set up weights. Any more than a pound and i will have to go another way. Its a 22ft cargo one. it used to be complete with a separating explosive. lol. i'll need to add that back in for kicks . As for how i'll deploy it, the guys at Larry's Hobby Supplies came up with a great idea that is light weight and simple.

Helo, if you need a motor and an ESC, pm me. i have a guy who dropped his price for me on a great set, but notified me too late. Like i told you via PM, i do have a guy who has some lipo batts you'd be interested in, but i have to test them out first.

helomix

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on your motor setupyours will be heavier than mine but still I will be around 36-40oz. I'm seriously considering waiting until I get the plane, and weighing everything I have and estimate motor/batt weights before making a determination of the total flying weight. I have digested so much about power from people telling me I need a 250w to a 400w motor, to people saying it cant be done, the Pread. just does not have the room. I'm going to do it even if I have to rebuild the airframe

GenesisFactor

You're telling me. If not for the forum, i wouldn't have any hope and have given up on this frame a while ago. Then agian, if not for this forum, i wouldn't really have much of anything.

After consulting with a few key and highly knowledgable people, i pretty much got it to the point i'm making mass purchases. I think the only parts that i slightly regret buying are my servos as they have plastic gears. I bought them for their 2kg pull. That and they were a 5 pack. That should have been my first clue though...

I'm going to PM you a link. Talk to the guy, tell him i sent you, offer him a fair price. with a 9x6E prop, and an 11.1 lipo. the motor will give you 32oz of thrust. With a 10x5E (which takes modding your landing gear) it will be 37. This will be at 15Amps and 165W. Give it a 14 lipo, you're looking at 50oz of thrust with that 9x6E. I learned that the flying weight is the assumed weight of all the electronics and everything needed to make the plane go (i didn't know that), so yeah, deduct that from everything. Mine, i rounded up to 4lbs. I am hoping that i win a broken micro HD video camera on ebay to gut and i'll get rid of that 1lbs lens.

anyways, PM on the way!

helomix

Not a bad deal but I want to stay with a 3 cell lipo if I can. That motor compares very close to the e-flight park 480 which is good for scale models up to 35oz or 3d up to 30oz, I just would rather have a little more than I need than not enough, the 3dbi rubber duck antenna I'm looking at adding to my tx is HEAVY!!

GenesisFactor

no problem, hehe i totally understand. Check out that ebay seller though. He's a nice guy, and his prices are the best that i've found for those motors. Those motors have excellent reviews, btw, its why i chose them.

On my front, all my parts should arrive next week. I ordered everything else i needed minus a couple small things, such as the high gain antenna, hinges and whatnots. I lost the parachute bid thanks to a nap. Me and ebay these days... lol. I will post my parts list on DIYDrones.

I was curious, in the beginning of this thread, it was mentioned that i should upgrade my hinges. To what, may i ask?

I am soo close to being mechanically done, i can see this bad boy. I'll be in the city for most of this week, and when i get back, hopefully i will start construction.

Til then, computer has booted up, and is running Win2000 (ram restrictions made it the OS of choice, XP can be used, but maybe later, and with some trimming) and i will be working on servo control and figuring out why my usb decided to reboot the computer when i plugged in the Parallax Servo Controller. Yeah, i'm having issues with the drivers as the Boser site doesn't seem to like linking things. I have a picture of first boot i need to upload on photobucket, as well as a picture of the computer. I was trying to wait on the last of the parts to come in and be soldered on/connected, but i feel like my posts are worthless without pics.

By a show of hands, how many people will laugh at me when this thing crashes?

GenesisFactor

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k2...t=IMG_0607.jpg

that is the computer next to a laptop hard drive. the only thing missing from the computer, other than the wifi, is the sensoray board.

GenesisFactor

Clearning my workbench, got my joystick and everything. Just waiting on a couple more items, including the plane. Programming sucks. I'm using Microsoft Robotics Studio, which makes things SO much easier, but it still not completely fun. my joystick is having issues with it, even though it's one of the few programmable joysticks out there. Its not an impossible task, just a difficult one. however the rewards are going to be amazing!

helomix

It looks like my idea of having a FPV predator is not going to happen. It looks like everyone else that carries them will not have them in anytime soon. I got an e-mail from discountrctoys saying they were avaliable,....at 200.00 each!!! I guess this guy really knows how supply-demand works. I passed and picked up a Mini Ultra Stick PNP and for 200.00 I'm very happy with this thing, plenty of power with the camera and tx mounted and it all balanced out well with no snags. I have flown it 4-5 times now and it works great. I'm just waiting for a recorder so I can save my flights. I have Genisis's Predator on my workbench waiting for his shipping payment to arrive...hate to send this thing off but a deal is a deal.

GenesisFactor

YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!!! What a rip off...

Return that ultra stick, i can get you it for $120ish locally. My friend at Larry's Hobbies was trying to get me to buy that...i hope it's not too late!

What happened to Warbird Dave? . Nitro said that they would have them this month, same price! I hope they didn't lie to me...

anyways...sigh...if all of the above is "negative", i'm so sorry...grrr...

helomix

The only ripoff was the fact someone wanted 200.00 for a Predator that sells retail for 99.00, but 200.00 for a Mini Ultra Stick PNP is a great deal, I got the Plug and Play version which includes the 450 outrunner, esc, and all servos mounted and ready. It's one of the better deals on the market, I could not build one like it for 200.00, the ARF kit alone is 109.00 + 70 for the motor, 40-50 for the esc and not to mention the servos, add that with the fact mine was in the air about 2 hours after I got it and to top it off it has more power than my mini stick that I built from a ARF with the E-Flite 450 outrunner and 25amp esc(thats the one I lost when I lost video feed) I got mine from Gravesrc.com for $199.00 plus 5.?? shipping, which got here in 3 days...couldn't be happier with the performance of the stick, its a great design( I have a 40 size w/quad flaps I've been flying for more than 10 years)
The deal with Warbird fell through because he could not ship it, the tail assembley made it too big or too expensive, thats ok though, it sounds like the Predator is more of a glider and I really like the fact I can do aerobatics at will with the stick, and the wingspan makes it wasy to fit in a trunk at a moments notice. I really was in love with the idea of making a real UAV, maybe when they come avaliable I will revisit that idea. PS Genisis, I sent you a paypal invoice for 7.00 for shipping Sunday, l hope you got it. Let me know if you didn't.

GenesisFactor

i really didn't lol. i will paypal you right now!

I am not sure which recorder you have, or are getting, but, if you have bought a system that has video in, LMK...i can hook you up with somehing

GenesisFactor

oh, and i'm glad you're happy with it I do need a glider base though, or else i wouldn't have stuck with the predator. It may not be as "fun" but it has a purpose.

I might look into the ducted fan planes for a later project... that needs speed and agility...

GenesisFactor

Anyone know where i can get VeeTail Omni mixers? i hear they rocked, but they have been discontinued.

brownlab

raidentech free shipping code: CJFreeShipping
raidentech 10% off code: CJ10

papajeff

GenesisFactor,

You had asked about my suggestion to upgrade the stock hinges that come with the Predator. In post #12,
I advised to discard the stock CA hinges and get a new pack of CA hinges just to make sure that the hinges
will not cause any problems in flight. It's just a case of Grandpa being "safe rather than sorry!"

GenesisFactor

thanks. I'll try to find some.

BTW, i'm having an issue with the rear engine. Seems that there was no cut out done to accomodate the engine in the rear of the plane. Is this something that i should have done, or did i get a bad batch of pred?

papajeff

Genesis,

You can find those CA hinges at any Hobby Shop and they are usually either Great Planes or Dubro.
Now, with respect to the motor mounting at the rear of the fuselage, refer to post #54 and let me know
if I can help with any other issues. Your project is amazing to me and please feel free to post more
photos of your progress. Keep up the great work!

GenesisFactor

oohhh crap, that's what i have to post still, my month month update.

I've been spending a HUGE chunk of my time, fighting up with VPL from Microsoft Robotics Studio. Hopefully it will let me run a low cycle piece of code so that i can spend most of my time with the cameras. I will post what i should have 3 days ago up later today lol.

The down side of the plane is that it has me wishing that it was a bit bigger. I think a friend is going to build a bigger one for me later (14' wing span). If that happens, and things work out, helomix gets his predator . I still felt bad about how things ended up for him...

And papa jeff, just hearing that you are interested is a HUGE compliment to me, coming from you, esp after all the craziness you get to do. If you're ever in NYC, you gotta hit me up! Roch. is too COOLLDDD!!!