I just got a package full of review items from Flytron.com!

The package contained:
DT-3K Headtracker
SimpleOSD XL
10Hz GPS
11dBi 2.4GHz circular polarized patch antenna
Micro 50mW 2.4Ghz video transmitter
Micro CMOS Camera
USB to PPM converter

Now I got a lot of stuff to review! I will begin with the DT-3K Headtracker. Keep your eyes open for the review.

For more pictures click the “Read More” Read More...

Thanks to all of you that have taken time to write to me via the contact page. I’ve tried to reply to them as soon as I have could. I also have received a bunch of encouraging e-mails.I appreciate that a lot.
I apparently have a lot of fans. I received a couple of e-mails asking if it is possible to donate funds to support this homepage. Wow, I never thought people wanted to give away money to help me feed my RC-addiction. I must be doing something right! This is why I added a donate page to the sidebar.

I’ve made a couple of changes on the page.
I get a lot of messages through different forums due to the lack of an easy to find contact page, so I added one to the sidebar. I also remade the whole FPV Videos page. Now you get all the videos in chronological order with information about the setup I used when I made the video. Check it out here and tell me what you think.

I just finished up the tricopter setup guide! It took a much longer time to write than I had expected, but I think I got all the necessary information on how to set up your own tricopter in there.

Sorry for the delay. I hope you guys like the guide.

Read the guide

Oops I did it again. I killed another airplane. This time it was my FPV FunJet that didn’t make it.

There were no wind, and the sun was shining. I just had to get outside and fly some FPV. I had equipped the FunJet with the Aiptek Z500 and this was supposed to be the first flight with it. I gave full throttle and chucked the FunJet into the sky. I love the way the FunJet fly, especially when it’s dead calm. After a while in the air, I noticed a tree line 300 metes long and only 3 or 4 trees thick. I couldn’t resist. I started to fly through the gaps in the trees. It was so much fun. On the way back I flew so low that the prop hit the loose snow. I went back for 3 or 4 turns before I did something stupid. I saw a bigger gap in the trees where a road crossed the tree line. I decided fly at full throttle through the gap and then follow the tree line all the way around. But when I got to the gap and started to turn I lost video signal for one second. And it was all it took. When I got the picture back I saw a big branch in the middle of the picture and then it went black again. I heard a loud sound like a whip crack and knew that this was the end of the FunJet.

I started walking the kilometer in deep snow. The pieces were scattered everywhere. I didn’t even manage to find some of them. The ESC lay totally disconnected 10 meters away and the motor lay nearly 50 meters from the tree! This crash had some force to it. Luckily all the electronics works fine, even the camera. It’s just the airframe that’s needs replacing. I ordered a new one and I hope the next FPV FunJet will take up the mantel and do an even better job than it’s admirable predecessor.

Unfortunately the camera was disconnected in the crash which resulted in a corrupt video. I’ve been trying like mad to get it to work but without success. Anyone happen to be an expert in video recovery by any chance?

Yesterday I was invited to a local club to talk about FPV. It was Falköpings model flight club, Blue Max, that had requested me to show my FPV gear, my videos and talk a bit about FPV in general.

It was nice to meet people sharing my interests and they really seemed eager to hear what I had to say. I gave a presentation for about one and a half hour and then we mingled another hour away. They showed me a bunch of slope-soaring models and I kind of want to try that now... In Falköping, there is a great place for slope-soaring called Ålleberg and they showed me videos from there. When winter finally lets go I just might make a visit there.

For those of you that understand Swedish, they wrote about the visit on their homepage.

I was sitting at work, doing a monotone task and listening to the newest episode of All things that fly, when I suddenly heard my homepage being mentioned on the show. They had found my Tricopter build and thought it was awesome. They spent 5 minutes talking about the build and tricopters in general.

You can download and listen to the episode here; ATTF #133.mp3
They start talking about the Tricopter about 36 minutes in to the show.

I always listen to ATTF first then InsideHeli and to my great surprice this weeks episode was named “Lipo Fire and TriCopters”
32 minutes in to the episode they start to talk about my build!
Chris thinks it looks like a scorpion and now wants to build one himself. They spent over 12 minutes talking about the build and tricopters in general.

You can download and listen to the episode here; InsideHeli #84.mp3

A big thanks to Diggs, Jamie, Chris and James for doing the shows. I always look forward to tuesdays, because that’s ATTF day.

I finished it in time for the indoor event, and here is a video from that event;

The Tricopter is a joy to fly. It’s stable and forgiving. I like it a lot!

Link to the project page

It’s finished! I think it turned out pretty nice.

Link to the project page

Now it’s time to go to the indoor event and fly for a couple of hours.

I’ve made a lot progress on the Tricopter yesterday. I even got it into the air! Unfortunately mother nature was in a bad mood and handed out some quite strong winds. So I need to wait for the wind to die down before I can dial it in.

Link to the project page

Next it’s time to make it pretty! Be sure to come back tomorrow.

I made some good progress yesterday. The motor mount, tilt mechanism and frame is now done. So far I’m pretty satisfied with the results.

Link to the project page

I will continue updating every morning until Saturday so stay tuned!

My fellow hobbyist, the Tricopter build has begun. The plan is to have it ready by this saturday, since I’m going to an indoor event and I would like to participate with the tricopter.

Link to the project page
Next update will be up tomorrow morning!