FT Versa Blunt Nose - FPV with autopilot

by DrBones | September 13, 2014 | (0) Posted in Projects

Almost exactly a year ago I ventured into the hobby of RC flight as a complete newbie. Inspired by the great team at flitetest.com I began building their planes, beginning with the FT Flyer..then graduating to the Delta, then the Versa, the Baby Blender, the Spitfire, and the Viggen. I also built the free plans F-35v2 from RCPowers out of foam board.

I started off with the OrangeRX T-Six transmitter and the orange receivers. Great little transmitter. Then though I began with the idea of building a medium range FPV platform and decided to use the FT Versa Blunt Nose as the platform of choice. I started with the Orange RX R620 and a satellite receiver. The wing runs with a 3S 4000MAh battery for the flight electronics and a 3S 1000MAh to run the 5.8GHz transmitter. So, the plane comes in a bit heavy. I tried running it on the original Versa motor from Lasertoyz.com (GT2210/09) but even with a 9x6 prop it didnt give me enough power to fly properly and the motor overheated in the effort. I ended up re-purposing the motor from my Baby Blender (GT2218/09) and swinging a 10x6 prop from it. That then finally did the job. 

Since I never really had done FPV, I was worried that if I flew out of range, or lost my bearings I would loose the plane. Right around then Hobbyking came out with their $70 T1000FC autopilot. I set it up with the failsafe on the receiver to go half throttle and switch to return to home mode if I ever lost signal by flying out too far. It actually happened and you can see it in the video here - failsafe kicks in at around 2:20 or so (I subtitled it).

Obviously, flying out a bit on FPV makes telemetry quite attractive. I know that the APM boards and other OSD's deliver that, but it's on-screen and the price tag is quite a bit higher than the T1000FC autopilot. In the end, I opted for the FrSky Taranis and the X8R receiver (with telemetry) as I wanted to upgrade anyways. I ordered the altitude sensor (Variometer) and the lipo battery sensor. I love this transmitter, it is incredibly versatile and has the added benefit to log all telemetry and it can be set to speak a warning if the transmitter signal is too low, or the altitude, or anything else as that matter. No need to look at any screen or take up screen real estate and have to add a DVR just to record the telemetry coming through the OSD. It's a monster of a transmitter and I can't agree more with all those that state that it is the best thing out there for this price. 

It looks that with little effort, using the Taranis and the X8R receiver, I can easily fly out 1.6km (or a mile) before RSSI signal strenth drops below 45Dbi - which is still a ways from loosing signal altogether. I'm quite sure that I could make it 2 miles without too much of a problem. My limiter so far is my video signal, which I start loosing right around 1.6km. Here my farthest flight yet with this setup:

My general equipment and fpv setup is here:

The diversity receiver (has two receivers each with it's own antenna) and the LCD screen:

 
The transmitter - I chose the 600mW one for longer distance. It is about double the price of the 200mW one, which works great on closer range.
 
The polarized antennas. One for the transmitter, the other for the receiver (for which you need an adapter):
 
The adapter that you need so the receiver antenna will fit on the receiver. You need the type "B" adapter with a pin:
 
The patch antenna I use for the second receiver in the Boscam Diversity receiver:
 
The Mobius camera. I use the wide angle lens version. Matter of taste. It has received good reviews, excellent 1080 videos and it has the ability to also record your flight.
 
The cable that you will use to feed the Mobius video into the receiver:

 

P.S. - Miss you David Windestal!

 

 

COMMENTS

johanjonker on October 9, 2014
Wait.. You used a T1000FC on a wing and made it worked!!! I have lost many planes trying to get that FC working. PLEASE give me a little guide to how you made it worked..

you cant turn the stabilization of with the gps, so hand launching it always ends in a disaster for me..
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DrBones on October 14, 2014
I first fly it without the GPS connected. That way, you launch as usual. Then when high enough, turn the stabilization on (one of the flight modes) and see what it does. If it porpoises - turn down gains on elevator - if it flutters - turn down the gains on the ailerons. Repeat this procedure until you can get it to fly stable. THEN plug the GPS in (stabilization is always on by default) and you'll see that the launch will actually be quite easy. Plugging in the GPS also re-maps your three position switch to 'Stabilization On', 'Altitude Hold', and 'Return to Home' (without the GPS plugged in it would be 'Manual Mode', '3D', and 'Stabilization On').
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DrBones on October 14, 2014
Oh - and make sure you turn off all your dual rates on your transmitter when you go into 'Stabilization On'!
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notsane on October 6, 2014
Sure looks like Florida
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flyingbuddha on October 8, 2014
...or Louisiana
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DrBones on October 6, 2014
Just as an update: I had used HK metal gear servos..and on my last flight, coming back from over the swamp and clearing the wood line...a servo failed and the wing augured into the ground! Fortunately not too far from launch and accessible! I'm just glad it failed on the way back and not over the swamp! Learned that lesson and bought higher end servos this time - Hitec HS 65 carbonite gear servos.
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Holski77 on October 5, 2014
If you are sick of 2.4 get a 9xr with open LRS and put a homemade moxon antenna on it.
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FT Versa Blunt Nose - FPV with autopilot