Avatar Gunship - Scratch Build

by RCExplorer | May 16, 2012 | (27) Posted in Projects

Avatar AT-99 “Scorpion” Gunship

By: David Windestål

First time I saw the bicopters in Avatar I knew I had to build one, some day. That day has now come. Together with Chad from flitetest we created our take on the dreamed up copter.

Brass tube bent for the dihedral of the motors


Carbon fiber tubes that will act like bushings for the rotating arms.


Square carbon tubes with a round inside diameter that perfectly fits on the carbon tubes.


I sawed of two small pieces and glued them to the base to act as stops and reduce the friction of the rotating carbon arms.


Servo horns mounted


Servos mounted along with the string that holds the arms together, preventing them from sliding apart.


Motor mounts.


Motor in place.


Plywood plate to mount the KK board.


HK-KK board flashed with the ”Power tower” software.


Prototype done. It hovers quite nice but pendulums when you pilot it incorrectly.


Changed to Hobbyking MI servos for better control.


Trimmed in and ready for the body. This is where Chad comes into the picture.


Shroud made from depron.


Cockpit made from dollar tree foam.


The body taking shape.


Body painted.


Attaching the electronics.


Shrouds in place


Lots of hotglue.


Tail fins in place. Not much left now.


Almost ready. Just need some guns. However I didn’t take any pictures after this point and you just have to watch the video to see more:




COMMENTS

House Of Noob on August 28, 2012
Love your build logs. It all makes sense now ...
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Oliverjenkins on September 23, 2012
This is amazing

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jmwright on May 16, 2012
Are you going to have plans available for this?

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TheRCNewbie on December 20, 2012
What was the total cost? and could the same parts be used in a skeleton/frame design?
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newbee 2 awsome on May 19, 2012
i would love the plans for this it looks amazing. great job chad
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Brainanator on May 30, 2012
Loved the video! Great to see the build process, thanks.
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TheRCNewbie on December 21, 2012
Could you make a smaller version with, say, two turnigy 1811 2900kv and corona 9g digital servos?
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kenbocbr on June 13, 2013
AWESOME!!! I want to build one of these, will you be putting up plans for this awesome machine?
Thanks for for this site it has really inspired me to get into this hobby that I've looked at for years but because of your site I have now built a few foamies and lovin it. Keep up the good work guys.
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ray574 on August 6, 2013
A simple fix would have been to add an inexpensive gyro, bananahobby has one for the mini f-22 raptor that can be used in most any bird. Sure would like to see this fly with stability, very cool build, and one that could be a kit. Keep up the great work, you guys are AWSOME!!!
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Racin44 on July 29, 2013
Cool build. I been looking for tips to make one of those. I have 2 3800kv motors laying around. Will those work ok ?
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mboomrang on October 16, 2013
You gentlemen are hilariously brilliant. This is my favorite web site. Wonderful, wonderful! Thank you for some truly brilliant and wholesome entertainment.
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Iamhandgun on January 5, 2014
Did you guys ever get the pendulum effect fixed? I'd love to see this fly smoothly. How about any other bicopter concepts. I've kind of been obsessed with the various motor tilt mechanisms lately.
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Girish Joshi on January 24, 2014
Are there any pdf plans for this ??

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duncanh3215 on May 5, 2014
I'm working on a design that would fly perfectly with this general setup! Could I get some direction as to where I can purchase these parts? I would appreciate it so much.
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LordVader on January 16, 2015
This an awesome build. Has anyone seen plans for this? I would love to see an in-depth article on this baby.
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SlayerXV1 on February 14, 2016
Are u using arduino micro as the electronic component to control the gunship?

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shashank on April 9, 2016
I am very much interested in making this amazing bicopter.And all I need is an article on how to build it and what are the components required to it? Please reply fast as I have to submit my project details to my CLUB secretary.
Reply soon
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TheA_Dubs24 on March 7, 2017
please make a build video for this or put a pdf plan for it. I want to make this for flite fest 2k17.
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kamikaz on February 18, 2018
Are there any pdf plans for this ??
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Avatar Gunship - Scratch Build