Bloody Wonder FPV Conversion

The Flite Test Bloody Wonder is a bloody wonderful model. It was high time I tried to fly one using FPV…

I actually built the airframe for this project a long time ago but it had sat on the shelf for quite a whilst I dealt with some other projects and store orders. The introduction of the Red20RC Team Pilots has taken the pressure off a bit with the Mini Quad videos and given me time to focus on my fixed wing projects. It was whilst working on the new KFm6 wing that I decided to take a break and pull the Bloody Wonder off the shelf.

Flite Test Bloody Wonder

The Flite Test Bloody Wonder has been around for a while now. Developed by Josh Bixler from the original FunBat by Bloody Mick, the Bloody Wonder is reminiscent of the old control line combat models in RC format. By replacing the original KFm2 airfoil with a folded “Armin” wing and using lightweight foam board the Bloody Wonder is a fantastic flier and promised to offer a nice fun platform for some FPV experiments.

I’m not going to go into massive details about the build as lots of people have been there before but I did make a few modifications along the way.

1. I didn’t need or want this to be a “swappable” model so I fixed both boxes permanently in place to form a strong fuselage section.
2. I moved this fuselage further forward to allow me to mount the FPV gear behind the motor and the battery internally and rearward to balance it all out. A full length hatch in the bottom is secured by magnets for access.
3. I swapped the single aileron servo for twin servos as I’ve never been a big fan of the single servo and control rod angles on such large ailerons.

FPV Conversion

This whole project was sparked by the launch of the HobbyKing Mobius docking station. This great little bit of kit allows you to plug a Mobius HD camera directly to a FT952 200mw 5.8GHz video transmitter. In one neat package you have live video and HD recording in one compact unit – or at least that’s the plan.

This made things really easy with the Bloody Wonder build as all I had to do was fix the FPV unit on top of the nose in front of the wing and make up a small JST cable that connects to the balance plug on the LiPo.

With that done it was ready for a maiden flight…

So there you go…

The Flite Test Bloody Wonder FPV conversion was a 100% success. I didn’t find the prop to be a major problem, it was actually kind of cool getting that retro pilot’s eye view.

The latency issue reported by some was never an issue for me although I have heard that changing the resolution on the camera to 720p helps.

Would I recommend this project to anyone? Yes I would! The Bloody Wonder is a great flying little plane and can easily handle the extra weight of the FPV gear. Flying it is easy and fun, offering a unique FPV experience for very little outlay.

FPV combat anyone…?