I Call it Badbone 1.2 FE :)

BadBone A-tail, Love at First Sight

I decided to build one of Flite test BadBone V-Tail quad so let’s have look how it went.  I hope you enjoy the build and may take it motivate you to build one yourself.  

The first time I saw this type of quad I told to myself I have to have one of this, I fell in love with it soon as I saw it.   :)

The first part I looked into was the Badbone frame.  It cost more than expected as I had it shipped to UK and didn’t anticipate having to pay duty and handling fee as I have already paid like £20 for shipping :(

But when in this hobby I decided it is not all about money.  I reminded myself again as I made the purchase, we will see how it goes. 

I won’t keep you hanging and reading this anymore and let you see a bit of my journey. Have fun and enjoy short video on the end of pictures.

Any questions or if you got suggestions please feel free to contact me on dominik.pavlicko85@gmail.com

Specs:

• Frame: Flite Test BadBone + 10mm Carbon fibre arms + FT landing gear(modified)
• Flight Controller: Naze32 full v5 
• Motors: Ntm 2826 1200KV outruner 
• ESC: Hobby King Afro simonK 20A
• PDB: EBay orange one :) BEC 5v, 12v good for octocopter
• Props: Gefan 9"x4.7
• TX: Radiolink AT9 - 9channel radio colore display -------------- easy setup :)
• RX: Radiolink R9D PWM
• Batteries: Trunigy 2.2 2200A 3S 25-35C

Flight time is 10 minutes on spot

Camera to come, please feel free to recommend a good FPV setup for an affordable price :)

Flight board is setup on default PID settings for A-Tail quad

Additional material

• A4 sheet of PVC carbon look ------ To use for camera\battery tray and reinforcement for landing gear
• silicone cable
• Zip ties or Sip ties or cable ties :)
• bunch of plastic spacers
• wire mesh   
• shrink tube various sizes
• motor mounts 

My Journey

 First time I saw this type of quad on YouTube watching David’s build video, when I saw, it I felt in love with it and already tot how could I build one and how could I improve it.

After ordering the frame from Flitetest I had to decide what material I use for arms and I come across 10x10mm carbon fiber sticks on eBay, not knowing the frame is designed for 13x13mm arms, so when it all arrived and I have started to put all together I found out arms won’t fit in to the frame as they been to small, decided to use 1.3mm shrink tubing on the ends of the arms to increase diameter and it worked beautifully, me not knowing that this will reduce vibrations in process :) so it was win-win situation :).

I have decided to follow David’s build video to the dot from that point, include using KK2 flight board, so I have purchased one from EBay, but me been me, I like to be safe than sorry, I have decided I buy back up board, so I went for Naze32 as it had good reviews on YT and hell good I have done so.

When I have first time set KK2 up and run on my garden with anticipation how it will go, I only cone to disappointment, when first take off was instant fail, motors have spanned up and then bang craft flipped forward :(. I have tried to reset the board from scratch but had no luck. So Naze32 it is :) and I have never been happier when I managed to set it all up, used A-tail setting on Cleanflight, default PID settings, gone on the garden again turned quad on, Motors spanned up and here we go, we have lift of and nice stable hover. So satisfying.

There is no better filing then satisfaction of watching something I have build actually fly :)  

From that day this hobby have taken me fully, I got upset with it, I could fly every day without getting bored of it, I learn new stuff on daily bases, watching videos on YT, reading lots on internet, well exited :)

This is a new hobby I have picked up not long ago and I have learned lot`s, new skills: programming, soldering, design, learned to fly quad copter - not 100% yet :) but learning new tricks every time when on field. Biggest challenge I come across, was to decide what components to use for build, i.e. Motors, ESC, Flight controller, most of all, transmitter. So much choice in different price ranges, I didn’t wanted to go super cheep, but also not super expensive , So when choosing the components I taken advise from David`s \ Flitetest videos and articles, spent hours on internet reading reviews.

First choice I had to made was choosing motors, so from David’s video I have decided to follow his lead and gone for NTM 2826 1200kv motors, everything have really rolled from there, decided to use 9" props so I needed 20Amp Esc so I have purchased HK Afro Esc`s with SimonK firmware, once I have stated to put all together I  come across a problem, how do I connect esc, as is not clear from David’s video and that is where other sources come in to picture. Used BEC PDB from eBay, first attempt to solder went well, so I bravely soldered pins on to Naze32 as well :) Once I have put all together, there was second most important choice to make and that was transmitter, so much choice online which one should I go for?

Radiolink AT9, good choice, easy to set up as it have Aircraft mode (multirotor mode) nice clear display, 9 channels (ideal for Naze32) massive range and good price, according to other folks on internet it could be compared to some more expensive Futaba radios.

Now I am very happy that all works as intended and only think I am waiting for is FPV gear, so I can fully unleashed BadBones 1.2FE potential of FPV platform.

Please watch the video below, thank you for reading and Enjoy.