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...but there's a snag. Right at the end of the build too - extremely annoying. More on that later.

First, apologies for the photo's my main light is bust, and I'm only using an iphone!

This post is a look at what I did with *NO* external compass.

1. Reversed the screws and bolts. Supposedly, the end of the screw causes more interference than the head. This could all be complete rubbish, but since it was in bits, I did it anyway. Now the heads are what's closest to APM.

2. Replaced the 8mm anti-vibe stand offs with a 1cm metal one. Doesn't sound like much, but it's all I had lying around that came with the kit. The good news is, I recon you can get 2cm stand off in there, while preserving the cage. and dome.

3. Twisted the power wired for the ESC's once. That's all I could do given the short cable lengths.

4. Re-did the PDB. It's bigger, and the soldering is much improved. I also took the opportunity to wire in an extra JST.

And that's it for now. Was hoping to run the compassmot in this base config...BUT THE DAMNED ESC'S ARE REFUSING TO SET THEIR END POINTS!!!! Ultra annoying, given the rebuld is complete, the motors are all running and in the correct CW/CCW fashion, everything...but fails to set the end points. Last time I had to take the whole thing apart, and only then did they spring back into life. Sequence after boot up is:

- two beeps

- the calibration scale

- one beep

(throttle down)

- one beep (throttle up....nothing....throttle to max...error tones)

Doesn't matter if you wait for two beeps or one - it still errors out. These are t-motor 30A OPTO PRO's and appear to be running normally apart from this. Dodgy motor maybe? One is making some low vibrations at mid stick with no props.

Anyway -  I was request to post details about the rig. Well, here it is:

That's an RCtimer gimbal but with an alexmos. The flight battery is a 10900mAh from maxamps.

Spektrum RC mounted on port side. Includes telemetry. And APM obviously, mounted on double moongel corners.

Fatshark 5.8 tx + bluebeam. Also in shot is 0.1 minimOSD from jdrones. It's not working right though (see forum post) with gopro as the source. Smearas white behind the text (text is clear and sharp, as is image)

Where the fun will take place. A DJI style riser has been fitted - just waiting for my 30cm cable now for the external mag. GPS will also be replace by GPS/compass combo from 3DR, but the old one stays in place for now. The port and starboard pylons have been extended outward to their maximum as well. I should have huge distance between the compass and APM after this is complete!

Underneath is a Turnigy 4-in-1 BEC and the battery for the FPV. Will probably power the FPV camera (have decided to avoid the GoPro, after the current problems). Once I find a suitable Y cable for the balancer port, I can ditch this battery and save 100g.

The Braincube flightlights controller v5 and the electronics battery (on a 3DR PM). It's chunky and heavy, but the power the lights give out is incredible. No orientation issues, even in bright sunlight, so it's worth the weight penalty.

So...almost ready to test. Just gotta work out if I can solve my ESC problem without resorting to a complete disassemble again!