About

Gender

Male


Location

Canberra, ACT


About Me:

Electrician from Australia Used to be an Army Marine Specialist (Boatie) Married with 3 kids Enjoy a bit of fishing and hunting I also like a game or 2 online. I play Aces High II (WWII Flight Combat)


Please tell us a bit about your UAV interest

My plan is to design and construct an UAV capable of VTOL as well as autonomous flight based on waypoints and environmental conditions. It's primary roll will be to reconnoiter terrain so as to compare it with maps of the area. This is to assist in hunting of vermin and game.


Hometown:

Bega


Activity Feed

Mick James commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Don't feel bad -- small miltary UAVs crash all the time, too
"Deleted my comment because it didn't make sense.
 "
Jun 26, 2011
Mick James replied to Mick James's discussion Variable Sweep Wing
"Just to clarify, sweeping the wing back won't lower the upwind drag? If that be the case, how would I improve the upwind performance of the aircraft in windy conditions?"
May 9, 2011
Mick James posted a discussion
G'day all, I'm still doing my research on building my first UAV and so far the Skywalker looks like a pretty good candidate but I'll be operating in high wind areas (like the tops of hills) in unrestricted airspace. I was wondering if anyone has…
May 9, 2011
Mick James replied to Philip Fretwell's discussion USB Connector ripped from IMU Board
"Hey Philip
 
One option you might try is a repair pen. I'm not familiar with the particular board you have but I have experience with pcb's.
If the original connection was a solder thru (i.e. the pins go through the board and solder on the back.)…"
May 2, 2011
Mick James commented on ARHEXA's blog post HEXA frame continues: Anti Vibration Motor Mounts
"After a brief think about it, I have an idea that might work for your rubber mounts. Firstly I'd like to say that's its a great idea.
Where you have your "T" piece that the mounts are screwed into, you have 2 spare holes either side. If you were to…"
May 1, 2011
Mick James commented on Louis LeGrand's blog post DIY Solar Airplane, Rev 2
"Great landing :)"
Apr 29, 2011
Mick James commented on Earl's blog post Intersting UAV
"Did anyone notice that the first thing he did after popping the case open was cross thread the antenna?"
Apr 21, 2011
Mick James commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Another cool Kickstarter project: open source autonomous oil-skimming USV
"I'm not entirely convinced that an articulated boat would be able to tack at low speed with a heavy drag on the stern. I sail a fair bit (Yes much to the dismay of my wife, I love the toys) and there is always the chance you can stall when turning…"
Apr 8, 2011
Mick James commented on Mick James's blog post The Planning Begins
"Unfortunately the current range of commercially available solar cells are far too heavy for flight. I've heard of an experimental solar powered high altitude drone (Full sized) but at thier current power to weight ratio, you'd use more power lugging…"
Apr 8, 2011
Mick James commented on Mick James's blog post The Planning Begins
"Mr Winkel, that pic up the top, as awsome as it is, does not belong to me. There's a link underneath the picture showing it's name and where I pinched it from the interwebs :)
All my drawings are done in 2B pencil on my drawing board... I'm old…"
Apr 8, 2011
Mick James commented on Mick James's blog post The Planning Begins
"A University here in Australia has developed a system for producing solar panels by "Printing" them onto film.They use modified bubblejet printers and simply run the film through the printers in order. Each printer has a different component of the…"
Apr 8, 2011
Mick James commented on Mick James's blog post The Planning Begins
"Low speed cruise would just be your fans at 3/4 tilt. That way you'd still have wing lift from your forward movement supplimented by fan lift. I think I'm gonna go with the quad tilt-rotor though.
That's a great design concept Nicholas, although…"
Apr 7, 2011
Mick James commented on Mick James's blog post The Planning Begins
"I'll have to check on the rules here with regards to game. I'm pretty sure vermin are fair pickings though. The main use is not so much to look for game as it is to look at the vegetation as compared to the topography. Many times we've planned a…"
Apr 7, 2011
Mick James commented on Mick James's blog post The Planning Begins
"I'll whip up some sketches and post them tomorrow. Some good ideas and advice so far though."
Apr 7, 2011
Mick James commented on Mick James's blog post The Planning Begins
"After daydreaming at work all day I think an Osprey type configuration would be best suited to my needs.
Tilted rotors at the extremities of stumpy high lift wings with a ducted rotor at the center of the tail plane. 
I think this would give me my…"
Apr 7, 2011
Mick James commented on Mick James's blog post The Planning Begins
"A yes the range. Well that's the kicker isn't it. The flights would most likely be heavily wooded area and mountain terrain so a fixed wing drone would be limited without VTOL and a copter would be lost within the first 3 missions.
As for 3G…"
Apr 6, 2011
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