Our first small batch of Talon UAV aircraft have arrived!  Unpacked the first one, (naturally that will be my very own) and must say i am so far impressed with what I see. I think this is going to kick the Skywalker's @ss!

Checked the net, and found only a russian version of the unboxing video. Thinking about making an English version if there is enough demand. So how about it, think you can put up with my South African, Afrikaans accent? perhaps we will move on to a flying and tuning video as well, who knows...

For now, here are a few pics to keep you interested...

Unboxing Video complete.

Just kidding of course!

Stole this from Model airplane News, thought the effect is stunning!

Gonna send some people running!! LOL

Hi Diy'ers

Thought I would share my latest Project with you, and keep a running log of our progress. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome!

The Team :

Wessie van der Westhuizen a.k.a Clowns Hobbies

Gustav Kuhn a.k.a Groundpounder

Dave Thomas a.k.a Darth Vader

The Mission :

To build a UAV capable of a payload of 5Kg, to stay in the air for 1 hour.

The Equipment :

Airframe : Lanyu Primary 100, wingspan 2.54m (100")

Engine : E-Flight Power160 engine (will eventually be a 50cc Gasser)

Batteries : 4 x 4400mah 5s Lipo wired to 10s 8800mah pack

Prop  : 22 x 8 wood

ESC : Hobbywing 100A HV

Servos : 6 x 9kg Digital Savox servos

Radio : Spektrum DX8 2.4GHz

APM 1280

Xbee Pro 900Mhz

GoPro Camera

5.8GHz Video TX/RX

15" Video Monitor

Toshiba netbook

17" Monitor

250A Deep cycle battery

1500W Power inverter

4 Port Quad charger

lots and lots of wires ;-)

We fitted Rubber anti-vibration mounts for the Gas engine, when we changed to Electric it made mounting the motor easy, so we left them on.

Not show on this picture, is that the APM is mounted on 2 Layers of Align Gyro Gel.

The Batteries go into the front hatch compartment, the other battery you can see is a 3 Cell 3000mah pack that powers the Avionics via a 8A Hobbywing Regulator, and the Video TX directly.

You can also see th 6" Dubro inflatable wheels we fitted so we can land on just about any terrain.

Our Ground Zero is a nifty foldable table and seats, Easilly transported.

Our second test Patform is the ST Models discovery. This plane has proven to be a Brilliant choice for UAV work. It flies the waypoints REALLY well with the stock PID setup.

Both Planes are fitted with downlinks. At some point we will get some SkyWalkers for comparison.

We Fly at Two Sites in SA. For safety reasons we ALWAYS fly at registered flying clubs.

This is the discovery mission in 20km/h wind. Hope to get Big Bertha to follw tracks like that as well soon.

This is the mission we are running at the moment with Bertha. All waypoints are 100m AGL

2011-09-04%2009-36-37.tlog  is the Results for last weekends flying. It contains TWO missions, but enough data. You will see that I need to do some PID tuning here, as well as move the Pitot-Tube away from the leading edge of the wing, where it is getting weird readings in the turbulent air as it seperates.

Below is the RESULT of the last mission. The aircraft successfully hit every waypoint - eventually, sometimes after some considerable waypoint hunting.

Well, thats a start, let us know what you think, We will add more info as time goes on.

regards

Wessie