This model is big! 2500mm is impressive by any standard, yet the model is very practical, for instance the highly efficient balsa wing is removable for transportation. This model is highly unusual being both a scale model and a purpose built FPV/Camera platform. The Reaper UAV is a development of the Predator and represents the latest in cutting edge military technology, it is also much more than a mere surveillance aircraft, with its armament of Hellfire missiles and laser guided "smart" bombs, it is a hunter/killer with an impressive combat history.
Specifications:
Wingspan: 2500mm
Length: 1080mm
Wing Area: 32.5dm2
Wing Loading: 76-83g dm2
Airfoil: Eppler 374 Mod
Weight: 2500g~2700g
This MQ-9 comes as ARF, the following is required to complete this plane:
5~6 Channel TX/RX
36~42 Outrunner or Inrunner Brushless Motor
40A~60A ESC
2 x Standard Servo and 4 x High Torque Micro Servo
3500mAh~4000mAh 3s or 4s Lipoly Battery
For FPV use, this model obviously ticks the boxes, its difficult to argue with the design of the Reaper! There is plenty of room for FPV/Camera equipment, the scale under-slung camera pod is supplied in such a way that it can be fixed or made rotating with a little effort and comes with glazing. For FPV use obviously the model weight will increase and you may want to consider a 4s set up, prop range is 11"-12". However you fly it, this is an impressive model in every respect and is bound to be a talking point wherever it is flown.
Available from Hobbyking for US$ 100.36, see the product page for details. If you stay on the site for a while, a one-time offer window appears to budy this plane for US$ 94.96. Price may depend on your membership level at the shop.
Comments
It is VERY easy to argue with reaper-shaped design.
It is basically useless for any high loaded flight:
-very little roll stability makes unnecessary pilot load in FPV
-airfoil that needs to be clean in order to work
-is well known for nasty stall characteristics if made in that scale
-impossible to land on the grass (wheels and stabiliser, you cannot remove both)
-difficult to hold for tossing under the wing
-a lot of protruding elements, add to this all the other real modem antennas
-very low yaw damping, relatively flat vtail, long heavy nose and large nose side surface, tendency to spin unstability
-cannot toss comfortably from hand, high power propeller near the face
-high wing loading in RC version (7x-8xg/dm2 means 110-130g/dm2 in UAV version)
-camera mount completely unprotected, you basically land on this since evey landing ends by pluging the nose in the ground
-large windspan with no dihedral will hit all bushes during landing
-even if you manage to fly in FPV, you must avoid all narrow passages = boring flying
REAPER layout is THE LAST THING YOU NEED for any FPV/UAV purpose
At 3kg AUW it will be hard to toss when holding RC transmitter, prone to stall.
With 4Ah I would expect no more than 20min manual, automatic doesn't matter since you will crash it before you manage to tune it.
Pick Piper Cub and you will be ahead of this. Thsi toy looks sleek, but has been designed by somebody without any clue about operational reality that just scaled down, simplified a few things, ignored aerodynamics implications and let Chinese kids to do it in quantity, so that older kids from previously developed countries can waste their time trying to use the design in a way it was never intended to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ
I have elected to UAS a large HK 2350 mm Piper Cub L-4 Grasshopper @ $220 I also have a medium size 1850 mm version @ $104 both can carry all my gear, but 2350 has plenty of payload still available, maybe a WiFi sniffer or small SAR. I also have a Ventus 2hx, but with it's high wing loading, it will be a bear to fly. I added flaps and extended wing cord 3/4" at trailing edge of whole wing, but have not flown it yet.
Keep your speed up and RQ-9 will fly great, watch out for tip stalls when turning.
I have been slowly working on this airframe. To be honest I am pretty worried about how it will fly so I am going slow with the build to make sure it all right.
Here are some pics. https://picasaweb.google.com/fisher.matt/FIAUAVPhotos?authkey=Gv1sR...
Getting the right propeller (related to its real rear airflow), be sure to have very well balanced wings (widespan, detachable) and you add the mass centering and these 3 topics must be very well treated as any plane, to get good result.
Does anyone get an excellent result with this model?
http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/comparing-the-little-and-the
I would appreciate more a "real" uav/fpv model with stable flight characteristics that this scale model from HK. Something like a good twin boom pusher with plenty of space and more or less that price. I was considering for a couple of seconds this HK offer… but no. It’s a no go for UAV and/or FPV. It seems that the idea that the perfect drone is a scale version of a real drone is hard to die. But this is a rc scale model of a drone, not a rc model drone.
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