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My first time off the ground.

Posted by Jeff L on January 7, 2013 at 8:00am

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I saw another post this morning from someone in NC with a hex, so I figured I'd post a little about my first quadcopter build as I'm in NC too.  I started off building the frame inspired by the 3DR design but made my own arms and legs.  I made taller legs in order to mount an old iPhone 4 I had laying around under it for video recording. 

Here's a couple of pictures from the build and then some video of the first time getting it in the air.  I have had no prior RC aircraft experience.

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So after a couple of months of reading, collecting parts, purchasing an APM 1.4 and 2.5 (don't ask, wanted to play with both old and new I guess), I made the first couple of test flights using the 1.4

And after adding the iPhone to the mount I built, the second flight had onboard video

It's been amazingly fun so far, I think I like making the parts I made to substitute the kit parts the best and have already gotten into redesigning my legs and camera mount, more to come...

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Comments

  • Earl January 7, 2013 at 7:57pm

    Green grass sprouting already?? I am jealous.. I am in NM

    Earl

  • Rick Cawley January 7, 2013 at 4:00pm

    Hi Jeff, Your Iphone video looks better than what I would expect from a phone.  I will one day install a camera on my hex when I get a little more experience. Fpv is in the future for me also.  I`m the other guy from NC, with a new hex.Rick

     

  • Jeff L January 7, 2013 at 10:41am

    Thanks all!  Doug, your build looks awesome, so close to mine, haha.  I'm really jealous of that CNC router, I've been messing around with cutting garolite for legs, I'll post about that soon.  John, I already can see myself wanting FPV, keep us posted on how it goes!  Gary, thanks and it is a very simple mount down between the legs, I'll show it in my next post.

  • Gary McCray January 7, 2013 at 10:36am

    Fly's great and really excellent video for an Iphone especially on what appears to be a really simple mount.

  • John January 7, 2013 at 9:05am
    Very nice! But man....be warned that once you strap a camera to these things you get bitten by the fpv bug. I've been flying my quad around with a camera for about a month and just ordered a wireless video transmitter and fpv cam. Will use a USB AV for my laptop initially.
  • R. D. Starwalt January 7, 2013 at 8:48am

    Ah, a hobbyist after my own heart -- home brewing -- and another  North Carolina multirotor builder!

    I am in SC and have already made changes for the 2nd quad.

    Look over my blog posts for some details of the first quad. The 2nd build will probably be a forum discussion.

    -=Doug

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