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RQ-11 DIY UAV Project Part 1

Posted by Joshua Johnson on December 22, 2012 at 12:01am

My goal for part 2 of the video is to have the RQ-11 Kit fully assembled and operating as an ROA (Remotely Operated Aircraft).  My overall goal though is to buy a autopilot from diydrones and make it into a fully functioning UAV.  I want to use it for agricultural and animal tracking purposes.  Learning programming through my college classes I want to create a fully functioning UAV that has a flight time of around an hour or more that could be used to track animals and photograph agriculture.  

Things to do:

  1. Buy motor, 2 servos, and propeller
  2. drill holes for servo mounts, motor mount, and side panel door
  3. lightly sandpaper plane body and paint jet black
  4. assemble, mount electronics, and glue plane together
  5. mount camera inside and fine tune CG (Center of Gravity)
  6. Test and video tape operational ROA for video part 2

Suggestions Welcome! 

Tags: 1, rq-11, uav, army, diy, drones, part, project
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Comments

  • belkacem guerbasse January 22, 2013 at 12:58pm

    hi I'm looking for the file parameter for raven  RQ 11 =)

  • Moderator
    Brian January 11, 2013 at 6:07pm
    I run a 9x7 set up as described by Ricardo, I have tried 9x9 but like the 7 better.
  • Joshua Johnson January 11, 2013 at 5:42pm

    (@Ricardo Affonso) Thanks for the tip on getting the motor shaft to spin reverse I was having that exact problem!! Switching two wires around worked perfect no problems. I will make sure to add that tip to video part 3 of my project series.

  • Ricardo Affonso January 7, 2013 at 5:26pm

    you don't need the prop to be pusher...just mount it to the front and swap 2 motor wires, the motor will turn on the reverse and the prop will be ok!

  • Joshua Johnson January 7, 2013 at 5:10pm

    I put on a 8x6E pusher.  I'm making the part 2 video and blog tonight on my progress on the RQ-11.

  • Joshua Johnson December 24, 2012 at 7:48am

    I got everything now but the prop. What size prop should I use for the Projet RQ-11?

  • Joshua Johnson December 22, 2012 at 12:40pm
    Thanks so much Brian!!! Awesome info!
  • Moderator
    Brian December 22, 2012 at 11:22am

    My experience is way different than that of Tom.  

    I believe this to be a great platform, but you MUST reinforce certain areas and follow the recommendations regarding servo throws.  I stuffed a 5000mah 3 cell lipo into mine and a friend flies with a 4500 mah 4 cell lipo. I'll put some more details on prop and stuff on my own page, but for now here's some of my blog.

    Some of Brian's RQ11 build

  • Joshua Johnson December 22, 2012 at 7:49am
    I'm going to the store right now to pick up some black paint and epoxy glue. Ill see if I can rig something up to help give the top wing some stability.
  • Tom December 22, 2012 at 6:27am

    Having owned that RQ-11 clone, my honest advice would be to get a different airframe if you want to add weight to it. If that's not possible, you should look at strengthening the joints between the three wing pieces and the mounting points where the wing attaches to the fuse. Not sure exactly how much extra weight mine was carrying when the wing folded, but it was only in the region of 200g (in addition to the electronics and a 3S 2700Mah battery).

    It's a good looking model, in a utilitarian kinda way (certainly must be the only 1:1 scale military model you can buy) but it's not a load carrier, despite its looks and the roomy fuse.

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