Developer Comment by Doug Weibel on March 14, 2010 at 2:28pm

Sounds great, but why? If I were going to invest that amount of $ and time I think it would have to have a cockpit with a seat!

Comment by Jason on March 14, 2010 at 3:53pm

Ambitious. If you build it, I will watch the video repeatedly.

I hope this does not sound rude but..........

I will be surprised if anyone else responds, and here is why:

After reading your post, this is what people will have heard, "I want to build something so fantastic that only Hollywood could have dreamed it up. I also want it to be big and have special powers. Nobody has done it yet, how do I do it? Oh yah, I want it to be dangerous too."

I would suggest starting with a very small quad copter like the type you can find on this site. Master one of them and then re evaluate your project.

Comment by fibrewire on March 14, 2010 at 5:13pm

Thanks Jason! I'll fix that ASAP!

Comment by fibrewire on March 14, 2010 at 6:58pm

Doug - If I can get enough lift with this UAV I will build a Wright Brothers style enclosed cockpit, one where the pilot can lay down inside of the fuselage. If not enough power to carry a pilot then the cockpit will hold surveillance avionics and extra fuel.

Comment by bGatti on March 14, 2010 at 7:37pm

Robert, I half agree with Jason, - You've proposed a human flying machine - while this crowd builds flying toys. Your project belongs in the big leagues - and kudos if you get it flying - but I doubt 3 people on this site have a wrench big enough to turn the set screws on your main rotors ; )

You may realize that you can put a human and a cyclic in the middle of these rotors and have a proper flying machine; if on the other hand, you want Gyro-stabilized human flight-by-wire, then you are I think, really pushing the envelope of the Open Source liability release issue. For example, one of the questions Atmel will ask DIYdrones before they ship the chips is whether or not it is intended for use in airplanes. Again kudos if it flies...

Comment by David Ankers on March 14, 2010 at 7:47pm

WOW! I had to do a double take at the "full size".

Yeah, my wrench set doesn't include tools big enough for this either. I'm not going to be the one to sound negative this time (and it was not my intention last time either when someone was very ambitious) but I will say be careful, don't get hurt and good luck!

We need a DIYdrones extreme edition!

Comment by fibrewire on March 14, 2010 at 8:07pm

bGatti - Previous to this project, I had looked everywhere for parts to build a quad rotor with a cyclic. Once I realized It would cost me at least $150K on parts, and the next 2 years worth of weekends, I stopped. I stopped because it's too complex to risk a human life on an experiment, too many variables and untested parameters, and it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life, and it's only $25K for an Ultrasport 254 helicopter. But being stubborn, patient, and lucky, I happened across 4 Ultrasport tailrotors and *BAM* back on track to build a UAV. Someday it would be cool to fly in a quad rotor aircraft, but i surely can learn from other's mistakes. Case in point - Moller and his SkyCar... I'm definitely building an UAV only. :-)

Comment by fibrewire on March 14, 2010 at 8:11pm

This should put things in perspective - that is a PS3 controller in the center of those tail rotor gearboxes and the bevel gear drives. You think i want to be held in the sky by that? Well, maybe for a second or two :-)

Comment by Ron Jacobs on March 14, 2010 at 8:11pm

Ummm...Admire the ambition, but I'll be standing very far away when that takes off...

Comment by fibrewire on March 14, 2010 at 8:19pm

Truth is, it's marginally more expensive to build at the scale I plan on building at than a a ridiculously overpriced Vario Lama scale heli with a turboprop engine. That and I would like to keep the UAV in the air longer than 15 minutes at a time. :-)

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