RE: Nitromodels PREDATOR RQ-1B
[quote]ORIGINAL: papajeff mpo702, Thank you for the nice comments, and I'm pleased to hear that NITRO has made some changes to their original design. The NITRO Crew sure has devoted a great deal of effort to accommodate the Hobbiests needs and wants. This is very evident when you look at their web site, www.nitroplanes.com, which is constantly changing and upgrading. If your Predators flying weight ends up to be around 32oz., with your motor producing 280 watts.........you will have 140 w/lb. and that will be just fine! I would suggest to go with a 35A ESC, as opposed to a 25A, just to be on the safe side. Have a good time with your build and, for sure, let us know if you have any questions. [/quote] I agree with Jeff about the keeping the weight to a minimum. I've seen someone using an eflight 480 motor with perfect CG but no matter what he did, his plane had a difficult time in the air, especially landing. Mine came out about 34oz with upgraded main wheels, Air Thunder 3S 2200mah lipo, eflight 400 w/10x4.7sf, CastleCreation25, Hitec65s, 13gauge wire extenstions to feed the ESC inside the rear intake (purchased at OSH). Believe it or not, with this setup, I'm only pushing about 120watts. Flight time comes out to about 20 minutes depending on wind conditions, probably longer if I manage better. I detoured from my norm and did not pursue too much power for this plane. As you saw in my previous [link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_dnUraHuVQ]youtube[/link], it flew fine with my current setup. If you take Jeff's recommendation and fly as scale as possible (takeoff to landing) you will really have a blast...in my case, this is my first... excuse me... glider. Since the weather was decent after work yesterday, we took to the air until the sun set...which was only an hour away. The second FCO2 arrived the other day so I strap her on for a couple clips and below was the end result. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SjeQsqREls Errol
Posted on: 1/29/2008 5:46 PM by Author "Raptorhawk" in the forum "Electric Aerobatic & Sport Planes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6991611

RE: Nitromodels PREDATOR RQ-1B
The FCO2 is small and can be mounted directly underneath using either velcro or preferably double sticky. My FCO2 is "deep six" in the lake. I don't want to encourage anyone to disassemble a $100 video camera when the FCO2 will work [;)] All you need is Window Movie Maker and you're good to go! Errol
Posted on: 1/24/2008 5:25 PM by Author "Raptorhawk" in the forum "Electric Aerobatic & Sport Planes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6962147

RE: Nitromodels PREDATOR RQ-1B
[quote]ORIGINAL: papajeff Splash, What a save! And on water, no less. All of my Pals and I went total Spektrum and we were wondering what the range limit would be with the 6100. You sure found out the hard way! I have flown my Predator high and way out there with no problems and now I think that I am going to tell the guys to do some ground tests for range when Spring comes. I'm pleased that it worked out so well for you. Now, I would really like to know what type of camera you were using because I noticed that your image was clear and you were able to rotate the camera for coming and going shots. I just may have found another unique UAV for us, so lets keep in contact. [/quote] The camera use was the FCO2 (Fly Cam One 2) which I purchased from [link=http://www.hobby-lobby.com]Hobby Lobby[/link]. The fco2 has the option to use a servo to rotate for "Look Down" / "Look Forward". The "Look down" video is actually a video camera I dissected and made to fit inside underneath the battery. It was originally a RCA "Small Wonder" purchased at my local WalGreen. I spliced 3 videos together to make the music video. I couldn't just fly this distinguished aircraft... [:D] Yes, I recommend to use the Spektrum receiver with the satellite antenna such as the AR6200 if you plan on flying extended range, E.g beyond "sqint" mode. Errol
Posted on: 1/23/2008 9:14 PM by Author "Raptorhawk" in the forum "Electric Aerobatic & Sport Planes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6958945

RE: Nitromodels PREDATOR RQ-1B
Thanks to all that contributed to this thread! My Nitroplanes Predator B...aka "REAPER" completed it's first mission last weekend. While having such a great time flying and doing AP, it unfortunately went out of range with a DX7/6100 (about 1/2 of a mile away with full orientation and maximum squint) and ditched in the water (local pond). If you're ever wondering if it floats...here's living proof. The recovery was excellent by a very skilled pilot and a piece of wood tied to a long string. The picture on the runway was the following day after a successful Re-maiden... Soon thereafter, I changed callsign to [b]AQ UA-9 "Splash"[/b] Here's the edited AP video from the successful flights: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_dnUraHuVQ
Posted on: 1/22/2008 9:36 PM by Author "Raptorhawk" in the forum "Electric Aerobatic & Sport Planes"
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6953214