(Mostly) Aussie Heros

7. May 2014 21:39 by outbackuav in Posts, Videos

I got interested in the whole FPV thing about 4 years ago when I stumbled on a video of a guy sitting on the roof of a classic northern New South Wales hippy shack.  It was shot from what I now know to be a multicopter and it blew me away.  I've lost the link sadly.

Since it was a home grown vid that got me into this I thought I'd do a post of some of the prominent locals in the scene.

In no particular order:

BMSWeb

Thomas and his Dad Paul live in Melbourne and do a great job of showing off FPV flying.  The frequency of new videos has slowed a bit but I think Thomas' school work might be the reason.  Either way quality before quantity!

MonjonMovies

If Jamie Oliver was reviewing Monjon's videos he'd say "blummin' Gorgeous!" - super scenery in the Kimberly region of Western Australia.  Living in inner-inner-Sydney I'm very jealous of all that flying space.

Juz70

From what I can tell Juz is a ranger in Victoria who is a tester with the Revo or Revolution flight controller.  He really puts his copters under pressure.  I'm not a copter enthusiast (not rich enough!) but his videos are great and non-Aussies seem to love that he often gets a mob or 'roos into shot.

HeppyKet

A keen slope soarer from my old home state of South Australia who makes all sorts of vids.

 

And the The Russell Crowe Honorary Strayan Award goes to:

Bruce Simpson of RCModelReviews and XJet fame

OK OK he's a proud Kiwi but we have a long history of passing off clever Kiwis as our own!

and now, as Bruce says, it's time for me to go "beck to the binch"!

6 Tools I Wouldn't Be Without

6. May 2014 20:08 by outbackuav in Posts

1. Tweezers

Super fine Japanese tweezers from eBay, I have straight and curved but the curved ones don't have much grip.  Very useful for grabbing stuff inside small fuselages and wings.

2. Chemist Glasses

If you don't need them now, you'll need them one day!  I used to used a magnifying glass on the top of a set of helping hands but the glasses are much easier.

3. Temperature Controlled Soldering Iron

I replaced my basic 40 watt unregulated with a Chinese temperature-controlled iron with a digital display.  It was very cheap (sorry Haako!) but it does a fine job.  I bought a set of tips that make any job a lot easier.  I used to dread soldering now I've soldered new wires on to servos and even added resistors inside a servo to make it sweep 180 degrees.

4. Servo Connector Crimper

Free yourself from the tyranny of servo extension cables and connectors in inconvenient places.  Crimping is easy and makes much neater planes.

5. Combination Watt Meter, Servo Tester, Battery Checker

I've got a little HobbyKing 6 in 1 unit that is very useful for understanding what current I'm using, testing servos and peeking insode batteries.

6. Half Decent Muiltimeter

My first one was $4.99 (can you tell I'm cheap?).  Finally upgraded to a new one and it has automatic voltage ranging and best of all, an audible continuity tester - very useful when you've got into some contortion to put the probes on and then realise you can't see the screen.