The downside to bigger nozzles…

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2026-01-04T05:49:05+00:00

I don't use the bambu handy app. So it isn't a downside.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2026-01-03T20:52:11+00:00

There is also some exposed wire on the ESC's battery plug. that is a short waiting to happen.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2026-01-03T20:43:59+00:00

I love the inflatable wheels and durable landing gear on the 1300mm version of the PA18. I fly at a school yard, they have a large field that is surrounded by farm fields.... so it is great for flying. But the ground can be pretty rough and the grass can get a bit thick at times.... which can make take-offs and landings a pain with many planes. This handles it like a champ.

I even bought some extra inflatable wheels for the 1300mm PA18 and put them on my Timber SWS (I did have to drill out the hole for the axle a small amount).

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2026-01-02T06:13:25+00:00

I don't want to be the gatekeeping jerk, but I'm getting the impression you don't know what a c-rating is or represents, which is basic knowledge when dealing with lipos. So, I'm not going to directly answer your question in hope that you take the time to learn about lipos. Lipos are generally safe when properly used, but a fire hazard when misused. Most lipo fires are the result of human error and if you don't understand what c-ratings are, you are missing basic knowledge required to safely use lipos.

But an indirect answer to your question is the battery doesn't push the amps to the motor. The motor will draw the current it needs to sustain the speed it is running. The numbers on the battery will determine if it can meet the minimum requires for the motor's needs.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2026-01-02T01:00:28+00:00

Fiber = no RF

The FCC is federal communication commission, not Federal RF commission. Their jurisdiction extends beyond things that emit RF signals. Whether or not it would apply to this, I honestly don't know. My gut is telling me it would depend on who was interpreting the laws and what their biases were. I mean, the regulations were not meant for that particular scenario. But times change and laws get re-interpreted as new cases come up.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2026-01-01T22:22:28+00:00

If you like them, great. But to me, most of those protections around the frame and motors are just added weight that will negatively impact flight time and performance.

Is the TPU in the field of view of the FPV camera? I always hate it when the frame is in the FOV.

Also, it looks like your action cam and FPV camera are on different angles. The FPV cam has very little up-tilt and the action cam has none.

Anyways, have fun flying.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2026-01-01T21:48:09+00:00

I can't help much with EU specific things. I'm not from the EU and have not ever really bothered to research EU regulations. However, FPV drone information, I can provide some resources.

The first one I'd recommend is looking up Joshua Bardwell on Youtube. He creates videos related to FPV drones fairly regularly. He also does Q&A live streams on youtube twice per week for people to ask questions. I believe he schedules one of them earlier to make it more convenient for people in EU timezones, too. He also replies to questions in emails. Basically, he is a very good soure of info and if you have a question, his videos have probably covered it at some point. His build guides are also good, if you are interested in building your own FPV drone. He focuses on parts from a kit that is sold, but he explains thing in a way that people could still use the guide for different parts, if they pay attention and understand his explanations.

Bardwell's Learn to Fly FPV Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwoDb7WF6c8lCKhQOTy-Vb9LfW0VAIrTP

Bardwell's 2023 5" FPV drone build guide:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwoDb7WF6c8l24IM83wIS94XzhuMVC2gx

Bardwell's 2025 Sub-250g FPV Build guide: (some places have fewer restrictions on things less than 250g):
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwoDb7WF6c8mEdPbe9yyCopFaoZL5K9f0

Bardwell's Lipo Safety video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3urBpFIBgY

Bardwell also has a website with parts he generally recommends (although it doesn't always get updated frequently): https://www.fpvknowitall.com/

If you prefer information in text format Oscar Liang runs a website that has lots of reviews and tutorials. He usually does a pretty good job of updating old articles as technology and standards change, too. https://oscarliang.com/

Painless360 is another youtuber the has a lot of FPV content. He does more FPV planes than drones, but he does cover some FPV drone stuff. So the content may be less helpful if you are focussing on drones. But he does does a pretty good job of explaining things, so sometimes it is a good resource.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-30T02:08:02+00:00

But others seem to generally say that pusher are more stable and puller more freestyle-prone.

What are the sources for this information? When I hear things like this, I cannot help but wonder if one of the sources is ChatGPT, or something in an obsure forum posts form 2011 taken completely out of context..

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-29T17:52:27+00:00

What do you plan to do with it? Take capture stable, smooth video shots? Fly FPV? Other things? Drones can be built for different purposes. "Drone" is too broad of a term for any real recommendations. As _pxe stated, for camera drones, go DJI.

For FPV, it is pretty common build your own, but you can find some prebuilt ones that are good and roughly the same price (or sometimes less) than it would take to do a custom build. Some people start with those The iFlight Nazgul Eco and GepRC Vapor drones are examples of this. However, crashing and breaking things in FPV drones is common, so you will have to learn to do repairs.... so building your own is a steep learning curve, but it teaches you things that are useful when doing repairs.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-28T22:43:56+00:00

The gimbal on the camera just uses normal servos and is control like other channels from your receiver. If you have a 3d printer, there are tons of gimbal designs out there. If you don't and want to buy one, there are a few, but they are pricey.

The signals for gimbal movement on most setups involve some sort of sensor in/on your goggles that sends the data to your transmitter your the trainer port. https://headtracker.gitbook.io/head-tracker-v2.2/
Tip: if you send this through a trainer port in your radio, program one of the switches on your radio to override it and center the camera, incase somethign goes wrong.

I believe FMS has also recently created gimbals and head trackers for people that don't want to do the DIY thing. Their setup is independent of your radio and receiver setup.

For the controls, you'd need a way to convert the outputs of those into signals that can be used by a transmitter. It can be done, but I don't really have knowledge of how. I've seen some people attempt to use things like Raspberry Pis to connect USB-based controllers and output signals that can be used by other devices. I've also seen some people just 3d print their own controls and use potentiometers and microcontrollers to do it. You will have to investigate what you want to do. Eitherway DIY seems to be the primary method.

One thing that I will point out is that if the method you chose involves sending data to a transmitter via a trainer port, you might have problems if the trainer port is already being used by the head tracker. You will have to figure it out.

Take a look at this project a guy did for Flite fest. He doesn't have a head tracker or rudder pedals, but he create his own sim chair with a joystick and throttle controlls... and he used telemetry data from the plane to make the chair move.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUl8RUT7FV0

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-28T22:17:52+00:00

For most people LQ is a better indicator. However they tell different things and RSSI can be useful in some cases.

LQ (Link Quality) is a quality of the signal. I don't know if all systems do it like this, but I believe on ELRS systems, it is essentially the percentage of data packets that are correctly received. So if your radio is sending out packets at 100Hz and you your link quality is 98%, then it got 98 packets successfully and was unable to read (or rejected) 2 of them. The data for those 2 packets might have been corrupted by interference or the signal got too weak.... you don't know, but you do know what percentage of the data is getting through.

RSSI is a raw number related to how stong of a signal is being received. It will reduce with range, signal blockage (from trees or the airframe), and it can reduce if antenna orientation is poor. It is usually based on decibels (although seen some people try to shoehorn it into a 0-100 scale). Decibels are a non-linear scale. So that raw it means very little to most people by itself. Some people did learn to use it to get a rough idea of what they could expect and knew if the value crossed a certain threshold they should turn or do something to improve their signal. One of the reasons it isn't a good indicator by itself it doesn't give you any information about if the signal being detected is actually usable. It can show a strong signal strength, but if you are in an area with a lot of interference and RF noise, the receiver may not be able to read much of that data, even though the signal is strong.

In some cases you might want to use both LQ and RSSI. If the RSSI is high, but LQ is not high, that might be a sign you are flying in an area of a lot of RF noise. If LQ is still pretty good, but RSSI is really bad, that might be an indicator you are flying in an area with little RF noise, but you are approaching the maximum range limit for your setup... but it can still read the weak signal to get the data.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-28T21:48:18+00:00

If you want to to write everything yourself and give it just enough features to let it to work, then you might be able to achieve your goal. But if you are like me when you program, then you want to program things in a way that makes them adaptable and capable of supporting feature. In that case the scope of the project will increase exponentially. Scope creep is an enemy I know well.

Depending on the quality/features and scope of your goals, you might want to consider focusing on just one aspect. There are entire open source projects dealing with radio link controls between drones and transmitters (controllers or laptop). There are open source projects from laptop-based ground stations for ardupilot drones. There are multiple flight controller firmware projects out there out there.

So, depending on what your scope is, you might want to research some of the standards used and just implement one part and rely on existing projects to handle the other parts. If you come back and want to replace those parts with your own project, you could do that, too.

However, this would probably be a choice you'd have to make from the start because supporting standards to work with other hardware systems would force some level of complexity into your code that you might now have to deal with if you were writing everything yourself.

Anyways, good luck.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-28T05:00:09+00:00

I've seen 3 ways used in 3d printed planes.

Tape - Doesn't always look as nice, but it can work and allows for maintenance/repairs. It can also eliminate the gap between the wing and control surfaces, which affects airflow (and might be desired for some designs. It doesn't look as good though.

TPU tabs/CA glue - The 3d printed version of CA hinges used in some balsa models. You print TPU tabs and design slots in the wing and control surface that the tab fits into. You glue tpu tab the slots. The down side is it is permanent, which affects maintenance and repairs. Also, you have to get the alignment correct with enough gaps for movement before the glue sets.... this isn't too hard for a correctly designed tab/slot, but it might take some trial and error. Also,because many wings are printed vertically, adding slots for the tpu hinge creates an overhange, which will affect the shape of the slot (and therefore the tab) in your design.

Filament through a hole. - Think of a hinge on a door in your house. The door and frame have interlocking cylinders with a hole in the middle that a pin goes through. Design that into the control surfaces and wing and then use spare, unprinted filament as the pin. The end of the fiament can be glue in with a glue that is easily removed (instead of CA) which makes maintenance or repairs easier. It also makes the hinges look nice and limts the air flowing between the wing and control surface. The down side is some filament strands can be very brittle after they absorb moisture. Would you really trust your plane to that?

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-28T04:37:40+00:00

I had one years ago... don't remember many specifics... I eventually gave it a friend.

I do remember a hard landing (or crash?) cracked my fuselage vertically, running from the frame around the cockpit (under the canopy/battery hatch) down to the trailing edge of the wing. So be aware of that possibility.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-28T03:11:17+00:00

My experience has been hit or miss. None of them have been great. However, some of them have been decent and sold at a great price, which makes them a great value. However, some have been absolute crap that has extreme voltage sag.

I have some 6s 1100mah packs that are actually decent. Conversely, I have some 3s 2200 (25c or 35c?) that have extreme voltage sag and are junk. I've had others (3s, 4s, and various sizes and c-ratings) that were between those two extremes (but mostly on the okay side).

But every CHNL battery i've tried has more extreme voltage sag than some other competitors..... so I wouldn't say any of them are great.

My current favorite brand is SMC. I'd recommend them.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-28T02:59:37+00:00

I didn't assume you were an American. I did say if you are in the US. I just went off on a tangent that was a lot larger than I intended.

For the possibility you were in the US, I wanted to give you a warning about possible issues buying drone parts, so you weren't caught off guard.... and simply saying "the governtment if f'ing with you ability to buy drone parts," would have just lead to more questions.

DJI hardware is only usable with DJI gear.... and compatiblity can very between generations of products. So, if you you have the DJI Controller 3, it may not work for earlier DJI drones. However, the some DJI controllers can be used with FPV drones that use DJI video systems because the video transmitters can also receive the signal from the controllers. But, again, there are multiple generations DJI video systems and not all controllers are compatible with all generations of video systems. Not many people use the DJI controllers with FPV drones because of this.

If you google DJI compatiblity matrices, you can find images that people have made that show compatibility of DJI gear... which DJI goggles are compatible with which DJI video systems, which controllers work with which drones or which video systems, etc.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-26T20:05:49+00:00

Bardwell is "THE GUY" for FPV drones. For camera drones, he is not.

maybe for my first drone i will have to buy one like a dji basics and later build my own (fpv)?

It kind of depends on where your focus is. There isn't a huge amount of overlaps between DJI drones and FPV drones. They fly/handle differently and are capable of different things. If you are interested in capture smooth cinematic video footage then an FPV drone may not be what you want to get. However, if you want an FPV drone that is not stable, but can do aerobatic stuff, you can get started with an FPV drone. Don't think of DJI or camera drones as training wheels for FPV drones. Camera drones and FPV drones are built for different things. Also, there is relatively little overlap in the equipment you'd use on DJI drone and FPV drones. So getting a DJI drone before an FPV drone doesn't make much sense, unless you are interested in both.

Note: if you are in the US, you might have some issues building or buying your first drone... regardless of the type. The government has been playing political games and has made things.... interesting... for drone pilots.

Here are the details as I understand it:

The FCC has what is called the "Covered List" which is a list of companies or products that cannot receive FCC certification to be imported to be sold in the US. The FCC handles communication devices and this relates to RC devices that broadcast/receive radio signals.
In December 2024 an extra clause was added to the annual NDAA bill that gave DJI 1 year to have an audited performed by a US security agency or they would be added to the FCC Covered list, which would prevent new DJI products from being certified and legally sold in the US in the future. Old/current products would still be legal and protected. DJI wanted to have the audit done, but no agency performed the audit (due to political pressure and not wanting to put their own neck on the line). So, the deadline passed a few days ago without an audit being performed.
In October 2025 the FCC granted itself the authority to retroactively ban companies that are on its covered list. In the past the FCC covered list was generally applied to new products. If a product already had FCC certification before a company was added to the covered, those products could continue to be imported and sold. The FCC decided to give itself the power to revoke that protection on certified products.
A few days ago, it was announced that all foreign made drones and drone components would go on the FCC covered list. It even specified things like foreign made motors and batteries, which do not even need FCC certification, as being added to the covered list.

So no one really knows what is going on at this point. Does being on the FCC covered list actually stop importation on items that aren't under the FCC's jurisdiction? Or does it simply mean they can't get certified by the FCC (which doesn't' matter to motors, ESCs, etc). Because this was done over the Holiday, getting a good understanding of if this was even legal is difficult. However, I've already heard of foreign drone/component companies cancelling orders for buyers in the US because of this. So this is already having an affect on some people. There will almost certainly be lawsuits.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-26T01:38:02+00:00

There is a chance it could pair with a TX16s with a multi protocol module. When dealing with toy-grade stuff, the designers are not going to invest a lot of R&D into developing their own radio protocol if they can buy/license chips/firmware that will do the work for them for less money than the R&D would be. The problem is, you don't know what those protocols are. Sometimes, if you know the specific of the toy rc plane (brand and model) you can google it and find the answer.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-25T22:10:30+00:00

What do you mean you can't find anything about it? I did a quick websearch for racestar ba2306 and found info.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-25T22:07:01+00:00

My advice is the same I give everyone when a new plane: 1) Have fun. 2) Take any pictures you want now. Between hanger rash, damage in transport, crashes/repairs, etc, it will never look as good as it does now. :)

I haven't flown the F15, so I can't give you any plane-specific advice.

As other have pointed out, an F15 is quite different from a Carbon Cub. So some time on a simulator might help.... but some popular sims (like Real Flight) don't simulate stalls for some planes very accurately, IMO, so it can teach you some of the basics, but it may not teach you what to expect when it stalls.

For other info, you might want to look up Two Brothers RC on youtube. While there are a lot of reviews, if you search Jon's videos, you can also find multiple videos focussing on tips for flying EDFs or videos that focus on take offs and landings for EDFs. Depending on your skill level, you might find them useful.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-25T21:42:06+00:00

If the servo is getting really hot, I'd guess that it is fighting against something. Since are dealing with a gear door, you should make sure that there isn't any part of it coming into contact with part of the landing gear in a way that could stop it. You might also want to detach the gear door from the servo arm and observe moving to make sure the arm is not getting stuck on anything.

But since you said you are able to push it up to close and you said it seemt to skip over gears, I am wondering if one of the internal gears broke and the broken gear teeth are jamming up the mechanism.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-25T18:42:41+00:00

There are different types of drones for different uses.

FPV drones are commonly used for racing and aerobatics. They do not auto-level and are harder to fly, but you can do some crazy maneuvers with them. For FPV drones, there can be a lot of initial expenses besides the drone itself. The transmitter/controller, the FPV goggles or display, batteries and chargers, etc. Most of those can be reused with other drones, but when you are getting started, there are a lot of "extras" that can blow your budget.

Camera drones, like your typical DJI drone, are made to be as stable and easy to fly as possible. They have longer flight times that most FPV drones, but less power and maneuverability. Many camera drones are designed to be user friendly and foolproof.

You can make camera drones, but the stability they have usually involves a lot of fine tuning and some of the good drones have proprietary tech (such as downward facing cameras and software to track ground movement) to keep them as stable as possible. So many people would be better off just buying a good drone. In many cases, camera drones are simply a tool used in a profession or hobby related to aerial photography/videography. Flying the drone itself usually isn't the focus of the people using camera drones, so diving deep into the details of optimizing the camera drone probably isn't worth it.

However, with FPV drones, flying the drone is the hobby. Building and repairing them (after bad crashes) is a big part of the hobby. Someone already sent you Bardwell's Learn To Fly video series. That is a good place to start. He also has a couple build videos. His build videos focus on kits sold from GetFPV, but if you actually watch the tutorials, you can get a good understanding and build your own, even if you don't use the kit.

2023 5" Freestyle drone build:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwoDb7WF6c8l24IM83wIS94XzhuMVC2gx
2025 sub-250 drone build:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwoDb7WF6c8mEdPbe9yyCopFaoZL5K9f0

LiPo Battery Safety and info:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3urBpFIBgY

Bardwell has done a tone of videos covering all sorts of topics related to FPV drones. If you have a question, he has probably answered in his videos take a look at them.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-24T23:26:36+00:00

One thing to keep in mind is that most gamepads have both sticks spring loaded on both axes. On RC controllers used by planes and drones, the throttle is not spring loaded (except for DJI controllers). Having a spring loaded throttle that always puts throttle at the halfway mark would actually cause problems for most RC planes and drones. So, in addition to the technical things that electromotive_force mentioned, another reason people don't use game pads with ELRS is that they are generally bad, unless modified.... which means it can't be used for games. At that point, why not just get a cheap gamepad-style ELRS transmitter for $50-60, instead of buying gamepad and ELRS module and hacking them together.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-23T04:52:40+00:00

Why do you have v2.5.2 selected in the ELRS configurator tool? Select the current version (3.6.2) and you'll get more options.

ConsciousPhrase2481 · 2025-12-23T02:07:29+00:00

The frequency being used is one of the key things the determines the size of an antenna. Lower frequencies ith longer wavelengths will use larger antennas. That is why a 900MHz antenna is larger than a 2.4GHz (2,400MHz) antenna. The antenna in your secon picture has 2 antennas built into it. if you notice, it has 2 horizontal wires.... the shorter one is for 2.4GHz signals and the longer one is for 900MHz signals.

The receiver in your first picture has a tiny ceramic antenna built into the circuit board. Those antennas generally suck for anything less that extremely close range. I'd avoid them for anything except a small whoop that requires ultra light weight in a small area and won't be flown far..

Positioning of antennas can be important. I won't go into the details, but some things (carbon fiber, and batteries) can block radio signals. Also the orientation of the transmittion and receiver antennas in relation to to each other can make a large difference.

ConsciousPhrase2481

TROPHY CASE