Hobby King referred me to “Quanam RC” by my own investigation took me to www.idea-fly,com where I found the Storm 800. Sadly, Google Translate hasn’t really taken me forward much from there but that looks to me to be the Hobby King Aperture Hexacopter.
One step at a time.
Found it!
Is there sufficient detail on the following web page?
http://www.ideaflyuav.com/aerial-photography-drone/53366426.html
Not much of use there unfortunately. What country are you in? HobbyKing should be providing better support.
I would take James advice and disassemble the shell so you can gain direct access to the Flight Controller. Disconnect the USB extension lead and connect a USB cable direct to the FC.
I have installed APM Planner V 2.0.24 and followed the initial setup procedure and this appears to have completed successfully.
I’m assuming that APM Planner 2 replaces Mission Planner, which I installed earlier. Would it be correct to uninstall Mission Planner?
Are you able to point me to a basic guide which will enable me to plot and then execute a flight plan? I have a large area of open ground which is a designated model aircraft flying area close to home so even a simple circuit at a predefined altitude would be great. BTW, the failsafe for the copter is return to home and the GPS and compass are, apparently, factory calibrated.
I’m guessing (or hoping) that APM Planner 2 will enable me to upload to the board on the copter. I’m guessing that it will do that via USB. Will I need my laptop on site in order to do this or will the flight board store the data even when the battery is disconnected?
Probably damned-fool newbie questions
They’re interchangeable in many ways, but missionplanner is generally recommended as it has more features. APMPlanner is cross platform (Mac and Linux as well as Windows). As they are very different underneath (despite similar appearance), sometimes one will work when the other doesn’t. Keep both would be my suggestion.
Regards,
James
oh - for auto missions look here: http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/common-planning-a-mission-with-waypoints-and-events.html
And yes, if you don’t have telemetry radios, you can upload via USB before flight, and the waypoints are saved.
Thank you for your help in getting started.
At this stage I plan to prepare a simple mission using APM Planner and take this up to my flying ground.
When the mission is uploaded to the flight does the copter automatically execute the mission once powered up and armed and, once complete, permit flying in manual mode? More dumb questions - sorry.
I will leave any dismantling of the copter until I’m sure it functions properly. When (if) it does I can then ascertain the details of the flight controller and then seek to ascertain why it apparently doesn’t speak to Mission Planner.
Again, thanks for your valuable help.
I am in London but the Hobby King support reply came from the USA.
I am reluctant to dismantle the copter, as this may void my warranty. I can confirm that I have now posted a detailed set of questions on the Hobby King website under the Nova Aperture product. I can also confirm that the copter is, when required, connected directly to my laptop PC using a high quality (Samsung) USB cable into a powered port. One issue with APM Planner V2 is that, whilst it loads Google Maps and Google Terrain (which look identical) it won’t load Google Satellite view. I have no such issue with ArduPilot - I just cannot “pair” my copter to that software. Looking forward to a plug’n’play world 
What does APM Planner report as the firmware installed on the FC (Flight data screen, messages tab)? What Com port does it show connected to? This can also be seen in Windows Device Manager. APM Planner and Mission Planner are essentially interchangeable in regards to communication with the FC so it’s odd that APM Planner works and MP doesn’t. After determining the Com port try MP again manually setting it and the baud rate to 115200 and try again.
With regards to disassembly of the shell this should be considered routine maintenance IMO. Many craft like these from HobbyKing come with the tools to do so.I can say from experience that it’s common for cables and connectors to come lose during shipment or the odd cold solder joint found. I have even seen components coming lose and rattling around in the shell.
Please read through this: http://ardupilot.org/copter/docs/flying-arducopter.html
Before first flight. Will save a lot of heartache!
APM Planner connects to COM7. I’ll check Windows Device Manager. Baud rate is 115200.
After removing all the arms there are around 36 star bolts and twenty or so hex bolts to release the top from the bottom.
I’ve trawled Google Images for flight controllers and haven’t found one which matches what little I can see of the installed controller.
I have pressed Hobby King via their website community forum (so it’s published on the product page) to obtain precise details.
I’ve also written to ideaflyuav,com who appear to be the manufacturer to see if they can assist.
I have spun up the rotors on the back garden, which effectively swept the patio clean 
and everything seems to function well and without vibration.
Until I can resolve the AutoPilot issues (i.e. the two entities speaking to each other) then I will take it to the flying field and test out position hold, altitude hold and return to home but in a very restricted range. If everything works properly then I may do a dismantle with my own tools - none were supplied by HK
What version of firmware is running?
To be honest, I don’t know!
I have received a response from Ideafly which is endeavouring to assist, as I believe them to be the manufacturer.
I have sent them the link to the item on Hobby King which matches one of the items on their website precisely (visually, at least) and told them that I cannot get the copter to communicate with ArduPilot Mission Planner. Ideafly has suggested that it will have a look and hopes to be able to send me a firmware update. I’ve thanked them and await developments.
All they need to do is to install the software and connect the device and any issues will become apparent and they are well placed to address the so let’s watch this space. I will keep you informed, as matters progress.
I explained how to determine the Firmware Version using APM Planner in a previous post.
Hi Dave…
Sorry. I overlooked part of your post.
The following information is available without the battery in the copter so the power is from the USB port of the laptop.
At top right it displays MAV 001, COM7 and 115200 baud with the cable showing Connect (Green plug at the top right)
The Messages tab reads as follows:
[MAV 001:1] APM:Copter V3.3.2 (7f16e4d6)
[MAV 001:1] PX4: 34e1d543 NuttX: 7c5ef883
[MAV 001:1] Frame: HEXA
[MAV 001:1] PX4v2 0028001C 31345117 36383835
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
[MAV 001:1] PreArm: Throttle below Failsafe
Not sure why APM Planner 2 doesn’t show the Google Satellite - it shows “X tiles to load” where X is a number greater than zero. That said, Bing Satellite does properly display my target location.
I trust that this information is complete and useful but am happy to seek further information if required.
Again, thanks for your help.
Marty
I may be making progress, as I appear to have paired with APM Planner 2 and created a mission!
The following is the .txt file created:
QGC WPL 110
0 1 3 16 0 5 0 0 51.6378702803229146 0.018024444580078125 0 1
1 0 3 16 0 5 0 0 51.6377504247559784 0.0175362825393676758 20 1
2 0 3 16 0 5 0 0 51.6382365037036948 0.0171124935150146484 50 1
3 0 3 16 0 5 0 0 51.637414161613286 0.0139796733856201172 50 1
4 0 3 16 0 5 0 0 51.6359692005255368 0.0149774551391601562 50 1
5 0 3 16 0 5 0 0 51.6376338982066514 0.0202775001525878906 50 1
6 0 3 16 0 5 0 0 51.6382831137400018 0.0198912620544433594 50 1
7 0 3 16 0 5 0 0 51.6378436457798671 0.0180029869079589844 0 1
From this you may be able to pull it into APM Planner 2 and, if that is the case, you should see a very obvious and simple test flight over Chingford Plains.
At this stage, I’m unsure how to instruct the software to perform an RTL so the final leg is to return the copter more or less to its starting position, descending to zero height as it does do. If that doesn’t look right I think that I can override this on the RC forcing the RTL.
Well it’s running Arducopter 3.3.2 which was current in December 2015. Mission Planner should still work.
I am optimistic that IdeaFly technicians, who are now aware of the issues that I’ve raised, Will connect the Storm 800/Nova Aperture to both Mission Planner and APM Planner 2 and release any necessary firmware upgrade and keep Hobby King and others in the loop, as it must surely impact sales and reputation in a negative way if a copter with a flight controller apparently isn’t talking to top flight control software. Fingers firmly crossed.