Fighter VTOL 4+1 fixed wing

I recently saw a video showing how fast these VTOL planes can take off and now I can’t find it. Does anyone else recall such a video?

22.9v is half voltage which is perfect for storage. Keep them in a cool or cold place for longer term storage. Both 1/2 charge and cold storage help keep them from losing capacity over time.

At first, I thought the AXI 4120 motor was sticking out too far to be used but decided that I can cut half way down the foam nose cap so that there is still a good air gap to cool the motor. So both my quad and forward flight power systems will appear to mount fine and I can start my build.

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Hello Greg,

Nice to see you up and assembling your Fighter.

One question, would you recommend AXI motors to anyone? Are they generally reliable?

Hi Ali,

Yes, AXI motors are very reliable. In fact, this one is 10-15 years old that I had on hand from an old aerobatic glow-to-electric conversion. Some of my electric conversions can be seen here. I am not sure that you can get them anymore. There are many more lower cost choices available today. One of my favorites is SunnySky.

Edit: I did a quick look and it seems you can still buy AXI motors in the U.S. at Esprit Models. This means that you can still buy them in Europe from Model Motors.

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Today, paypal emailed me regarding my order with uuudrone store. Paypal is issuing me a refund of $1928 for the MFE Freeman 2300 PNP I previously ordered. I have tried to contact uuudrone store and never got any correspondence from them. At this point I can’t recommend doing any business with them. Glad to get my money back, though.

Get them while they last! Only 3 left at Banggood USA Warehouse. $599 plus $3 shipping.

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I started my build by following the Aerial Survey UAV Assembly Guide 1. My main change was to also install the motor on the Plexiglas motor mount before gluing it into the body half. I used lock washers and blue thread locker on the AXI x-mount. Brushing on the “jiao shui” glue was easier now that I had some practice from the mini Talon frame.

The left and right sides of the fuselage fit together nicely but I do not have enough glue left over from my smaller Nimbus 1800 tube to glue the halves together so I must wait until my order from HK arrives…hopefully this weekend. Overall, the parts are a very nice fit!

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Do not order from UUC drone or UUC RC Store in Ali express, scamming me with false tracking numbers.

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This looks great. Thanks for the updates Greg.

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My glue order from HK arrived a few days early so I glued the fuselage halves together and added the tail and wing plastic pieces. I then glued all the foam landing pads, cover pieces, and latches in place per the video.

At this point, I have completed the Assembly Guide 1 video.

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Nice!

I should have a kit arriving, about 10 days out. Decided against the PNP version for now since I couldn’t easily get a hold of one due to purchasing/shipping issues.

I don’t think I’ll be able to source 12S motors easily anytime soon so I might have to use 6S power propulsion for now and upgrade later.

Chinese holiday is finally over and work is resuming. I received an email from Cheng at MFE. He said the 20x 13 propellers are not in stock and wants to swap them for 18x12 propellers. Will this be OK?
Online calculator (http://www.godolloairport.hu/calc/strc_eng/index.htm) shows that 2300 more RPMs will be required to achieve the same thrust. This does not seem good to me. I would really appreciate some feedback on this.

Tim,

Keep in mind that this is the forward flight prop, not a quad prop, so you will only be using partial throttle with either size. It will just change the position of your throttle stick slightly when cruising in non-autonomous modes like FBWA.

You can always buy a 20x13 e-prop from APC Props in the U.S. Then you’ll have one of each size for comparison.

Cheers!

The tail pieces glued together nicely. It worked best for me to watch the video and put the parts together first as a dry fit. The stabilizers were all self aligning. As I mentioned before in my unboxing post, I really liked the addition of hinges on all the control surfaces. I also liked the control horn assembly which was both “glue and screw”. The pieces on each side were glued and then screwed together with a single M2x8 screw.

At this point, I have completed the Assembly Guide 2 video.

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There was some residual glue in some of the tube openings which required some sanding for a smooth and easy fit. Be careful not to use too much glue around the openings for the carbon tubes. I then fit the tail into the fuselage and was very happy how all the parts were keyed so there were no alignment issues.

I decided to leave the nose as-is because this area is the only air flow across the motor into the battery section. It looks like I’m ready to move forward.

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We just ordered one from banggood to use as a test vtol platform for a multispectral sensor and geophysics sensors. We will setup in the 12s config for heavy lift and long endurance capabilities…still working out which motors to get that are currently available in the us. Great thread!

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Welcome, FIT-RS!

It’s good to have more Fighter users in the thread. I am also interest in your sensor installation and usage.

I did a quick test fit of my 6s 21AH 5.3lb pack and it fit nicely! I had a range of 3" on either end so I should have no issues balancing the Fighter. These packs (I have three of these Troybuilt models packs) fly my DJI S900 for a long time using six 15" props. I think it was something around 30 minutes with my Sony NEX A5, which I intend to use on the Fighter. Of course, the S900 is always hovering so the Fighter flying time will increase it dramatically.

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I just received my MFE Fighter VTOL from Banggood with free shipping. I ordered it on Oct 4 and it arrived today on Oct 14. Much better than I can say for MFE trying to ship me the rest of the parts for the aircraft. I begin to think these companies are gouging people on shipping. They want $500 to ship the airplane, motors, ESCs and props to me via UPS. I cancelled the airplane part of the order because I just got the one from banngood.

FIT-RS. If you find the parts for this in the US, please post a list of them. I may order them locally.
I have already received 5 of these ESCs from GetFPV: T-Motor ALPHA 60A LV ESC SKU: 8542 https://www.getfpv.com/t-motor-alpha-60a-lv-esc.html

They are supposed to be more efficient using FOC motor control technology. I have not figured out motors from the US yet. I would love to hear what you find.

I also have the glue that Greg recommended from HobbyKing. That took 12 days to get here.

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Tim,

It sounds like you are in the U.S., which makes a big difference in what can be shipped these days and bypassing customs…at both ends. My wait in U.S. customs was only a fraction of the time Dennis had to wait so hopefully logistics are getting better at both ends.

The next step in the build is to glue in the channels on the wing halves and a bunch of plastic pieces like end caps, hinges, control horns, servo trays, and two kinds of screw holders. Here I used the Chinese glue for the channels and end caps, and Foam Tac for the rest.

At this point, I have completed the Assembly Guide 3 video.