Thanks for the steer to the Arxangel review. I saw it last year after the demise of my FF6. Great review, but this blog is the one that convinced me to purchase a believer.
My plan (perhaps a bit ambitious) it to make this a mapping drone with a sony A6000 and a high precision GNSS aided IMU for direct referencing. According to my research (lore) you can significantly reduce the overlap when direct referencing. I haven’t done the math yet but I am hoping to get 1,000 acres in one flight with a 15mm lens.
I have a bunch of parts left over from my FF6 and a failed attempt at making a VTOL. I haven’t decided if I will buy the kit or PNP version. I think it depends on the wiring. Is the kit prewired for the ESCs? When you get a chance I would love to see a few more pics.
Yes, Nate’s blog was a great review comparison. The KIT version has no pre-wiring. It just contains the wires for the builder to assemble. I am not sure what comes wired, if anything, in the PNP version. If I had to guess, I would say that the PNP version additionally contains the power system components unwired.
So at least we know that the KIT and PNP versions contain the Believer plane. The only parts that have been pre-assembled are the VTOL tubes with their elbow joints on the wings. The wings have also been reinforced with carbon tubes and a plastic wrap added to the top and bottom surfaces between the tubes and fuselage. This makes them very strong and different than the stock Believer wings. It appears that my wingspan is still 2100mm long. The elbow joints are top notch…good quality and good assembly!
At first glance, there are similar setup considerations to the Nimbus VTOL. Both have different motors up front and use higher pitch props for efficiency in forward flight. The dual QuadPlane motors in the rear will provide greater hovering stability in windy conditions.
Can you let us know where the CG is supposed to be? I assumed it may be similar to the Believer (1.5cm towards the back of the center of front carbon rod)
Looks like the plane you received still has the older screw-type locks for the folding arms. Be careful with tightening those down, they can come loose during flight if they aren’t tight enough.
The newer version (I guess only the 2300?) should have clip-type locks, going by the pictures on taobao. It would be nice if they went to the clip-types for both the 2100 and the 2300, though.
I followed Nikola’s blog for installing the parts before gluing the wing halves together. Notice that only one wing adapter is glued on so that the internal carbon tubes can be installed after the halves are glued together.
I decided to order the suggested four EMAX ES3054 servos from ReadyMadeRC because my experience with the Nimbus VTOL showed that it can add a good amount of work to make other servos fit the precise areas designed for the EMAX ES3054 servo. In Nikola’s blog, he created new parts with a 3D printer. So far, every piece has fit perfectly!
makeflyeasy,
I tried to order the 2300 kit and 2300PNP from your website. The website doesn’t seem to be working. Nothing happens when I click on Add to Cart or Buy Now buttons.
Looking at the Freeman 2100 and 2300 power systems, there are similarities with both the Nimbus 1800 VTOL and DJI “Spreading Wings” S900 Hexacopter. For the Freeman 2100, only the prop sizes and battery capacity change from the Nimbus (in addition to a quad configuration). For the Freeman 2300, there is additional wingspan, larger battery capacity, and larger props. The Freeman 2300 is meant for carrying a heavier payload.
The reason I mention the similarity with the DJI S900 is that I have two spare arms and props, one CW and one CCW. These contain the integrated motors and ESCs, so I may try to mount these on the rear carbon tubes which are also the same size as the Freeman 2100/2300.
I had a SW 800 but sold it a few years ago. Fortunately, I have plenty of components around my house. Looking forward to reading your updates and picking your brain as I go through the build.
After much frustration I was able to create an account at Taobao. I found my items, figured out how to add my shipping address and clicked Settlement. I entered my CC information several times. They were all denied. How did you pay? Any suggestons?
From your Account, select “Bank Card Management” in AliPay. I think you can also use PayPal but it seems you have to set up your security credentials first. I have asked Mr. Chang to help out but you may want to e-mail him at 2565710339@qq.com.
Initially, I thought that this kit would take much longer to assemble but it went much faster in part to Arxangel’s review and due to the precision fit of all the pieces. Further, the VTOL section of the wing comes pre-assembled which allowed me to simply snap everything together for these photos. One difference I noticed was that my locking hooks mounted to the wings and tail are now made from aluminum, not plastic as in ArxAngle’s review. All my gluing was done using clear Beacon Foam-Tac.
The metal hooks are a fairly recent update to the MFE aircraft, and they seem to fit better than the plastic ones did. I have had issue with the spring-catches not seating in all of the way on my plastic hook airframes, but the metal hooks always seem to click in place easier.
Foam Tac is definitely a good choice for assembling these. I’ve tried CA glues and different Epoxies, but Foam Tac adheres to the foam much better than those.
One place to pay careful attention to during assembly is the glue joint for the V-tail/servo holders to the fuselage. In my experience, the plastic parts don’t perfectly interface with the foam, leading to a relatively small contact area for the glue to work on if you don’t use enough. Checking those glue joints is also an important thing to have on your pre-flight checklists, if you use one.
Thanks Greg. I must be missing something because my credit card is denied each time. I’ve contacted Mr. Chang three times. I am hoping he chimes in soon.
Nice to know it went together quicker than expected…pretty unusual in this hobby.
Here is another place called, “UnmannedRC” that sells a PNP or RTF version of the Freeman 2100 called the Liberty. Unfortunately, the prices are much higher than Taobao. However, they got some pretty cool stuff and the site is in English.
One other modification from Arxangel’s review that I found was the addition of flat carbon bars to strengthen the ailerons. The carbon bars were a few mm longer than the molded foam inserts so I easily cut the insert a bit longer before gluing. Instead of adding hinges like in the Arxangle review, I simply added some Blenderm tape to both ailerons and v-tail. This worked well for me on the Nimbus VTOL and I have still not seen any foam breakage. Granted, I am also not flying over mountains!
In the lower photos, you can see a preview of my DJI S900 assembly mount. DJI didn’t make it easy because they both rivet and glue their motor/ESC assembly to the carbon tube making it difficult to remove. Fortunately, the red mount is made from a near impervious plastic because the stock tube was destroyed in the removal.
Hi Greg putting a Freeman together, found some docs that include direction of rotation for props, but now can not find it again, if you have a link or direction would be appreciated. thanks.
