Yeah, I certainly understand that in general. One of the things we were testing with this prototype specifically was the strength of the wing since it doesn't use any carbon spars. So in-flight video was critical in detecting any wing flex under harder maneuvers (we didn't observe any) and summarily sharing that info/video with the other testers. That sort of thing is somewhat difficult to see from the ground. It has also been my experience that cameras mounted on the canopy often have a negligible effect on flight characteristics. I have flown probably twenty different models with canopy cameras and very rarely can "feel" a difference. That said, I have put cameras *other* places on a model and the detrimental effect is immediately obvious. But I agree with you, aerodynamics and flighty performance are definitely going to be better without a camera!

This one is a Feetech FT90m and does 270. The camera field of view is wide enough to get the tail in view in both directions.

I think I had a 1oz fishing weight in the nose. Plus the weight of the camera on the canopy as well. My build was fairly heavy though. If you printed with active foaming LW-PLA, you won’t need as much. I don’t think mine would have had a chance at hand launch. Perhaps with a large-ish helper that could really chuck it? When I print the next one, I plan to print the bungee hook and make it a belly lander.

I agree. Wings make up the largest percentage of my fleet by a wide margin!

@@brubakerjm that’s awesome bro! The only wing I have is that xfly twin eagle 😅

I wish I was better at painting. This model looks great when appropriately finished with paint. Good luck!

Thank you! I have started setting timers on my radio!

No, In this video I am using a Frsky Horus X10S controller. I've actually never used the DJI Controller!

Yep! I agree!

That's an Insta360 Go 2 in a custom (but simple) 3D printed mount which is rubber-banded to the fuselage. It's older and the battery doesn't last that long anymore, unfortunately. I should have put my Caddx Peanut on there with the 5V power supply. I don't know why I didn't think of that. :/

Printables. Look in description

There’s an indented circle underneath the fuselage

Haha! If they had their way, every plane would feature said flames. They were actually playing the PC game "Balsa Flight Simulator" just the other day and discovered they could put rocket engines inside the EDFs to simulate afterburners on their models and they had the time of their lives. :)

Thanks! It was such a simple print, it was wonderful that it flew just as well!

I think V1 and V2 are the same for carbon. V3, which was just released a few weeks ago, claims to use less carbon, but I think he just is no longer using carbon for the pushrods, which I didn't use anyway. V3 also seems to assemble more easily as the pieces now interlock when gluing.

The "idle throttle before launch throttle" is adjustable in INAV, and some people do indeed set 100% throttle so there is no "ramp up" after the throw. For this model, I wouldn't be comfortable with that much thrust in my hands, so I am still in search of the "perfect" settings, which probably don't exist as different models can be quite unique. I should note that I have *not* done the "hover test" and found the amount of throttle I should actually be setting the launch throttle to as suggested by INAV people.

@@brubakerjmJust go 97% on 6s, nose up and back toss to your behind.

Thanks for your concern! I'll try not to get complacent!

Indeed! They increase both the anxiety and the excitement! Ha! Thanks for watching!

Sorry about the delay! Have you had any success yet? I believe my total flying weight was around 1KG. Between the flight in this video and now, I have relied less and less on autolaunch. I think some models are just not quite suited to it (or I am just really bad at getting the settings right). I have started launching more models in Angle or Horizon modes (horizon if I think I will need a lot of rapid corrections) and setting the throttle stick to an appropriate amount before I throw them. This negates the often-problematic torque roll effect of the quick "ramp up" of throttle.

It's such a great plane! Can't wait to fly it again this season!

Yes, it did! So did my stomach, unfortunately!

Do you mean display in the goggles or on the DVR in this KZbin video?

@@brubakerjm display in the goggles

@@kerrycorcoran4885 The SpeedyBee comes with a cable to plug in your Vista (you'll need to solder the bare ends to the Vista pads). I *believe* that cable is UART 5. So on the ports tab in INAV Configurator, you need to set UART 5 to either "DJI FPV" if you are using original DJI firmware on your goggles and Vista *or* "MSP-OSD" if you are using the WTF.OS custom firmware. After that is set you should be able to go to the OSD tab in INAV Configurator and layout your on-screen elements. In your Goggles, the "Custom OSD" option should be turned on, and I *think* that's all you need to do! There should be some pretty solid KZbin vids laying out the specific details more clearly. Probably search for "inav DJI FPV OSD setup". Good luck!

@@brubakerjm Aw, thats the difference - I am using Arduplane. Thank you anyway.

They make everything more exciting! It's really great fun to have them along, as well as see them build their own flyings skills. Thanks for your kind words and for watching!

Did it survive enough for another attempt?!

Sorry to hear that! The Fly Baby uses "vase mode" (called "spiralize outer contour" in Cura) to print most of its parts. I don't think the P-51 or FW were designed in that same way. Make sure you have that option ticked in your Cura settings, otherwise you're likely to get a bunch of extra travels and retractions that you don't want. You could also try just printing one of their gcode files to see if you get something workable. Also, the version of Cura matters. If you have trouble with the latest Cura, you can go back and try 4.13 or 4.12 and see if the slicing preview looks any better. Aside from that, I would probably post a question in a thread where maybe the designers could answer your questions. Here is the RCGroups thread for the Fly Baby: www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?4495481-Eclipson-Bowers-Fly-Baby

I did what you said and it worked thank you very much much

@@demetriodelgadillo1629 Excellent! That's great to hear. Good luck on your build!

Are you using autolaunch?

@@brubakerjm yes

@@devilsreject78 I also still seem to fight "the dip" on launch. I suspect that part of the issue is the angle at which the plane is thrown. I think that sometimes I throw the plane too much "up" and the autopilot actively corrects to bring the nose back down, which then limits how fast it can transition to climbing once minimum airspeed is achieved. I actually just flew this Dolphin last week, two flights, back-to-back (with a quick nose repair in-between). One launch (double-handed, backward, overhead throw) resulted in minimum dip (and then crashed because the prop nut came loose and had no thrust!) and the second resulted in a lot of dip with the prop trimming the grass as it just barely made it. Looking at the recordings, I think in the second case, the plane had a much higher nose-up attitude as the plane was leaving my hands. I have a few other aircraft that also fight this dip on launch, and I suspect the same issue. That said, I don't really know for sure. Once my Dolphin has enough airspeed, it climbs out like an absolute rocket ship. The fact that it can be nearly perfect on one launch and then almost a total disaster on the second leads me to believe that it likely has more to do with my throwing than the autolaunch settings.

@@brubakerjm I have never done an over head throw with the dolphin I might try it though. I do it for my s800, I changed motors for this year in running a 7in tri blade with 4s 2216 1400kv I might try a 8 or 9in biblade. I not sure how it'll work.

@@devilsreject78 I run 2216 1400kv Sunnysky on my AR Wing Pro with an 8x6 and it flies great. The AR Pro PNP kit actually comes with the same motor but 8x5. I think I have one more plane with that combo but I can't remember which off the top of my head. Too many planes!

Ha! That is an awesome idea. He would need a fabric scarf so it blows in the wind!

Yeah! They are starting to build their own line-of-sight skills! Sometimes I get nervous to hand them the radio because they quickly want to find out if they can barrel roll it!

Yes, it's an incredibly smooth flier. I had one of my best flights of 2023 with it. Side note: I am learning Swedish! Thanks for watching!

Hello! The entire airframe was printed out of pre-foamed LW-PLA (Polymaker), except for some sensitive pieces like motor mounts and such. I normally prefer PLA+/PLA Pro, but the continuous printing/vase mode design of this model is so good that using LW-PLA was just as simple as normal PLA+. Have you flown yours yet?

​@@brubakerjmmy polymaker lwpla is super stringy. Have you had any issues?

@@powerstroke01 Sorry I missed your comment! Yes, pre-foamed LW-PLA is very string if printed in normal ways, i.e. with non-printing moves like travels. Even with a whole bunch of retraction, it still just oozes right out and makes a huge mess. This is not a problem with the Eclipson Pathfinder or other models that are designed for vase-mode printing, since there are zero travels moves and the extruder just continuously extrudes in a single path the entire time. For other designs that are *not* vase-mode friendly (if a part requires infill, for instance), then one needs to dial in retraction and re-prime settings to try and get close to the right amount of stop/start during each travel. In these cases, I also ramp up my travel speed to try and minimize the time the nozzle has to ooze. I also usually turn on (in Cura) Combing -> All, which makes the print head travel along already-printed lines, which helps to hide the inevitable oozing by trying to get it to ooze onto previously printed paths. Some people don't like Combing though, but it has worked pretty well for me. The few remaining wisps can usually be knocked off with just a pass or two of sandpaper. That said, lately if a design is not vase-mode friendly, then I am probably just going to print it in PLA+ and just deal with the extra weight.

@@brubakerjm I appreciate the reply! I just finished printing the Pathfinder and it came out beautifully. Used the polymaker lwpla as well as some asa, petg, normal pla and tpu of course. Starting to assemble it now. 😎

@@powerstroke01 Excellent! The designer of the Pathfinder had a previous model called the Helix which I printed. I was astounded at how well it printed given the vase-mode design, having not tried a vase-mode-designed model before. So when the Pathfinder became available, I jumped on it. I have not tried ASA yet, but I have heard that some people find that ASA parts can be even a bit lighter than pre-foamed LW-PLA prints, all with increased strength and heat resistance. I'd like to try an entire airframe in ASA sometime. Good luck with your assembly!

The KZbin video has the OSD added in post-production, but it looks exactly like that in flight. The DJI Goggles V2 *can't* record the OSD as part of the DVR recording, so one has to use a separate utility to add the info back in during post-production. I'm using FPV.WTF firmware on the Goggles V2 and SneakyFPV fonts for the symbols. So what you're seeing in the video is what I saw during flight, but it has to be re-created in post. This is one of the reasons I like my DJI Goggles 2, since they record the OSD on the DVR, but the fonts are not nearly as good (or as complete) as the FPV.WTF ones. Oh shoot, sorry. You said the one with the info on top. Yes, that is created only in post-production. I record the telemetry on the radio using OpenTX, then import the DVR and OpenTX log into a program called Dashware which generates the overlay, then layer the overlay on top of the DVR and re-render it. There are tutorials on KZbin (search "dashware opentx logs") for doing this that I followed and messed with until I finally got it acceptable. Thanks for watching!