AtomRC Penguin (1/3)

[@paulhope3401]

Wow... Someone is finally listening! I've never seen such a well designed and specced fpv plane (bar the motors and props) with so many accessories for such a wide range of different kit. MG digital servos?.. incredible! Bravo AtomRC! 👏 👏 👏

[@YoungGhillie]

The slow steady speed of this plane would be great for cinematic shots, its not as fast as I would like it to be but like a calm smooth flight, thanks for the review Oliver!

[@jaysonrees738]

I feel like AtomRC does a pretty good job, but their motors seem to be undersized a lot of the time. Burnt up my Dolphin motor in just 3-4 flights. Moved to a 2806.5 and it's happy now. As for the Penguin, it's really a pretty neat plane.

[@blackbirdboy1]

Great video. Loved the low proximity flying.

[@Rcschim]

Very nice video! Looking forward to also test this plane. My Dolphin's motor died - so I guess you're right with AtomRC using too large props on too small motors ;) greets and happy flying, Mario

[@Olivier-C]

Yep on the long run it pays to have motors slightly too big for the task :) On the swordfish too I found the 7" to be too much for the 2000kV 2306, I downsized to 6" and it goes just as fast and amps are like -25%

[@Rcschim]

@@Olivier-C hehe, I've burnt another motor out of stupidity now on my dolphin ;) put a 2206-2600 on it (an old multistark viking) and used the stock 7x4.2 2bladed prop. only gave me one autolaunch and a lucky glide back to the runway :) But one thing: with the oversized 7x4.2 my launches were always very easy compared to my friends. enough thrust on the low end... Now I have 2306-2400 drone motor with 5x4x3 should be within the specs and not get extreme hot, but the first quick try this morning wasnt good. not used to the low thrust. maybe I just need to throw better or adjust autolaunch settings (lower angle, more idle gas...)

[@Olivier-C]

@@Rcschim At first I had my dolphin with 5" tris, and launch were always random, for sure switching to 6" bi made a huge difference, a lot less torque roll aswell. And now with a 2806.5 and a 7", launches are 100% safe :)

[@Rcschim]

@@Olivier-C thanks for the tip! I flew the plane with stock motor and oversized 7" prop - Launches as you say - 100% reliable (others were quite envious about that). So I will try to get a decent motor again and use large 2blades then. greets, Mario

[@Rcschim]

@@Olivier-C which motor exactly do you use?

[@wattage2007]

Excellent video. I agree the amp draw is a bit high for such low speeds.

[@GameBug13]

😀hello friend, thank you for reviewing the new devices. A very interesting model

[@northernfpv9562]

Thanks for this great video Olivier. I ordered myself one as it looks to be pretty versatile and a good flyer. I'm a fan of AtomRCs built in FCs now and this looks like another winner!

[@Olivier-C]

Very versatile for sure, it flew in the mountains 2 days ago, with a 21700 liion had very good endurance, total distance of 47kms in about 30 minutes in rather strong wings, and was all fine !

[@fictiont1]

Great review. Considering this but would prefer if someone would suggest something for free wing beginners. Something slower (maybe glider) but that runs inav with gps(RTH) and walksnail compatible would be great. Thanks

[@AerialWaviator]

Nice review. A good tip configure motors to "spin inward" (9:24) vs. "spin outward" (the default), just in case. The Penguin seems to have much higher amp draw compared to the T1 Ranger, even after reduced by swapping motors. Seems to be ~1.5x higher. The Penguin does appear to have much more fuselage space for battery however.

[@Olivier-C]

Yes the Penguin easily has double the internal space, that's one of the downside of the T1 for sure

[@afterburnerrc6333]

Great review, love all your vids! How much more speed do you think it gained by upgrading the motors as I have several of the same motors on hand, and were you able to use the existing ESC's?

[@Olivier-C]

Factory ESC are marked 30A, should be fine, they handled the 2206 with no issue, and now they are soldered to 2306. Top speed is 105km/h with the 2004, and 145km/h with these aging 2206, and with 2306 I think it should go about 160. But I don't expect much higher, the deep wing makes a lot of drag I think. Still, speed envelope from 25 to 150 is plenty

[@WDZaphod]

Nice plane, great review! I think I'm going to buy one for my holiday location in south america. Had a Caipi2 there, but the hidden Dragons in a dark corner of Arduilot ate it. So replacement needed, and this looks fine! Any idea about expected flight time / range? Possible to do 10km out and back?

[@Olivier-C]

10kms easily, yesterday I flew a 21700 4s 4000mah liion pack, cruised at 4-7A, so a 30-40mins flight is very doable

[@WDZaphod]

@@Olivier-C Great, I have a 4s3000 18650 pack, that will do the job. I will order the plane, and directly swap motors…

[@11coso]

Hi Olivier, Would you recommend the Penguin as a first FPV Wing. I have some RC experience. Considering the Swordfish but I have less than Ideal takeoff/landing areas... no fields, heavily wooded, some cleared areas so it sounds the the Penguin would be the way to go! Thanks for all the videos! Very Inspiring.

[@Olivier-C]

Yes the penguin is great for such narrow places, and its easy to launch, definately a good multi purpose plane

[@Glenn.J]

great video, can you please share what flight modes you were flying in and also the inav diff dump please?

[@Olivier-C]

I'm mostly flying in angle mode, sometime in acro, and I tested with manual mode but that's not shown on the video because it's just me shaking the plane around and is not pleasant to watch :) Plane was handling fine in manual mode, and the COG marker seemed perfectIy placed. I will put the links to dump and diffs in the description tonight, I forgot that !

[@Glenn.J]

Great thanks

[@GameBug13]

such rotation of the motors is preferable in case of failure of one of the motors .

[@imotepRC]

Bonjour Olivier, super review. Au final 2 mois après t’as mis quoi comme moteur/hélices dessus? J’ai vu que tu avais prévu d’en essayer plusieurs.

[@Olivier-C]

T-motors Velox 2306 v3 1750kv, avec des helices 7"x 4.2 Gemfan Flash . Bonne endurance et beaucoup de puissance, rien à voir avec les moteurs d'origines, trop petits

[@imotepRC]

C’est quasiment ça qu’ils mettent sur leur swordfish. Il sont en 1600kv et même hélice. Donc ça se recoupe :)

[@Olivier-C]

@@imotepRC sur le mien de swordfish j ai mis des 6", car les moteurs de la pre-serie etait en 2000kV. 7" ca faisait trop grand, ca pompait des amperes pour rien

[@mpsaeris1855]

Hi Olivier, great video and review. How did you like the Penguin after replacing the motors and props?

[@Olivier-C]

For low altitude low speed stunts it make the plane a big heavier so that's not really better, but when going higher and cruising further, the added speed is a big plus. And I've already fitted new motors, T-motors Velox 2306 1750kV with 6", might fly these tonight

[@eitaje]

Nice review! many thanks :-) seems like a nice plane, though too small for my taste.

[@tinybloodywonder]

Maybe because of the wide wings, this cute airplane seem to be stable enough even at low speeds! Where can I buy it for now?

[@Olivier-C]

It's available at their webshop here : atomrc.com/ , and in Europe I think these guys will have it soon : www.hobbyrc.co.uk/

[@KanaBaradei]

Question: I don't have the budget to get new engines for the Penguin, what props would you recomend with the stock motors? And with said props, do you think the speed and torque should be enough?

[@Olivier-C]

The stock motor and props are working ok-ish, even if not very efficient. Or maybe try to fit 6" instead of 7", that should make them work less hard

[@KanaBaradei]

@@Olivier-C Sorry I do not understand, the plane came with 6'' 2.6 pitch props, which ones do you recommend? Sorry I do not understand very well prop names yet

[@Olivier-C]

@@KanaBaradei ah my mistake, I thought it was with 7" props. Then 5" seem a bit small, it's better to keep teeh factory 6" then, they work ok

[@KanaBaradei]

@@Olivier-C Thank you for the info, one last question since you flew this thing probably everywhere, I'm stuck between the Penguin or the Dolphin, I want something that is easily portable, can fly for a decent time (20mins at least) and can more or less sustain moderate winds, probably for high altitude / long range. Which one would you recommend?

[@Olivier-C]

@@KanaBaradei they are portable the same, same size, but I feel like the penguin is more "al terrains", because it's easier to launch and also it needs a bit less space for landings, it can fly slower. For winds it's the same, very similar planes

[@JamesDowningFPV]

Hey Oliver, I've been looking for a dual tractor plane recently for proximity flying. Seems people like both the heewing T1 and the atomrc penguin. You seen to have experience with both, any advice on which to choose? Really appreciate it man!

[@Olivier-C]

hi! Get the penguin, no doubt it's a better plane. a lot more wing area, maybe like +60%, so a lot more payload abilities. Easily double the space inside. The T1 is a bit fragile, the parts for the tail are very thin plastics, for proximity flights the Penguin is a waaaay better option. In my Penguin I put some 4S21700 liions and it flies a long time, or I can put some small 4S-1300mAh so it's very light for stunts close the ground or below trees. The same 4S-1300 in the T1 is already the biggest it can carry. Just put some bigger motors in the Penguin, other than factory, these are undersized big time and struggles to spins 6"

[@JamesDowningFPV]

@@Olivier-C Appreciate the thoughtful response! I had seen some people mention lately how great the HeeWing T1 was (I think even mentioning it was their favorite overall plane!), so your opinion really helps. The additional payload capacity will help with the LR stuff. I had also looked at the Swordfish or Flying Fish as alternatives, but in both cases the Penguin looked superior. Swordfish seemed like it was meant more for soaring, and the Flying Fish seemed like it was more of a lightweight beginner plane. Other dual tractors I've seen are just too big for my use case. Thanks again.

[@TERBANGFPV]

im late to the party.. so if i buy the PNP or RTH version its better change to a bigger motor right? the esc can handle it? why not stock motors and 5inch props? thanks

[@Olivier-C]

Stock motors are only 2004, but it might work with 5" I guess. worth noting, it's not a standard 5mm axle, it's a mount with 2 holes and 2mm axle I'm not a big fan of. AtomRC usually have proper motor sizes on all their planes, excepted this one that is quite underpowered stock in my humble opinion. Plus bigger motors won't need as much amps at cruise speed, these 2004 are operating near their limits

[@jparth167]

Salut Olivier, Il me tente bien, j'adore sa bouille. Dommage pour les moteurs d'origine. ( c'est vraiment la mode au petit moteur haut kv j'ai horreur de ça 😂 ) Je vais regarder ce que j'ai encore en stock en moteur 🤔

[@Olivier-C]

Son look au debut il est surprenant, c'est le raccord entre la queue et le reste qui est bizarre je trouve mais on s'y fait. Mais bon un avion FPV on a pas trop l'occasion de le regarder soi-même en vol :)) mais c'est sur qu'en l'air il n'a pas l'elegance d'un Swordfish ou d'un Dolphin.. Pour les moteurs, n'importe quelle taille 'quad 5" ' devrait faire l'affaire, de 2204 à 2306, 5", 6" en bipales... p'tet eviter les tripales, les ailes sont basses, ça va ripper à chaque atterro. Je li ai mis des 2306 kv1750 avec des 6", en 4S la vitesse de pointe ne va pas etre folle mais il devrait avoir un bon grip pour faire l'andouille près du sol

[@jparth167]

@@Olivier-C ça serait un peu le but, J'ai pas encore migré mon park en o3, le reptile dragon v2 attend son tour....

[@edwill62]

Looks good to me

[@henrinorth]

Bonjour j'ai un casque dji fpv goggles V2 avec le firmware V01.00.06.07 si je veux utiliser le Dji 03 qu'elle firmware je devrais utiliser pour avoir l'OSD?

[@Olivier-C]

Salut les O3 normalement ça marchent avec tous les firmwares recents, il y a juste a configurer la FC

[@MessingWithCode]

as always great video

[@BatmanNGU3066]

Hello! Could you please tell me how to determine the centering of a penguin airplane?

[@Olivier-C]

hi! on the underside of the wings there's 2 bumps, thats the CG

[@BatmanNGU3066]

@@Olivier-C Thank you very much! 🇺🇦

[@henrinorth]

Bonjour quelle est la différence entre Gimbal Roll...RC Roll et stabilized Roll.

[@Olivier-C]

RC est la commande directe depuis la radio, stabilized c est... avec la stab :) et gimbal c est l'inverse de stab

[@ericwright7570]

Salut Olivier.J'ai un Penguin avec FPV (5.8 GHz Walksnail.) J'ai besoin de quel trucs/choses por un gare (long range station)? Je voudrais voler loin, peut etre 10 km. Merci.

[@Olivier-C]

Hi Im not sure what you mean ? Walksnail can already go 10+kms with good antennas no ?

[@ericwright7570]

@@Olivier-C I’ve been losing my video signal at around 8 km. Maybe the single omni antenna on my VTx needs upgrading. 🤷‍♂️

[@ericwright7570]

I just assumed you must be taking some kind of long range equipment for your videos in the mountains.

[@Olivier-C]

​@@ericwright7570I have a standard O3 , factory antennas, and a lumenier Axi kit on the v2 goggles, 2 patches and 2 omnis

[@ericwright7570]

@@Olivier-C oh ok. Thank you! I just got a Luminer Axi. Looking forward to trying it out.

[@franckylaglisseable]

Salut Olivier j'aimerais beaucoup que tu nous fasses une vidéo tuto pour expliquer par exemple ce que tu utilises comme émetteur récepteur en gros ce que tu fais quand tu reçois ton premier avion de chez atome RC parce que moi ça fait plusieurs mois que j'ai reçu mon swordfish et je n'ai toujours pas voler avec en premier j'ai essayé avec un récepteur flysky fs-i6x mais je pense que c'était pas du tout compatible du coup je me suis acheté une tx16s avec un récepteur r-xsr mais maintenant le problème c'est que j'arrive pas à binder mon récepteur j'ai été sur quelques forum et il y a beaucoup de gens qui ont le même problème que moi je pense que ça serait intéressant que tu fasses ce genre de vidéo tu aiderait beaucoup de gens je pense pour expliquer les étapes à bien faire pour préparer son avion atom RC ce serait vraiment sympa de ta part

[@Tommyjames21]

La meilleure solution serait de passer en crossfire et tu n'aurais plus de problème

[@terracoon9882]

the wings are too big for the power system to me, it makes the plane slow.

[@onnovannoort7690]

Hi, can you tell me youre motor combo and props?

[@Olivier-C]

Hi! T-Motor Velox V2306 V3.0 1750Kv, Gemfan flash 6042

[@onnovannoort7690]

@@Olivier-C Thanks 🙏

[@onnovannoort7690]

Tanks mate!

[@TERBANGFPV]

@@Olivier-C going to 6s ?

[@Olivier-C]

@@TERBANGFPV I don't have the plane anymore, destroyed by an eagle, but yeah a 6S setup with low kV should be nice, this plane can carry more that it seem

[@sylvainponchelet4188]

petite machine qui à l'air de bien fonctionner et assez polyvalente dans son enveloppe de vol ( beaucoup de choix de batteries possible ) cette mode du petit moteur à haut KV est assez pénible effectivement . J'ai aussi un peu peur qu'avec la distribution de sa surface alaire très ramassée il risque d'être assez sensible au vent et turbulence je te fais confiance tu nous en diras plus au fur et à mesure de ton utilisation . Bon reste l'esthétique il plais ou pas moi j'aime pas beaucoup le coté batplane 😁 me gène un peu mais bon c'est perso et ça n'enlève rien à ses qualités

[@Olivier-C]

Oui le look n'est pas ouf mais à force de le voir je commence à lui trouver une beauté cachée :))) Coté stabilité il s'en tire bien je trouve, les vols sur la video en milieu d'après-midi ça soufflait vraiment n'importe comment de façon très aléatoire, et il tenait bien sa ligne. Il y a un peu de stabilisation de la part de la O3 avec gyroflow mais je règle ça à une valeur très faible pour ne pas tricher sur l'impression de stabilité. Je met juste assez de stab pour gommer les petites secousses qui rendent la visualisation penible...

[@sylvainponchelet4188]

@@Olivier-C comme quoi ont s'habitue à tous comme dirais l'autre 🤣 et puis les goûts et les couleurs ..... en tout cas merci pour tes partages et les balades ça fait du bien .

[@SebastienChedalBornu]

Pourquoi tu dis que ça sert a rien les dérives sur ce type d'avion ?

[@sylvainponchelet4188]

c'est pas la dérive qui sert à rien c'est le fait de les équiper avec des surfaces de contrôles qui n'est pas efficace

[@Olivier-C]

oui voila, plutot ça, me suis mal exprimé :)

[@SebastienChedalBornu]

@@Olivier-C incidence intégrale

[@SebastienChedalBornu]

Ce coup ci ils te l'ont envoyé tu l'a pas payé toi?

[@Olivier-C]

C'est cadeau celui la, ils m'envoient sans prevenir même, en général je l'apprend quand je reçoit le SMS de Chronopost pour une livraison dans la journée....

[@SebastienChedalBornu]

Ton visage un peux trop sec c'est justement car tu n'as pas de dérive. Tu en met sur le moteur?

[@Olivier-C]

Non mais la j'ai tiré au max de la profondeur à genre 20km/h le pauvre il n'avait aucune chance :) Le mix de moteur differentiel ça ne fait rien sur ces avions, à moins de voler à moins de 30km/h. Dès qu'on a un peu de vitesse, on peut voler sur un seul moteur et ça va tout droit pareil

[@SebastienChedalBornu]

@@Olivier-C ah dommage donc je ne partirais pas là dessus, je peux pas piloter sans la dérive, mon habitude de voler en planeur.