AtomRC Penguin: Build and Flying Review!

[@Painless360]

for all those struggling to use the link to the Diff All file - # version # INAV/ATOMRCF405NAVI 6.1.1 Jun 13 2023 / 10:02:51 (42ced253) # GCC-10.2.1 20201103 (release) # WARNING - USE WITH CAUTION, NO MODES OR OSD LAYOUT IN THIS FILE # ALSO - BE AWARE THAT AUTOLAUNCH IS ON ALL THE TIME AND THE PROPS ARE SET TO SPIN ON THROTTLE UP # Mixer: motor mixer mmix reset mmix 0 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 mmix 1 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 # Mixer: servo mixer smix reset smix 0 1 0 80 0 -1 smix 1 2 0 80 0 -1 smix 2 3 1 80 0 -1 # Outputs [servo] servo 1 1000 2000 1539 -100 servo 2 1000 2000 1479 -100 servo 3 1000 2000 1426 100 servo 4 1000 2000 1500 -100 servo 6 1000 2000 1500 -100 # safehome # features feature MOTOR_STOP feature GPS feature PWM_OUTPUT_ENABLE feature FW_LAUNCH feature FW_AUTOTRIM # beeper # blackbox blackbox -NAV_ACC blackbox NAV_POS blackbox NAV_PID blackbox MAG blackbox ACC blackbox ATTI blackbox RC_DATA blackbox RC_COMMAND blackbox MOTORS blackbox -GYRO_RAW blackbox -PEAKS_R blackbox -PEAKS_P blackbox -PEAKS_Y # Receiver: Channel map map AETR # Ports serial 0 0 115200 115200 0 115200 serial 3 2 115200 115200 0 115200 serial 4 33554432 115200 115200 0 115200 # LEDs # LED color # LED mode_color # Modes [aux] # Adjustments [adjrange] # Receiver rxrange # temp_sensor # Mission Control Waypoints [wp] #wp 0 invalid # OSD [osd_layout] # Programming: logic # Programming: global variables # Programming: PID controllers # master set gyro_main_lpf_hz = 25 set dynamic_gyro_notch_q = 250 set dynamic_gyro_notch_min_hz = 30 set gyro_zero_y = -2 set ins_gravity_cmss = 997.973 set acc_hardware = BMI270 set acczero_x = -15 set acczero_y = 8 set acczero_z = -11 set accgain_x = 4098 set accgain_y = 4086 set accgain_z = 4100 set align_mag = CW270FLIP set mag_hardware = NONE set baro_hardware = SPL06 set motor_pwm_protocol = DSHOT600 set failsafe_procedure = RTH set align_board_yaw = 1800 set platform_type = AIRPLANE set has_flaps = ON set model_preview_type = 14 set servo_pwm_rate = 100 set small_angle = 180 set ahrs_inertia_comp_method = ADAPTIVE set applied_defaults = 3 set gps_sbas_mode = AUTO set gps_ublox_use_galileo = ON set airmode_type = STICK_CENTER_ONCE set nav_extra_arming_safety = ON set nav_wp_radius = 5000 set nav_wp_max_safe_distance = 500 set nav_rth_allow_landing = NEVER set nav_rth_altitude = 7000 set nav_fw_control_smoothness = 2 set nav_fw_launch_velocity = 150 set nav_fw_launch_accel = 1500 set nav_fw_launch_max_angle = 180 set nav_fw_launch_motor_delay = 100 set nav_fw_launch_timeout = 10000 set nav_fw_launch_max_altitude = 5000 set nav_fw_launch_climb_angle = 25 set osd_video_system = AVATAR set osd_units = IMPERIAL set osd_time_alarm = 20 set osd_alt_alarm = 110 set osd_home_position_arm_screen = OFF set osd_switch_indicators_align_left = OFF # profile profile 1 set fw_p_pitch = 15 set fw_i_pitch = 5 set fw_d_pitch = 5 set fw_ff_pitch = 80 set fw_p_roll = 15 set fw_i_roll = 3 set fw_d_roll = 7 set fw_p_yaw = 50 set fw_i_yaw = 0 set fw_d_yaw = 20 set fw_ff_yaw = 255 set max_angle_inclination_rll = 450 set dterm_lpf_hz = 10 set fw_turn_assist_pitch_gain = 0.400 set nav_fw_pos_z_p = 25 set nav_fw_pos_z_d = 8 set nav_fw_pos_xy_p = 55 set d_boost_min = 1.000 set d_boost_max = 1.000 set rc_expo = 30 set rc_yaw_expo = 30 set roll_rate = 18 set pitch_rate = 9 set yaw_rate = 3 # profile profile 2 set fw_p_pitch = 15 set fw_i_pitch = 5 set fw_d_pitch = 5 set fw_ff_pitch = 96 set fw_p_roll = 15 set fw_i_roll = 3 set fw_d_roll = 7 set fw_ff_roll = 40 set fw_p_yaw = 50 set fw_i_yaw = 0 set fw_d_yaw = 20 set fw_ff_yaw = 255 set max_angle_inclination_rll = 600 set max_angle_inclination_pit = 600 set dterm_lpf_hz = 10 set fw_turn_assist_pitch_gain = 0.400 set nav_fw_pos_z_p = 25 set nav_fw_pos_z_d = 8 set nav_fw_pos_xy_p = 55 set d_boost_min = 1.000 set d_boost_max = 1.000 set fw_level_pitch_trim = 2.000 set rc_expo = 30 set rc_yaw_expo = 30 set roll_rate = 31 set pitch_rate = 13 set yaw_rate = 3 # profile profile 3 set fw_p_pitch = 15 set fw_i_pitch = 5 set fw_d_pitch = 5 set fw_ff_pitch = 80 set fw_p_roll = 15 set fw_i_roll = 3 set fw_d_roll = 7 set fw_p_yaw = 50 set fw_i_yaw = 0 set fw_d_yaw = 20 set fw_ff_yaw = 255 set max_angle_inclination_rll = 450 set dterm_lpf_hz = 10 set fw_turn_assist_pitch_gain = 0.400 set nav_fw_pos_z_p = 25 set nav_fw_pos_z_d = 8 set nav_fw_pos_xy_p = 55 set d_boost_min = 1.000 set d_boost_max = 1.000 set rc_expo = 30 set rc_yaw_expo = 30 set roll_rate = 18 set pitch_rate = 9 set yaw_rate = 3 # battery_profile battery_profile 1 # battery_profile battery_profile 2 # battery_profile battery_profile 3

[@PiDsPagePrototypes]

AtomRC's site has a FPV pan/tilt unit, they replied to a comment and said it will fit on the Penguin,... What was that about forest runs again? :D

[@Painless360]

Video on the AtomRC pan and tilt on the channel..Happy flying

[@alberto2974]

Great the penguin. And good to see that you are on Contact with the manufacturers so we can get better products

[@johnchandler4565]

The nose cone for HD FPV gear is brilliant and I do like twin motors. Thanks for the review Lee, the Penguin is now on my shopping list.

[@johnchandler4565]

The Penguin is no longer on my shopping list, it's now in transit from AtomRC ;-). I haven't, however, been able to access your Diff file Lee; Dropbox is telling me I need to request your authority to access the file?

[@Painless360]

Try the link again. Should work now.. (I've also pinned it here in the comments too!)

[@ericwright7570]

Hi there. I may have commented a couple times in other posts but not a lot. I want to let you know that I flew my Penguin for two days (over two hours video footage) at a large RC electric flight festival in Georgia, USA last weekend. It was my first FPV plane and probably only my fourth RC plane. Everyone was asking me how I did this all by myself ;) I told them that Painless 360 and a few other KZbinrs were all I used. Along with wine and beer and tequilas and bad soldering😂 I’m so excited to have an awesome FPV platform now. Looking forward to improving everything. Oh yes, your introduction to INAV and ELRS videos have been the most helpful things for me as well. I’m running ELRS 2.4 GHz,INAV 7.1. Walksnail X FPV. Upgrading goggle antennas next.

[@jamesemery1]

The speed envelope is huge. 3.5a at 30mph is very good!!! and flat out 70mph at 35a is pretty good aswell

[@birdmantelly007]

Loved the view from above shots. Happy to hear you nail the control throw issues. It should not be delivered in Acro Mode !!!

[@wattage2007]

Excellent review. Quite fancy one although I think I’d print something to close off the nose a bit, while allowing adequate airflow.

[@johncarold]

I think I'm looking at my next FPV plane. Thanks for the build and flight video,

[@smackfpv]

Great review Lee. I am surprised at how well it seemed to fly. For the VTOL guys, this may be a winner.

[@Painless360]

I was too. My flying buddy who helped with the video wants one after seeing it fly (and he had seen a lot of planes/wings of mine in the last two years!)

[@julianhumphrey4843]

great review, i really do see me getting this model to fly from the garden out over the fields

[@mr_batch]

Thanks for this nice Review! And btw, it`s very helpfuy that you post the Diff, it will help a lot of new Pilots to setup Inav! Happy flyin` 👍✌

[@GhostRyderFPV]

_"That's not great."_ @ 3:38 I'm not sure why, but this is the funniest thing I've heard all morning. As for the plane, I want to take a big hole-saw to the tail, slap in some Xiake motor tilt mechanisms, and convert this thing into a VTOL. The cooling the FPV nosecone affords is fantastic, but putting all of the expensive stuff in the... crashiest?... part of a plane is a no-go for me, but there are lots of options. I have a feeling that, like the Alpha and Delta planes AtomRC released last year, we'll see this on sale. Maybe then? The Dolphin's place in my trunk is secure, for now. As always Sir, thank you for the complete A to Z review and test.

[@Painless360]

I wasn't a big fan of the Alpha and Delta planes (the Delta in particular was a car wreak). There was a very good reason they went into the sales - they were not great. This is nothing like those things.. Happy flying!

[@GhostRyderFPV]

@@Painless360 I hope you're right, it's the looks of it that I think may turn some off - though my fiance insists it's the cutest "widdle pwane I've ewar seen", (though she has questionable taste, at best).

[@DavidReynolds-kr6yh]

Flying it like you stole it and still getting 20+ minutes is awesome. I like it, it does look different and a little strange, but I don’t mind that at all . I’d probably go crossfire, and,because I have a googles 2, a dji O3 video camera. Id be able to do some great distance flying with really great video footage, and with my penchant for both cruising and high speed flying, by the time I got it back, id be ready for a breather lol.

[@bugsy742]

I’m going with Xfire too mate 🤗👍

[@MCsCreations]

Brilliant little airplane, Lee! 😃 Fantastic flying and review!!! Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@visioneerone]

I also have a Penguin on order :) Really like the nosecone for HD FPV gear as I hate having to hack up a supposedly "designed for FPV" airframe in order to install gear. Would really be nice if AtomRC updated their other designs to make use of this nosecone...

[@Painless360]

I agree! A Dolphin PRO maybe? :D

[@tk-maker]

Great review, I am eyeing this as my next wing. Do you recommends this or Flying Fish for beginners?

[@Painless360]

Both are nice options but the swordfish is easier to see for LOS practice..

[@Raketemensch42]

Let’s say that you can fit this or the Dolphin in the boot for a nice afternoon, which would you grab?

[@Painless360]

For me, the Dolphin (but I'd put this in the passenger footwell... 😁) Happy flying

[@hoagietime1]

This scaled down to a 2s sub 250 park flyer would be interesting.

[@VladTepes44]

It is a bit sad that they did not include any quick connector for the wing servos, but it still looks like a very nice plane. I wonder how simple it would be to add your own. How does the noise level compare to the Dolphin, Swordfish and T1 Ranger?

[@Painless360]

Similar to the Swordfish. See the ratings for those models in my review videos for them... Happy flying

[@Tommyjames21]

If it's like the swordfish so there is no noise at all!

[@VladTepes44]

@@Tommyjames21 I would not call my swordfish silent.

[@Tommyjames21]

@@VladTepes44 really? I have ar wing pro, dolphin and swordfish, and the last one is really silent.....at 30-40% throttle, it's really silent....

[@roge8152]

Would it be worth looking at motor upgrades for more speed? How are the motor mounts?

[@Painless360]

Similar to the Swordfish. Pitch on the blades is only 2.5" so lots of room for more. But, I'd get another model if speed is your thing..

[@Glenn.J]

Fantastic video lee. Will the pan system from atomrc fit this somewhere?

[@Painless360]

Yes, on the other battery canopy (the one shown fitted in the unboxing)..

[@Glenn.J]

Awesome

[@WinstonSmith1984]

It's a pity that it doesn't include landing gear for example integrated into the motor mounts. I live in a hot dry semi desert area where there is no green grass to be found, with only asphalt and stoney dirt roads being suitable to land on.

[@Painless360]

You could use tape to re-enforce the belly and wing-tips or/and use the cable-tie trick (cut the ends of a beefy cable-tie and glue them under the body to create a bow shape to act as gear)...

[@WinstonSmith1984]

@@Painless360Thanks good idea. I was also thinking of molding a cut out of a PET plastic bottle to the belly using a hot air dryer but the heat may damage the foam. Or I may have to create a mold first using PU spray foam and mold the plastic into that.

[@beyondfossil]

Excellent overview. Anyone know if iNav do yaw axis stabilization with those twin motors though? Because I can add in rudder input into the motor mix table in iNav 7.1 to get differential rudder control by the pilot. But iNav doesn't appear to support *yaw axis stabilization* using just motors because it only allows selecting servos in the stabilization section for _any_ axis. Any way to get around this? It's a shame to not get yaw axis control _and_ stabilization for essentially free on a twin motor plane like this Penguin!

[@2theMAXtheStairFax]

Hi P I know you bought the PNP model but i bought the KIT model and im having ESC issues. I've been through 4 different ESCs and they all suck. I am running a 6In GEMFAN Flash prop on my penguin and 220X sized motors. RDQ 2-6S 25A BLS on Bluejay (had to increase startup power, works but has desyncs and spins out sometimes) Lumenier Razor F3 Pro BL32 (smoked the motor and esc just by blipping the throttle up) Lumenier 51A BL32 (Smoked the motor again, same side, new motors 2400KV to 1900KV, 4S to 6S, smoked the motor again) APISQUEEN BLS 45A on Bluejay (Cant get the Motors to spin no matter how much startup power i give). What do you think the issue is? What ESC and Settings should i use? Thanks

[@Painless360]

That does sound odd, I've never had something like that happen here. The only thing I may play with is the brake for those models where I want the prop to not 'free-wheel' for landing...

[@tksamac]

I am liking my other two atomrc planes. However, I want to use a Cube Orange on a wing configuration. My question is will it fit?

[@Painless360]

Depends on the wing! You can run Ardupilot on non-CUBE hardware now too if you are tight for space.. Best of luck.

[@tksamac]

@@Painless360 I have a cube orange already with no plane to go in, so that is what I wanted to try in this penguin. It looks like it could fit

[@ab7rs]

Have you any recommendations for more accurate battery numbers to plug into INAV? Love my penguin 😊

[@Painless360]

Not sure what you are asking for. What is the issue?

[@ab7rs]

current scale to make draw readings accurate. @@Painless360

[@Painless360]

Ah I see, Darren did a great video on how to easily set it right - kzbin.info/www/bejne/n5_Qiol4pcaKhtk

[@MacGregorMforsaleinIowa]

Have you tried to use TBS Crossfire on any of your airplanes? If so, do you have a set up video for this? Thank you

[@Painless360]

I do. See my Crossfire series... Happy flying

[@paulhope3401]

Why would the FC being directly on CG be preferable? If its just measuring angle I'm struggling to understand how it would make difference. Thanks.

[@Painless360]

It doesn't make a huge difference... But imagine if you are sat in the center of a rotating roundabout, all you feel is the rotation. Imagine now sitting on the edge of the same spinning roundabour. You now feel rotation and sideways movement too... Happy flying

[@haustiersteinfpv9181]

How would you compare de Penguin to the Dolphin? I'm not sure which one to get. Both look stable but agile and able to fly stable somewhat slow and mid speed.

[@Painless360]

Both are fab, as is the Swordfish. It depends on what you want to do with it.. I have reviews for each that score their abilities in a way that makes direct comparison a lot easier... I've been asked this a few times so, maybe I'll make a video on it.. best of luck

[@rfly-fpv]

I'm coming from FPV world and have few 4S R-Line 1550 mAh batteries. What flight time should I expect? 10:05 seems like it takes 8 A of current at 50% throttle so 10 minutes should be doable right? Do you have any experience in connecting two 1550 mAh 4S lipos together to extend that time? :D

[@Painless360]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmLIm5uqhball9E explains how to figure it out. Cruise speed changes the current draw dramatically. Half the speed uses a lot less than half the current... Happy flying!

[@superhappyfun.1]

I heard that the V1 Walksnail VTX could interfere with the GPS. Did you have any issues with GPS connectivity?

[@Painless360]

None. A little physical seperation and it's solid.

[@humbertomontalban3932]

Nice

[@MrMPod]

Can you say a little more about the battery test pack LiIon? What kind of cell you are useing to build it?

[@Painless360]

It'll fit both 21700 and 18650 LiIon packs. See my video on the 21700 pack.... Happy flying

[@PilotChris06FW]

​@@Painless360Hi, quick question about batteries. Why use Li ion in planes as opposed to LiPo in Helis? I was always under the impression that LiPo was superior in capacities and power output. Do I have this all wrong?

[@Painless360]

If you Google 'li-ion painless360' you'll find my videos that cover that exact thing. Best of luck!

[@The_Pub_]

The massive throws are what you need in a dog fight. Drop the throttle Yank, Bank, Loop and Roll. Then punch the gas again. It's probably not what you need flying RC planes though...

[@Painless360]

I'm sure, that for some pilots, it would be fab! Videos of it threading through trees like a quad in the promotional videos form AtomRC...

[@nmrlab3807]

I have setup the differential thrust for the twin plane on yaw/rudder channel. Is INAV going to use it for autopilot modes (RTH, CRUZ, etc.)? Thank you.

[@Painless360]

Depends how you have it setup. I'm not a fan of differential thrust for automated flight modes in INAV... Best of luck

[@swunnink]

I noticed in INAV that the pitch and roll are inverted. So when I lift the nose up of my plane, in INAV (setup tab) the nose goes down. Same for roll for left and right wing. How can this be fixed? Searching Google did not help me.

[@Painless360]

Please see my INAV for beginners 2023 series kzbin.info/www/bejne/oqm5lWeCo613oLM

[@billyd78]

Are props turning in better?

[@Painless360]

Two schools of thought. My opinion is that I prefer any items hit by the prop on landing not to be shot into the side of the canopy... Happy flying

[@chrispfligler5892]

Let’s see some tailsitter inav content! Be the first with a tutorial!

[@Painless360]

Not supported yet. You need 7.1 IAV for tail-sitters...

[@irvine40]

Penguin or swordfish what do you prefer?

[@Painless360]

Depends on what I want. Swordfish is a lot larger and more glider like... Happy flying

[@Painless360]

Preview just for you ;) kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5u9l36kZ9Z7eMk

[@nikotttin]

Would you say this is a model suitable for beginners?

[@Painless360]

'Learner' models get smashed and abused. This would work but there are cheaper options that would take smashes better..

[@testpilotian3188]

What is AHRS? Altitude hold ..?

[@Painless360]

If you are using fixed wing, you should add this new parameter - set ahrs_inertia_comp_method = ADAPTIVE

[@JamesManimal]

where.... do you put all these airplanes? lol

[@Painless360]

Prizes, donations and gifts take care of a lot. The rest, stay here and get flown... Happy flying

[@anthonystownsend]

It looks like it's screaming for a VTOL conversion.