Volantex Ascent maiden 12092021

[@AndrewNewton]

Stunning mods for the Ascent. Thats a real FPV bush plane now!

[@aristocraftboy]

Thanks Andrew :) quite the challenge to get the cam high enough, I am going to mount the vTx/ Air Unit under the roof and have the antennas on top for better video link and that's about all I need to do, quite a fun bush basher lol

[@raven_fpv]

Andrew you should try something like this to your Trainstar! I definitely would love to also.

[@josephlabrador2453]

Great job AussieHoppy! Shows your ingenuity in making flying more interesting.

[@josephlabrador2453]

Can I ask for your advice? I can't figure out till now how to solve the wild shaking of my plane when throttle reaches 75%. Propeller is well balanced and housing of motor is firm, yet strong vibration is experienced at high throttle level. Still the same experience even after removing the cone and propeller spinner. Your suggestion is very much appreciated. Thanks!

[@aristocraftboy]

Thanks Joseph, much appreciated :)

[@aristocraftboy]

@@josephlabrador2453 I'm guessing you have the stock motor with collet style prop adaptor? I truly dislike collets. No doubt you noticed the vibrations in this vid... I'm using a Multiplex glider motor that really is too big for this plane but it was the only reverse mount motor I had on hand, and it turned out name brand Multiplex supplied a dodgy collet with the motor (brand new in the box, I'd never used this motor prior to this install). All I did was dug around in my spare parts bin and found another suitable collet and presto! 95% of vibrations disappeared. If your prop is definitely balanced and your motor shaft is not bent, I'll would point the accusatory finger of blame directly at the collet, they really are a PITA! One day when I am completely bored I'll make a firewall and use a conventionally cross mounted motor, only then will all vibrations be gonesky! And also the blown plastic fuselage I have found kind of amplifies vibrations so what would normally be acceptable on a foamy, will not be on this fuse, if that makes sense. Watch the next video, you'll see almost all vibes gone, that was due to finding a more true collet amongst my spare parts... kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJKWq6lnh5WFaMU&t

[@josephlabrador2453]

@@aristocraftboy You're right. I got collet type prop adaptor in my trainstar. This is very helpful. Thanks much!

[@aristocraftboy]

@@josephlabrador2453 my pleasure mate, let me know how you go :)

[@motionsic]

Awesome build! Great way to show off the full range of motion of the Motionsic BAG - BadAss Gimbal😜

[@aristocraftboy]

ha ha! Yep, I am still blown away how well it works. Seriously!

[@volantexflyinggroup7295]

That looks great, like how you cut away the windows for the pan tilt

[@aristocraftboy]

Thank you :) I must admit I was sceptical when I first pulled the fuse out of the box, I thought I had made myself a challenge I couldn't rise to... turns out it has the potential to be one of the most fun planes I've fpv'd!

[@Sandokans]

Hi sir. Nice plane. What size wheels is that?!

[@dronepilot260rc]

Dude this is sick!

[@aristocraftboy]

Ha ha thanks mate!

[@raven_fpv]

This is fantastic! I have the Trainstar also and followed Andrew Newton's video on installing a Matek FC. I just made a 4S4P 10,400 mAh 18650 battery pack just for the Trainstar. I will maiden it soon but I just came across this video and am damn well impressed! Do you have a list of all your mods and whatnot? I would love to do something similar to this! Once again, FANTASTIC!

[@aristocraftboy]

Ha ha! Thank you!! Here's the sequel video, a day trip between Maryborough and Gympie just stopping at random sites and taking to the skies... kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJKWq6lnh5WFaMU&t Unfortunately I crashed this bird recently due to dumb thumbing it, literally lol, hadn't flown for months and then years before that... took off goggs on, fumbled for the flaps switch and inadvertently my thumb bumped the throttle to idle, stalled and went nose in onto tarmac before I could blink. Destroyed the fuselage, wings, motor... enough to not bother to rebuild given the cost of spare parts for the Ascent, so I have parted it out. Ok, a list of what I did, this is going to be a bit of a marathon (warning! lol) but here goes... Ages ago I crashed my Volantex Decathlon and really missed it, I had asked in the Trainstar forum threads if it might suit cockpit fpv as a replacement for my Decathlon and everyone said no, not enough cabin height, so I forgot about it. Roll forward to Sept '21 and MOTIONSIC asked if I could test the BAG p&t pre-production sample but being on the cusp of relocating 5 hour drive away and with all my planes packed away, I discovered the Ascent on a B'Good flash sale, kit version dirt cheap so I bought it on a whim and a prayer. First step was to cut out the windscreen and side windows and test the p&t for camera position- if I couldn't "see" over the cowl I would have abandoned the project, but removing the ply plate and foam fill under the main wing saddle/cabin roof I created *just* enough room for the camera to operate full dual axis range in movements that the BAG p&t would allow, while having *just* enough vision forward over the cowl. But I lacked side vision so I cut "door" access (aka Eurofox?) for better visibility, and this played a big part in aiding access inside the fuse for installation of all the gear, and while I was hacking out the sides I also added a sunroof, just for fun lol Clear plastic was used from a replacement face shield from a hardware shop, a little thicker than I usually use but this was worth persevering with because once bolted into place with M3 nuts/bolts it somewhat strengthened the cockpit frame that I had weakened removing the windscreen, sides etc. BAG p&t was hot glued to an eps block (epo is much better) and the block hot glued to the floor and main gear mounting block. DJI Air Unit was temporarily mounted behind this block and with a small fan affixed (I do this to all my AU's), I had intended later to mount the AU horizontally to get the antenna's active elements above the cabin roof for much better video link. Motor (in the above video description) was the only motor I had in my spares that suited the backward (in every sense lol) motor mount in the fuse nose, way too low on kv/rpm, way to big and heavy, but it would suffice initially. My intention was later to cut the nose just fwd of where a firewall had to be fabricated, removed nose would then be a cowl, and fab a firewall off the ply shelf to use as a normal motor mount using the usual motor cross mount. Oversized motor weight made it too nose heavy, a 4s 4000mah 10c lipo was placed as far back as possible and still too nose heavy. Also being 700kv I had to swing a *big* 3 blade MAS prop which meant crazy P factor pulling the the left on every take-off, especially when I *had* to make it a short take-off roll, as you'll see in the opening take-off scene on the sequel vid. My choice would've been a much smaller motor at 1100 ¬ 1400kv. Without the overhead ply plate it meant the main wing attachments were gone, so to retain the wings I drove a screw through the plastic locating pockets at the wing joint to the fuse cabin top. Later I was also going to make some wing struts (aka Cub) due to an amount of main wing flapping in turbulent air, and for peace of mind. Main wings had flaps cut in, Hitec servos all round, and started experimenting with wing fences. Later I was going to try vortex generators and perhaps fixed leading edge slats, just for experimental STOL. Tail feathers remained mostly stock, with the exception of Hitec servos for elevs/rudder mounted aft to try alleviate the nose heavy cg. Never had tail wheel issues, albeit isn't the strongest stock setup. Main undercart... ally plate mains was re-used from my original Volantex Decathlon, re-drilled to suit the stock Ascent mounting screws (internal sandwiched foam block had to be compressed a little for the screws to reach the captive nuts). Bush wheels were from the Grand Tundra, very lightweight, I doubt they'd take much punishment if one were to be crazy rough on them because the foam tyre is quite light, but they worked very very well for this purpose, and are back on my HK/Starmax 1400mm Cub. That's about it for the plane itself, rc control was Dragonlink uhf but in reality was overkill given I hadn't gotten around to relocating the AU antennas to outside above the cockpit, standard FrSky 2.4ghz would have easily done well. Additional things, SN-L Sparrow mounted beside the BAG p&t on the main undercart block, simple and worked well for a basic rth ap. Dash was an LCD volts meter I bought years ago (no idea where), and the de-cased pocket GPS. As another experiment I de-soldered 3 of the side switches on the gps display and made three crude servo actuated switch blocks using momentary trip switches to enable scrolling through the various screens (you'll notice the screen info changes throughout the vid), unfortunately my detail soldering skills are not up to par and managed to remove a circuitboard component (eeeek!) that unfortunately rendered this unit with the inability to re-set home position, which is why home is displayed at 60+ km's away ha ha but it was nice to know I can switch between screens in-flight to display home direction arrow/ alt/speed/distance etc and all in real time.

[@raven_fpv]

@@aristocraftboy Looks like some of the reply was cut off. the last part I got is "kit version dirt cheap so I bought it on a whim and a prayer." But man that suck it crashed! It looked so cool.

[@aristocraftboy]

@@raven_fpv I've pasted again, no idea what happened first time around, no idea if it will stick this time, could be too high character count, let me know otherwise I'll re-post in bite sized portions lol I'm working on another similar project, stay tuned lol

[@raven_fpv]

@@aristocraftboy it all posted that time! That is very impressive! It is sad that it was destroyed. All of those mods are really awesome. I especially like the big bush wheels. I look forward to seeing what you do next. I will sub to your channel. You made so much room inside and I want to do that too without weakening it too much. It is too bad you don't have pictures of all your work. But looking forward to your next project.

[@aristocraftboy]

@@raven_fpv wonderful! I hope it might inspire yourself and perhaps others too, to experiment, think outside the box, and have fun! Yes I am very guilty of the lack of documented progression with most of my projects over the years. I plan for days or weeks on how I will tackle the challenges of a project, then I just go for it.... and forget to take photos or notes, it's all in my head lol Anyhoo, between the pics on my vids and my description above, the rest can pretty much be worked out. The next project will be interesting, not even sure I can make it work... here's to hoping lol

[@crystalbusenitz5426]

Wow so cool

[@SR-yl5um]

Wow looking great! Can i ask which wheels do you use?

[@aristocraftboy]

Thank you! Wheels are from the Avios Grand Tundra, landing gear plate is from a long deceased 1400mm Volantex Decathlon 🙂

[@TWSreviews]

I want one.....nothing new there. I also want to live there to fly it, always raining here in Wales, UK.

[@aristocraftboy]

These fly great! But not the greatest for fpv, if only I could get the camera higher lol I must admit, AussieLand is a wonderful place to live.... although hot as hell at the moment lol

[@TWSreviews]

@@aristocraftboy Global warming.....you get the heat and we get more rain.

[@martyyoung5861]

Are you running the stock motor? I busted my shaft off and I’m trying to find a different motor to replace it

[@aristocraftboy]

Nope, I had bought the kit version and the motor I used was a Multiplex glider motor, way too big for this plane but all I could quickly lay my hands on at home.

[@KrotowX]

Next task probably is vibration mitigation for FPV.

[@aristocraftboy]

Not probably- definitely!! lol! I'm going to: ~ replace the prop, balanced, and check for a bent prop shaft ~ flatten the main gear plate and raise the tailwheel, hoping to gain better ground handling ~ cooling fan on the dji vTx Air Unit ~ get the MFD functioning lol

[@motionsic]

AussieHoppy Interested at what you will display on the MFD. Legibility looks good!

[@aristocraftboy]

@@motionsic Yuppers, hopefully the next flight I'll have it sorted. It will be functional :)

[@marcoanderson1343]

LINDO TRABALHO !

[@aristocraftboy]

Muito obrigado :) foi um grande desafio!

[@aristocraftboy]

For those who desire a turnkey solution for fpv pan&tilt, a very polished product has arrived! Meet the BAG- Bad Ass Gimbal! fpvdogfight.com/?fbclid=IwAR3ObwOdN5BzTz0sHeJA9pjzoXSTFbJ-3yBtq5VCXkoXTtT1shE06P9tsA8