3/20/2018 - I really enjoyed building my first Martian so while the Martian Special Edition was on sale, I picked one up. I also ordered a set of 255mm arms, an extra top deck, and all the supporting standoffs and hardware to drop the deck of the frame. All the parts in the list have been ordered. Now the waiting game for everything to arrive begins.

4/2/2018 - Parts have started coming in. I received the frame, the extra top deck, the motors, and the ESCs and flight controller. I signed up for KWAD BOX last month and it arrived with a Tramp VTX and an Immersion RC SpiroNET Stubby Antenna which I'll be using on this build. Over the weekend I placed an order for some 3D printed parts. They're all done and should be here this week. I can't do much with the parts that have arrived, but I hope to have everything I'm missing by the end of the week.

4/13/2018 - I got the itch to cut some carbon fiber last night. A cutoff wheel and an angle grinder made quick work of the top plates. I'm still missing most of the hardware but it should be here this week.

4/17/2018 – Yesterday the rest of the standoffs and the 255mm arms came in so I was able to start assembling the frame. I started by soldering all the motors to the ESCs, heat shrinking everything, and mounting the assemblies to the arms. Everything came out really clean. Next, I started working on making the custom length standoffs to go between the top plate and the main deck. This turned out to be a huge headache as the standoffs aren’t threaded all the way through. I ended up cutting them to size and then tapping them so the threads went all the way through. Then I cut some 3mm screws and glued them into the standoffs so that I could screw the top one into the lower one, then use a regular screw to go through the top plate. Once the frame was all assembled I mounted the arms to it. The big surprise came after all the arms were installed. I compared the Martian SE bottom plate to the bottom plate on my Martian II and the arms are pushed out farther. This ended up turning what I though was going to be a 255mm quad into a 275mm quad.

4/17/2018 - I finished all the wiring and programming last night and hovered the first battery through it. Hope to have all the parts I'm missing by next week so I can fly this thing!

5/17/2018 - When I updated the parts list on this build today, everything I had written in the last three weeks was gone. To sum it all up, it took me more than a few flights, but now that I found the right battery and prop combination, I really like flying this quad. The video below has some Jell-O, but I'm going to work on tuning this weekend, and I'm also trying out some neutral density filters.

8/2/2018 - Update - I never really loved the original incarnation of this quad. The KV of the motors was too much, and that combined with the size and weight of the original build made for disappointing performance and flight times. In the months since I spec'd out the parts for this build, I've become a lot better at putting together a combination that gives me the flight time and performance I'm after. The changes I made to this quad now have me flying it almost every day. I never leave it at home when I'm going out flying. I have no problem getting at least a 3-minute flight out of it, the agility is better, and the powerband of the motors is perfect for my flying style. I started by trading out the RunCam Sparrow for a Foxeer Predator V2. There was nothing wrong with the Sparrow. I switched over to the Predator after thinking I'd smoked the Sparrow. I didn't, and it's now on my Skitzo Dark Matter. I will say that in bright sunlight the Sparrow has the most vibrant video out of all my quads, but when it's overcast, the picture is very dark. The Predator is a better all-around camera. I made this change back at the end of May and it didn't make me want to take this quad out any more than I already was. By the middle of June, I was ready to make this quad into something I actually wanted to fly. I started by ordering a new set of 230mm arms. On the SE frame, this took the quad down from 275mm to 245mm. The next issue I had to address was the motors. I've been flying a lot of 2306 motors and that's what I was leaning towards. I happened to stumble on the Booty motors while I was looking at frames on Armattan's website. They're from SabotageRC which is an offshoot of Armattan so I decided to give them a shot. The motors are 2306 2300kv and in a word, they're awesome. The low end is great, and they have a nice punch up top running HQ 5x4.3x3 props. The only other changes I made were adding the ESC covers from Brain3D and the arm guards from BMC3D.

Like I said before, this quad never stays home when I go out flying. It flies like it should have when I originally built it. Live and learn I guess. I made the latest video last week after finishing the rebuild up. It was more dedicated to my new rates, but the quad definitely contributed to the improved flying. It would have been a great one-pack edit if I hadn't been bit by a horsefly in the middle of the flight! For that reason, I had to include a little Reverb footage in the middle. Enjoy!