Another Warranty build. The Strix AWK210 comes with a limited lifetime warranty on the bottom plate, which lead me to choose this frame over others i was interested in.
The TRUE X form factor results in not needing to do custom motor mix, and as my first True-X I am very interested in how it handles over my other non-X frames. Before proceeding with the build, the first thing i did was file the bottom plate edges, focusing on the arms and rear where the pigtail will be. Once filed I coated the edges with industrial grade 3M CA glue. When doing a dry run of my components I really wish the rear standoffs were just a tad bit more spread apart, more on this later.

Choosing my components was a bit of an on going process. I originally wanted to run RMRC Rifles, w/ Emax bullets, and RMRC Cricket. After much deliberation and reading over miniquadtestbench I went with T-Motor F60 pros 2200kv for the efficiency, and what better way to test T-Motor brand motors than running T-Motor F30a ESC's. I will say that I am slightly disappointed in T-Motor in that with the ESC power leads they went with silicone wire, YAY, however with the data/signal wires they went with plastic (BOOO). I'm not sure if this was a cost cutting decision, but at this point I think everyone is turning away from plastic wires (except FrSky.. GET WITH IT!). Attaching the motors to the frame I discovered they didn't spin as easily by hand, nor have the notching effect they have. I was told by several others that the c-clip rubs against the center hole on the frame, low and behold this was the issue. I installed TPU soft mounts, however the issue still existed. I took my exacto knife and shaved off a bit from the TPU on the center hole which resolved the issue.

The AWK210 is made for the RMRC Cricket video transmitter, but at the price point it's currently set at I wanted something a bit more affordable, and so i was able to snag an FXT x40 200mw on sale which is the same form factor as the cricket, minus all the "features".

Having Dominator V3's I went with the newly released Foxeer Monster V2 as I've heard great things about it. I don't know the logic behind companies when they design things, but the camera DID NOT fit well in the camera mount provided in the AWK210. I'm not blaming Strix nor foxeer, however wanting to be different deviates away from universal which causes issues. When properly focused the lens length ends up being too short for the width of the mount, making it impossible to use it without modifications or swapping out the lens. The Monster contains a small bump around the edge where the lens screws into. I'm not 100% on why it's there, however to make it fit I simply Dremeled it off and made it smooth. With the bump shaved off I was able to slide the camera more into the mount, which allowed the lens to clear. Also, unlike other/previous cameras the lens provided with the Monster is a 2.5mm with an end very similar to that of a gopro, so it's too wide/big to simply slide into the mount. This last point isn't a complaint, as i like the wider lens, just an observation/note.

I've always wanted to try the Omnibus F3, so i went with that for my FC. Since most of my components can handle the full voltage of a 4S lipo I wanted a basic PDB, and being a fan of Matek I found that the Matek 140a would suffice, however due to the protrusion of the voltage in board connector i couldn't use it as it interfered with the frame standoffs (BOOO). I thought of Dremelling it to clear the standoffs, but didn't want to compromise the integrity of it. Lucky I bought a back up pdb, a FuriousFPV PDB designed for the piko. I asked on furiousfpv's site if it can be used for other applications, no response. It's rated for 150a with NO regulators or filters, so I just went with it. I will say though it's VERY THIN, probably due to being designed for a 3" build. Despite this pdb having holes for the wires I soldered them flat so that I can mount the pdb flat on the frame for saving space. To help reduce static in my video feed I installed a 1000uf 35v low ESR capacitor to the voltage in on the pdb.

My radio receiver is the XSR, I have Taranis X9D plus, and the sbus & s.port made this decision easy.

I ran into an issue regarding an ESC or FC. When I connected and configured the board to betaflight, everything appeared working, motor test in BF also worked. I switched the ESC protocol to Dshot, then opened blheli suite and ESC #3 wasn't able to read. Everytime i attempted to read the setup esc #3 would give me "UNKNOWN". I attempted to flash this single ESC to match the others (C_H_40 rev16.6), however i kept receiving FLASH FAILED. Just as I was about to swap out the signal wires with another ESC I decided to flash the FC as i've read this particular FC has issues sometimes. It originally came with BF 3.1.6 from the factory, and so i flashed to BF 3.1.7. Once flashed I again attempted ESC flash and it was SUCCESS!