This was my first build. So I started with the DIY Armattan Tadpole kit. It was pretty daunting, and maybe not the best choice considering the 16x16 iFlight SucceX Micro F4 stack was soooo small. But that being said, after I was done it worked and flew great....right up to my first crash.
I got a hold of iFlight support and gave them the whole story and pics and vids, and in the end they offered a 20 dollar coupon for their site. But that would have brought the cost for a new stack to 60 bucks, the same price it was going for on reseller sites. Plus, how could I trust the stack wouldn't do the same thing? I had read that folks hate pinned stacks and wondered if that design contributed to the failure.
So, I spent 50 bucks on the Hackrc AIO and didn't look back. It was much easier to work with and I already had improved my soldering skills from attempt number 1.
I added a throttle curve to one of my profiles and I have to say, this thing came together really nice. I can absolutely see doing another build on this scale or larger. It's fun to do it yourself and of course you can customize till your heart is content. This community and Reddit were also very helpful for getting ideas for components and design. Shoutout to Ewilwy and his Tadpole is the bestpole build which helped me decide on the FC. It seems to have been a good choice.
The only thing I don't have working is the RSSI in OSD, which I will hopefully sort out soon.
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Wow, starting on a tadpole is super ambitious (in terms of soldering work)! I'm happy to hear that you are doing so well, and enjoying it so much. Something jumps off the page at me when I look at your build here. If you can grab something flexible and bend it down, or sideways, into a prop, it will eventually get there on its own, while you are flying. Your vTx antenna is surely going to bet smacked around by your rear props. I know you probably don't WANT to route it so that it runs around inside the frame, but you have to get that extra slack out of the cable. If you don't the props will break it, and you will have to find a way to solve the issue with the next antenna. You can get shorter antennas, which is a great solution, but you could also loop the coax towards the camera, make a 180 deg turn, and then run it back to the tail of the craft. I hope you are ripping that little monster every chance you get, that's a crazy fun looking motor/prop combo :)
Hi there.
I was a bit concerned with all the slack I have on that antenna, and in fact, the wires from the battery as well.
I took your advice and slid that antenna up a bit, let me know what you think. As for ripping, yeah I just got done doing my version of that, which means leaving the throttle scale on and staying in Horizon mode while being really careful. LOL. I'll go beat up my TH FS II now, which actually has pretty similar flight characteristics, especially with the scaling. This thing is def a blast, and I really enjoy the extra range this vTx is giving me.
Thanks for the tips! Check the pic!
PS. Thanks for the props. I feel really good about how much I learned in the last few weeks. Joshua Bardwell videos were super helpful, and I took my time and mapped things out and practiced soldering on whatever I could find before I got started on the real thing. That helped a lot.
I don't think your updated pics are loaded, I don't see any new ones
Sorry about that. I shortened it up quite a bit, but I think you are right about a shorter antenna in the future, or at least a printed mount like I see on here so often.