Falcon 185's little sister is thinner, lighter, and seriously nimble. At 242g dry (no GoPro mount), 362g all up (4S 1000mAh), and 452g HD ready (4S 1000mAh and GoPro), she's light and built to race tight indoor courses.
I built this Falcon with a 25mm camera, and because I only had a TS5823 lying around, I opted to mount the antenna on the left side. Because I'm using a Dodo and don't need regulators on the PDB, the X4R has been hidden between the PDB and the FC, fitting just perfectly within the 5mm spacers. I used VHB on the top of the X4R to attach it to the Dodo, and a thin piece of tape on the bottom to prevent the components from shorting out against the PDB.
Because the camera had a top mount connector and my X4R was nestled below, I was able to use 30mm spacers instead of the usual 37mm and can still adjust the camera for different angles. I did also file down the bottom of the camera case a bit to help here.
For the HD camera mount, I used 5mm standoffs, 18mm screws, and a locknut in the rear, and 25m standoffs in the front. This yields a tilt of 45°. The FPV camera can be tilted closer to 50°, but I have it set at 45° to match the HD camera.
Falcon is available now at Multirotor Superstore and other preferred retailers!
Visit falconmultirotors.com for details, photos, build guides, and more!
Photos
Part List
Show stores (10)
So many variations of this frame. What are the advantages to each one?
Guides & Reviews
AirbladeUAV has done it again and this time they've brought long range to the 5" class! Based on the popular Transformer Mini, the new Transformer 5" Ultralight adopts a lot of the same design philosophies with larger props and more payload capacity. It can fly upwards of 20 minutes on a 4 cell Li-Ion battery pack and in ideal conditions it's got a range of over 4 to 5 miles. In this guide I'll walk..
Read more
With the release of the DJI FPV Drone cinematic FPV has become a lot more accessible, but you certainly don't want to crash a $750 drone! The QAV-CINE Freybott is a compact, lightweight cinematic FPV drone that can take a hit and keep going. It's a lot safer to fly indoors and around people. With a naked GoPro or the SMO 4k you can capture some great stabilized footage. In this guide I'll show you..
Read more
About to venture down the rabbit hole on one of these builds as well. What were your impressions of the 2205's? Still on the fence of 1806 2800kv's or something similar to what you've got picked out up there. Seems like the weight difference would be relatively minimal.
So my parts list is a little out of date, but here's what happened. I ran the RCX 2205s and the thing was insanely fast, but they weren't efficient with DAL 4045BN Triblades -- I'd get a little over 2 minutes of all out flying with a 1000mAh 4S Graphene battery. That, and they were broken way too easily in warehouse crashes (RCX 2250s are not known for their durability).
So I tried the Cobra 1806 2800kV motors, and I had the bottom of the shafts break off consistently, as did a friend! I've NEVER seen this on any other motor, and certainly not any other Cobra, but it seems the part of the shaft that holds the c-clip on simply breaks, causing the c-clip to fall off and the bell to be ejected from the motor. After this happened twice, I stopped running the motors and will be contacting Innov8tive for a RMA.
From flying it when it was still flying. I'd say 1806s are plenty for this frame, and 2205s are overkill and inefficient. I've heard good things about the Paragon UAV 1806s, but I won't fly motors that have CC/CCW as it's annoying if you have a brand new motor of the wrong direction and no reverse-threaded nylocks.
I really appreciate the input and for keeping me level with the 1806's. It's hard to not want to go bigger, but with no benefits over the smaller motor, I see now there's no point on this frame. I had some Cobras on order for innov8, but fortunately there was a mistake and it was cancelled. I guess I'm eyeing up those paragons, or possibly even those dys 1806/3000kv's on those dal tri's. Other than dealing with reverse nyloks, I think these may be my best bet moving forward. What are your thoughts on fitting an rrosd where the included pdb is, as that was my plan, but I've yet to see how well it will/won't work! Thanks so much, I can't wait to have one of these frames in my possession!
Glad to help! RROSD will work, but nothing is cleaner than the included Cloverleaf PDB. However, the RROSD is going to give you current, readings which is sweet. You may need to use the included nylon nuts as spacers between the PDB and main plate since the RROSD has components on the bottom, but it should fit just fine.
Thank you sir, your feedback has been invaluable, I'm really glad I asked. And that Cloverleaf looks awesome, but like you said, the current readings was one of the main pulls towards the RROSD for me. I still plan on picking up some Pololu's just in case I change my mind and want to go for the cleaner route!