Aerial Film Drone Build

A

Air-Head

Member
I'm looking to build an Aerial-Film quad-copter, I have limited experience flying and want to build an inexpensive drone. My plan is to build cheap, and then upgrade over time, until the drone has FPV, and a Gimbal with a secondary controller. Is this possible, my hope is to have a drone with someone directing the cam, and myself as the pilot.
Thanks
 
No flying experience then don't skimp on the frame. Buy as robust as you can.
This will save you money & time. Yes a separate camera system would require its own rx/Tx for the gimbal.
It could all be done on one system with sbus/ibus, upto 18 channels.
What Tx do you have or intend to own.
 
At the moment I have a cheap fly-sky controller. Could the fly sky controller do the gimbal and another controller fly the drone? I already have a 550 quadcopter frame with gimbal mount coming, I hope it is strong enough to take a few hits. My prior drone was a 250 kit for 60 bucks, and it flew pretty well for the price, even though it only hit 20mph at max in an open field. Thanks for the advice, do you have any motors for under 40 bucks that would be able to take the payload of around 800 grams?
 
I plan on using a cc3d flight controller, here is a link to the actual frame I purchased. However, would it be better to save up a little and buy a better flight controller?
My controller is a FS-T6, and already linked with an old receiver.

Thanks
 
I love this frame; it looks great, but just know that the yaw will not perform smoothly if yawing quickly, but that should not be an issue if this is for imagery.

I would definitely save up and buy a flight controller to match your requirements. (You will not regret it) DJI Naza or a Tarot would be my recommendation for a gimbal aircraft.

I would go with 900kv 2216 motors for that frame.

These are the cheapest I could find that I trust: https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy...ZyhBohNUWEC2F-tWuqMaAm4QEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I built a few of these frames. Here is a video from one of them.
 
I have had good luck with Racestar motors so far and they are within your price range. I see a lot of others using these motors for budget builds, as well. I will be using 960kv on my 450 quad build, so maybe go for 920kv or lower.

Racerstar 920kv - 4x

900kv - 1x

850kv - 1x

Heads up: If ordering from a China wearhouse on Banggood, then it will take a month or more when located in the US.
 
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Thanks for the motor suggestions and the vid from the frame! I have a feeling I'll end up with a Naza eventually, but would my flight controller be able to get me into the air for practice until then? I'm also going to use the 920kv-4x from BL Swagger, mostly because I need to build cheap and get into the air for practice. The frame should be in about two weeks from now (China warehouse),I'm hoping to have a drone assembled in about a month.
I think these ESC's will work.

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/turnigy...VEspkCh0vXge5EAkYBSABEgKp1_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Also I think a 5,500Mah 12 volt battery will work for what I'm doing.
Thanks again for the info.
 
Air-Head said:
The frame should be in about two weeks from now (China warehouse),I'm hoping to have a drone assembled in about a month.
Click to expand...

I was told something like 2 weeks for my motors from Banggood (China) and if I look now, the ETA is May 25, which is well over a month from ordering. But, it's definitely one of the better deals motor-wise that I have found.

Good luck, with it. Im taking a similar approach. Building cheap, and upgrading as I improve.
 
Any flight controller and motors will get you in the air. You will not get smooth film with a flight controller that is not created for smooth flight.

Choose the motors wisely especially if you are just starting out. Some will not even survive a light crash.
 
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Got it, my old motors took a beating over the last year. I'll post when the frame comes in and is assembled for the next steps of the build.
Thanks for all the advice given!
 
Good luck with the build. Let us know how it goes.

P.S... My order coming from the China wearhouse (which was supposed to take over a month) actually arrived before half of my orders coming from the US... logistics at its finest! haha
 
Awesome! I just assembled my frame, which was not supposed to be here for another two weeks! The next step is the motors, I'm planning on using my receiver, and remote until I can upgrade, my flight controller was damaged.
 
Dd3yActU8AE8xOB.jpg
 
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