X-UAV Mini Talon Build Number 3
© Mark Qvale - February, 2017
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| A Twin! |
Introduction - Mini Talon Number 3
Not so much a "build" but rather a rebuild and conversion. Mini Talon #2 unfortunately was nearly destroyed due to an ESC failure so I decided to repair it and convert it to a twin motor unit using my recently designed twin motor mounts.
Note: Please see X-UAV Mini Talon Build Number 2 for more information.
General Specifications
Distributor - BangGood USA
Aircraft - X-UAV Mini Talon
Build Date - April 2017
| Airframe Type - | Top Wing V-Tail FPV Specialist | All-Up Weight - | 57oz (1620g) w/ 4S/5200 Pack | |
| Wingspan - | 51 inches (1300mm) | Length - | 33 inches (830mm) | |
| Wing Area - | 3.23 ft^2 (30dm^2) | *Wing Load - | 17.6 oz/ft^2 (53.7g/dm^2) | |
| Motor - | Multistar 2209-980kv x2 | Max Continuous Power (4S) - | 300 watts continuous (4S) | |
| Propeller - | 8 x 5 Graupner Cam Carbon E-Props | Max Prop Power - | 316 watts @ 2550ft ASL | |
| Static Thrust - | 1496g @ 2550ft ASL | *Static Thrust/Weight - | 0.92 | |
| Battery Type - | 4S1P Lipo | Battery Capacity - | 5200mah/10C | |
| In flight efficiency - | ~130mAh/mile (~81mAh/km) Typ. | Flight Time - | Close to one hour* | |
| COG - | 60mm @ Wing root (Stock) | *With the | 5200mAh pack |
Flight Gear
The following are some of my selected components with links to some of my favorite vendors.
Power Set-up
For power on this build I have chosen the Multistar 2209-980kv motors. For ESC's, I am using two HobbyKing Blue Series 20A with extra Low ESR capacitors added.
- Motor - 2X Multistar 2209-980kv
- ESC - 2X Blue Series 20A
- Prop - Graupner Cam Carbon E-Prop 8x5 CW & CCW
- Battery - Multistar 4S/5200, 10C
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Power Test
The results below are for a single motor using a flight pack for power.
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Flight Control
For flight control I used the same APM 2.8 already installed from MT#2. It is very inexpensive and in my experience completely reliable.
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- w/Arduplane 3.4
RC Control
For radio gear I kept my standard DragonLink V2 system.
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| Gear Deck |
OSD
For an OSD I kept the Micro MinimOSD from MT#2 which is reliable and easy to set-up with the APM.
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- w/Firmware r800
Video Downlink
For the video downlink I kept the RMRC 400mw 1.2/1.3G VTx with a DragonLink video dipole. For an FPV camera I kept the HS1184 from MT #2.
Airframe Build and Assembly
For this conversion I printed up some previously designed motor mounts.
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| Simple Twin motor mount |
The motors must be pointed exactly the same so I lined them up vertically using two straight edges then using a long straight edge I made sure the motor mounts were parallel
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| Motor mount alignment |
Gear Deck
The Gear deck was pretty much unchanged from MT#2 with the exception of adding the two 20A ESC's underneath.
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Ruddervators and Wings
Nothing new or special here. I kept them unchanged from MT#2.
Maiden Video!
The maiden of the Twin Mini Talon #3 was, well, iffy! It was a beautiful 78 degree morning in Spring Canyon and wind was near zero. After a very crazy/scary launch everything worked as I'd hoped and I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of power out of these two tiny motors. Next will be some longer range shake-down flights.
Enjoy!
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Maiden Day - 14 February, 2017 |
Flight Characteristics and Impressions
The first thing I noticed is connecting the battery is a little concerning because you must put your hands between two spinning swords of finger death (props) to get to the connectors.
I won't lie, the launch is terrifying. Even with 0 degrees thrust angle, the plane wants to dive on launch. It doesn't roll at all because I am using counter-rotating props but that is the only good launch characteristic. After several near death experiences I finally started throwing the plane as hard as I could on full power and then it would just take off straight like a bullet! Once I figured this out I launched a few times on the flat dry lake bed I usually fly with success. But it was still scary.
As far as in flight manners the plane is a rock. No strange tendencies, stall is flat with no tip drop. It will stay straight level and at altitude with only 24% throttle which makes it slightly more efficient than it was with the Cobra motor. It doesn't like to do rudder turns but coordinated aileron turns are fine.
It sounds very cool and it is very quiet at cruise speed. Landing is a non-issue.
There is a lot to like about this conversion although the launch characteristics are a concern which I will try and work out.
Update:
After 26 flights and various changes to try and get the twin to behave on launch I have destroyed it in a crash. A completely NOOB error on my part caused by being in a hurry and plugging a PnT into the RX without powering the RX from the servo rail. This caused the FC voltage to drop below 3.5v when I went to pan the camera and reset the Flight controller.
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See Also
- Mini-Talon on RC Groups
- Mini Talon Noses
- Mini Talon Parts Compilation
- X-UAV Mini Talon Build Number 1
- X-UAV Mini Talon Build Number 2
- X-UAV Mini Talon Build Number 4
Project 3D Print Files
For more information, please see my Thingiverse postings here:
Mark_q Thingiverse Designs
Some of the Vendors I used for this project
Comments? Questions?
