Starting my first build

i got a little excited when I got this in the mail yesterday along with some Simon k 12a esc, naze 32 board, and a pdb.
I've been flying the nano qx and putting it through its paces and decided it's time to move up. im now officially on my way to building an fpv race quad. It'll be slow going, but I'll get everything I want on there in time.

Way to go Michael!!! Looks like you're off to a great start. There are a bunch of us over here in GP that fly 250's with FPV so I hope you can join us sometime. We fly Sunday mornings at Redwood School on Leanard Rd. Looking forward to you posting more pictures here as you make progress on that.

...Tiger

Just started the build and hit my first snag already. Seems I've been sent 3 ccw motors and 1 cw. So I spent a bit of time at the post office sending the extra ccw motor back to get the proper motor.
I need to make time to get away from work on Sunday to head up to grantspass to see you all in action.

Nice! I don't know if I would mount the controller up there on top though.

I'll have the control board near the bottom and in the center. That little plate up top is my clean plate for mounting a go pro or möbius camera. Id like to eventually be recording races and what not from the quad.

From the shape I thought it was a flight controller isolation mount. Mounting a Mobius or GoPro on makes sense and it will certainly help eliminate jello.
If I recall correctly the guys mini racing quads that I saw had their their flight controllers mounted in between the bottom two plates where it was well protected. I think they used gyro tape to mount their flight controllers which probably gives some vibration insulation.

I had been sent the wrong motor for my build early last week so I sent it back to be replaced by the correct one. Hooray! The motor arrived today! Oh no! It's another of the same motor I sent back. Let's begin the process again

Got some nylon spacers for the pdb and control board. I have been testing out some layouts for this little 250. I want to keep the esc off of the arms so I think I'm going to tuck them i between the bottom plates. It's snug, but they fit. I'll have to put the 2 boards up top in the main cage. Also, I got some really good news when I opened my mail and found the correct motor had been sent to me! 3rd times the charm! I now need to order a receiver and was wondering if anyone had thoughts on which one to get? I'm getting the spectrum dx8 transmitter already. I want to set this fella up with telemetry, but I haven't looked too far into that. Any help would be appreciated.

If you have not bought a Tx yet, get a FrsKy Taranis. I bought one a few months back and now a few people have them here. Awesome radio that lets you do anything you want, and telemetry is the easiest and cheapest thing about it.

I'm with Pelagic, unless it's to late to do it, I'd get the Taranis transmitter. It's much more capable than the DX8 and the price is right for it and all that goes with it (RX, telemetry, etc).

...Tiger

I've been super busy at work lately, but got a few moments to do some soldering. It was my first time ever doing some soldering and have learned that I am terrible at it. Im going to get my buddy to solder the control board for me. It's just got tiny pads and I don't have the skill or confidence to attempt it. I will check out the taranis transmitters, but I have a sneaking suspicion that my wife got me a spektrum 6channel receiver for my birthday.

Larry - What you need to do is have your buddy coach you on soldering. You're going to have to learn eventually if this is going to be your hobby. Nobody ever got good at anything by having someone else do it for them.

I wouldn't let one Spektrum receiver stop me from getting the Taranis. Anyway, it's possible to make the Taranis work with both Futaba and Spektrum transmitter modules. Does cost extra for the modules, but it's pretty nice to have one transmitter that talks to Spektrum, Futaba, and Taranis receivers. That's what I'm doing. I already had dozens of expensive Futaba receivers and also many of the Ultra Micros that use Spektrum protocol so I need something that works with everything.

...Tiger

I do like the idea of having all those channels on a transmitter. I also think I just need to work up my nerve and solder the board after some practice.

Michael (sorry about "Larry" last post) - It's really not about "channels". Most things I have will fly on four or five channels. Six channels does almost everything else I do. Eight channels is as many as I can ever imagine using. The thing with the Taranis is that it is so feature rich and gives you control of absolutely every aspect of what it's doing. It also has really cool things like voice feedback and telemetry that can be programmed to do anything you can dream up. It's almost unlimited capability and expansion in every respect for what seems to me a really low price.

Now that I've hyped it... Let me warn you about some things. The Taranis is complicated. That just comes with anything with so many features and options. However, if you're willing to invest some time to learn about it, it's probably the last transmitter you'll ever need. I can't think of anything more capable and that includes the $3000 class transmitters. It's just amazing! Is it right for you? I really don't know actually. I can think of a number of people that I wouldn't suggest it to for sure. A super high tech toy is generally not a good match for a super low tech person. The people I would worry about most are the older folks that have not, will not, or can not embrace today's technology. I'm about to turn 70 and I'm excited about it, but my background is pretty technical so maybe I have some advantage. I don't know your background, but if something like your cellphone, TV, and VCR gives you fits, you probably don't want a Taranis. You might not want any computer radio for that matter. They are all a challenge and you have to be willing to tackle them or you'll just get frustrated.

If you do take the plunge, there are several of us over here in GP that would be happy to help you get started with it. It's a relatively new product so none of us are experts, but everyone here that has one is flying with it. I think we all still have a lot to learn to take full advantage of everything it can do, but we're getting there. If you have specific questions or want to talk more about this, you can post here or PM me with your phone number and I'll give you a call.

...Tiger

So I grew a pair and attempted soldering the flight control board. I think the little blue light is a good sign. Hooray!

Way to go Michael! Maybe I'm a little weird (Okay - I know I am), but I actually like the fabrication, building and solving problems more than the actual flying.

...Tiger

I have really been enjoying building this, but I am really excited to see it lift off the ground for the first time.
You guys convinced me about the taranis. It just had too many features and advantages for me not to get it. Placed the order today for the x9d plus with receiver and it hopefully won't take to long to get here from hobbyking's international warehouse. After I get some flights under my belt I'll be looking for a nice fpv system. Been thinking fatshark. I want something with as low of latency as possible so I can race this little fella. Any tips or advice?

Boy... Now I'm really glad I laid all the cards on the table about the Taranis. Bit of a learning curve, but you'll love the thing. As for FPV hardware, we''re all using FatShark or at least FatShark compatible equipment. That's nice since that puts us all on the same set of channels so we can watch each other fly. The first thing you want to do is get really proficient with normal flying. That will keep you busy for a while. Then sometime you should come over and take a look at the kinds of equipment we're all using. That's a lot better than looking at it on some webpage. Won't take you long to figure out what you need then.

So when do you see this thing taking to the air?

...Tiger

I'm hoping to have its maiden voyage within a week of getting the taranis and receiver in, but work has been kinda crazy and is only going to get crazier this month. So hopefully soon, but realistically sometime before the end of this month.

Transmitter and Receiver arrived in the mail! hooray! Except they shipped it to me without sending me the battery for the transmitter. So I spent a decent amount of time with HobbyKing which ended with them asking me for a picture of the part that I was missing from my order. I'm not entirely sure why they need a picture of something that I do not have, but I am not running a lucrative RC business. So I guess I don't really need to understand. I just have to wait till they finish reviewing my complaint and send me another one, or I could go out and get another battery for it. I've heard of people using Lipo batteries for it. Any advice?

I've also got the motors hooked up and the motors do a little dance and the quad beeps a little happy tune. I think happy tunes are a good thing so I think I am on the right track. I think I have the receiver set up correctly too so things have been moving right along. Tomorrow if I can find time I think I will put cleanflight onto the naze32 board and see if I can get things dialed in and make sure my motors are rotating in the correct direction. I will post some pictures hopefully tomorrow when I get a few minutes.

I also just wanted to say thanks to everyone for being so helpful and giving advice. This is not an easy hobby to learn, but you all have been super nice and supportive. So I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for helping out a newb.