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I've been doing a bit of poking around on AliExpress, to see what sort of RC stuff is on there (answer - pretty much anything)

As a 'toe in the water' exercise I ordered 10 4-pin (suitable for 3S batteries) JST-XH balance connectors (male PCB mount and female connectors on wire) for the princely sum of $0.02 (plus $0.28 GST) shipped to my door. They arrived in 1 week and were exactly as ordered. It was some introductory special, normal cost was ~$3.00 shipped.

Buoyed by my experience, I went and did a bigger order; 10 9-gram metal geared servos for $25, a 30A ESC for $4.77, 10 5mm x 3.1mm x 500mm carbon tubes for $23, an absurd quantity of control horns and hinges for cents, 30 3.5mm bullet connectors for a few dollars, 10 shrouded XT60 connectors for a few dollars, 20 JST-XH male wire mounted connectors for $7 and 10 spare IPEX 2.4G antennas for my receivers for a few dollars.

These all arrived today (2 weeks after shipping) and everything is as expected except the JST-XH connectors; they sent me female ones instead of male ones. I disputed it with AliExpress, attached 1 photograph and 2 hours later had a 50% refund, which is satisfactory for me.

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. For cheap planes like my foam KMart glider conversion it's excellent. I'll certainly keep ordering receivers and batteries from local reputable suppliers, and for my more serious planes I'll stick to name brand stuff, but for consumables and cheap foamies it's perfect.

I've tested all the servos and the ESC and they work perfectly. I'll embark on my next foamie conversion with the parts soon (a flat wing kmart glider with 1900kV motor, full span ailerons, elevator and rudder, should be more dynamic than my first one  )

Hi all,
I know I’ve been asking about a FRSky for a few weeks though learnt today my father in law was about to press buy on this transmitter. I’ve explained there are a few here that may provide valuable feedback so just reaching out if anyone has feedback on this model?
He is currently using an older as well Digi6 Specktrum
. Like me, hence I’m interested too.
Any guidance would be appreciated and just posting here as wrongly posted in For Sale

Hi all,

I know I’ve been asking about a FRSky for a few weeks though learnt today my father in law was about to press buy on this transmitter. I’ve explained there are a few here that may provide valuable feedback so just reaching out if anyone has feedback on this model?
He is currently using an older as well Digi6 Specktrum
. Like me, hence I’m interested too.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Hi all,

Been looking for one of these flying sticks for some time and note a few in the club have them. I was keen to build one though between work and family finding hard to find the time.

Should anyone look to sell theirs in the future please can you let me know as very interested.

Thank you

The radiomaster (RM) boxer is the standout tx, even amongst txs costing hundreds of dollars more. Costing a bit more is RM Tx16S which has a color touch screen, and costing considerably less the RM tx12. I own a tx12 which is an excellent tx, initially it felt a bit small but now I am used to it I appreciate its low weight. The edgetx software that comes with RM is better than Opentx, and I also think its better than the new Frsky ethos. My opinion is RM gear is high quality, and the txs I mentioned have been highly praised in online reviews.
The question whether you should select an internal module, 4in1 or ELRS is discussed here:

https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthre...st50862537  post #340

Its hard to find a dealer with a boxer in stock, but new shipments are arriving. If you buy a RM and are a mode 1 flyer, you have to convert from mode 2 which is a pain.

If you choose elrs internal module, you can add a 4in1 external module and have both frsky and elrs available. For elrs, there are 2 PWM receivers - normal airplane rxs - (one radiomaster, the other betafpv) that come ready to fly, for other PWM elrs rxs you have to solder the PWM pins in place yourself or use a microsoldering service.
The 4 in 1 internal  module, or external module, allows you to use your existing ACCST frsky rxs. But I think its better to use the opportunity to switch to ELRS, as I am doing (I am testing several systems for a year including Frsky Tandem and R9 before making a final decision on elrs, after 4 months elrs is looking good). Be warned you have to learn to use new software and new procedures with elrs, it took me about a month before I was comfortable with these.

Hey Guys, 

I have just purchased and build my T-28 Trojan. 

Looking for a place to fly and join some people.

Keen to come past tomorrow and check it out.

Thanks !!!

Josh.

My Betafpv 2.4ghz ELRS Micro module 1W has worked fine for 4 months in a QX7 (ACCST) after being initially flashed by the wifi method. The Qx7 works with 4 elrs models and 5 ACCST models, and when you select the model it automatically selects CRSF (external module) or XJT ACCST (internal module) as required.

However the elrs module stopped working after I downloaded Uni ACCST and tried flashing several rxs (unfortunately I did not remove the module). Subsequently the elrs models could still bind and telemetry worked, but the servos did not move. 

I decided to try re-flashing the elrs module, and I used
BETAFPV_2400_TX_MICRO_1000mw-3.0.1.bin first try which was the one I was using for 4 months, then BETAFPV_2400_TX_MICRO_1000mw-3.2.1.bin in subsequent attempts.

Using the wi-fi method, with a 2S lipo to power the module which enters wi-fi mode after 20 sec, neither of the above firmware will flash. 

I then tried the
UART method:
On my mac I get this message in the log:
Looking for upload port...
Auto-detected: /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port
Uploading .pio/build/BETAFPV_2400_TX_MICRO_1000mw_via_UART/firmware.bin
esptool.py v4.2.1
Serial port /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port
Connecting......................................
A fatal error occurred: Failed to connect to ESP32: No serial data received.

On a pc the error is "looking for upload port...error: please specify upload port for environment"


I have a Betafpv Expresslrs Recovery Dongle, but it appears to only connect to rxs, and not modules

I would appreciate any advice...

This firmware makes old frsky accst rxs the apparent equal of many expensive newer rxs. I have followed this topic on the Aloft website
https://forum.alofthobbies.com/index.php...-d16.3270/

If you follow the various links from the above link there is the full story of uni available.

I plan to give it a go with a Frsky RX6R rx, which has not been used for a few years. This rx has 2 antennas.  I may have flashed it with ACCESS at some time but it was originally ACCST.
From the Aloft link, I downloaded the recommended uni firmware for this rx:  RX4R_75sm.frk  
(the file name is not a typo, I checked).

I will load this file on my old Qx7 ACCST tx, by taking out its SD card and placing it in my mac, and copying RX4R_75sm.frk to the firmware folder. Then I can attach the RX6R rx to the Qx7 with a cable to its smartport (let me know if anyone wants details on this step) and flash it.

My RM T12 tx has a multi internal module that includes Frsky, (the elrs is the external module) so I will select frsky and then try to bind the rx.

Comments on this plan are welcome. I am unsure if the edgetx software (v 2.8) on the T12 will require  a script. Does anyone know?

KMart sell a large foam glider, and the same product is sold in Europe via Lidl. There's a huge community around converting them to RC, whether as RC gliders, powered aircraft or even ducted fan swept wing jets!

My son and I picked one up from KMart last week and set about converting it. I bought tiny little 4.5g servos, a 2306 motor and I've ordered a 20A ESC (motor draws 10A with the 5x4.3x3 prop) While I wait for the 20A ESC to arrive I've used my 35A ESC out of my Bix3.



I went to Jaycar and bought some nichrome wire, and I made up 2 hot wire foam cutters. a bow shaped one for making big straight cuts and a scoop shaped one for scalloping out the inside of the nose of the glider,a nd for making tube shaped grooves where reinforcing rod is to be added.



I used my bench power supply to send the appropriate current through them.

I then cut the nose off the glider using the bow cutter, and traced out the cut shape onto plywood to serve as a template. I cut out the plywood, drilled the necessary holes, and then screwed it to some large standoffs, which I hot-glued into the plane nose. I can now remove this motor mount when desired by unscrewing it from the standoffs.





I then scooped out the foam from the nose, and then inserted my battery, receiver and speed controller.



I installed 1 servo in each wing, and cut out ailerons (the plane has moulded in lines at this point, more where you'd expect flaps to be, but they still give great control authority). I also cut out the back of the horizontal tail surface to make an elevator and used a servo in the vertical stabiliser to control it. I cut a chamfer on the bottom front of the control surfaces and used packing tape on the topside as a hinge. I installed the servos on top of the wing to keep them out of harm's way when belly landing.

I installed a 5mm carbon tube in the wing and fuselage, and a 4mm carbon rod in the horizontal stabiliser to stiffen it all, and it was 'ready to fly'



I set the CG to the same as it was out of the box as a chuck glider (50mm from the leading edge of the wing) but I found that was incredibly pitch sensitive (probably because it's design to do easy loops when chucked by a kid), so I moved it forward about 10mm by repositioning the battery. It flies much more balanced now.

I found that at speed the nose and tail would flutter a lot, leading to control issues and a rapid unscheduled dissassembly. 10 minutes with the hot glue gun and it was back together, and I added more 5mm carbon tube from the underside of the fuselage to the underside of the tail, and I glued 2 tongue depressors to the sides of the 'cockpit' to stiffen that too. It flies beautifully now, and it can cruise around for about 8 to 10 minutes on half throttle with the 850mAh 3s battery I'm using.

I've learned some lessons for if (when) I make another one. I'll put the servos on the underside of the wing, and scoop out far less foam from the nose.

All in all, a fun little weekend project with my kids, and now we have a very robust, easy to repair plane for quick lunchtime flights.

It's in a development branch of the firmware at the moment, but it should be pulled in to the main branch soon.

I have no need for it yet; all my stuff is PWM only, but it's a pretty cool addition.