Radio-Controlled Millenium Falcon Written By: Feitan 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 1 of 19
Step 1 Radio-Controlled Millenium Falcon First step, the design, tricky part is to have the whole setup balanced. It will be carried by one of my quadcopter (some call it a "drone", they are wrong, that's a RC helicopter that happens to have 4 motors). 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 2 of 19
Step 2 Main material is this insulant, expanded polystyrene, in 20 and 30mm thickness. It's heavier than classic EPP, but also much stronger, and easy to cut clean. Also, it's almost the proper color of the spaceship. Step 3 Printed half-a-shape 1:1, and reassembled the A4 sheets. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 3 of 19
Step 4 Can see the "host" on the left, that's my 335mm quad, also a custom build. It's normally flying FPV and carries a Gopro, but for this project I'll remove the camera, the video transmitter and the GPS antenna to gain some weight. 800gr for the quad, and between 300 and 350gr for the Falcon hull. Step 5 Cutting bits of foam, quick quick before wife comes back home... 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 4 of 19
Step 6 Quick check for the balance, attached to its power train. Seems ok-ish, that's critical, or it may not even take-off... 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 5 of 19
Step 7 This hook thing slides inside the carbon frame of the quad at the front, tight fit is required so the propellers are not hitting the foam. I went for 10mm of free space between the tip of the blade and the foam. Step 8 The two side tunnels should help with some vibrations I noticed in the maiden flight I made in the garage. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 6 of 19
Step 9 Improving the shape. Must keep the space above and below the 4 propellers free. Everything is glued with a basic hot-glue pistol. Step 10 Making cylinders, 1 corner at a time.. Insert wisdom here. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 7 of 19
Step 11 Smash and stamp! Insert wisdom here. Step 12 Adding the cockpit, it's hollowed, to limit the unbalance to the right. The more the center of gravity of the whole assembly is near the center of the propellers, the better. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 8 of 19
Step 13 Making a new thruster Insert wisdom here. Step 14 I hope here to have the top part making shade for the LED strip of lights so it's more visible in the day... 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 9 of 19
Step 15 Radio antenna, yes I know in the old movies it was circular, but in the trailer for the new movie it's a smaller rectangle. So a rectangle it will be for now, better aerodynamics. Flying forward with so much surface should be enough of a challenge asis. Step 16 Added these thin strips of foam for visual thickness when seen from the side 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 10 of 19
Step 17 How it locks into the frame at the front Step 18 The underside Insert wisdom here. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 11 of 19
Step 19 From top Step 20 Testing some paints, must find the proper color, and also a kind that does not harm the foam, will have to be acrylic. Will paint with a compressor. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 12 of 19
Step 21 The 2 lights at the front, serial, so each get only 6V instead of 12V according to specs. 12V was really bright, I don't plan to fly this in pitch black night. Step 22 The infamous curved thruster! Top LED strip is blue, bottom is white. Plan is to have the LEDs reflect against the top and bottom curves. Blue is on top because I expect this one to be dimmer than the white. I'l maybe add aluminium tape so it reflect more, will see 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 13 of 19
Step 23 Let there be light! Insert wisdom here. Step 24 Yay, gorgeous blue-ish-white, sometime plans are working as intended! 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 14 of 19
Step 25 Base color is a light gray sprayed, and over this I added few details and weathering with a brush, grey "smoke". Step 26 Made a quick'n dirty weathering. Better not polishing too much, brings bad luck for the first flights... New turret, facing rear, because this spaceship is always chased. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 15 of 19
Step 27 Insert wisdom here.added few extra things, all the small parts are made of Depron, it's even lighter than expanded polypropylene, and I have it in 3mm and 6mm thickness Step 28 After 2 test flights in the garage, 1st flight outside, was very dark. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 16 of 19
Step 29 2nd flight outside, with snow, it looked great. I fly it line-of-sight only, since it's not fitted with FPV (first person viewing) gear. With my usual FPV modules I could fly it out like 500 meters, but that's not its purpose, and also it's not a very efficient flier at all. Step 30 It's quite sensitive to wind, but less that what I feared. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 17 of 19
Step 31 Top speed is barely 35% of what the naked quadcopter can do (90km/h+) And battery time is reduced from 8 minutes to about 5 Step 32 Cannot put too much angle or the flight controller goes crazy because of too much inertia. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 18 of 19
Step 33 With the soft snow and the propellers protected by the foam, it's almost impossible to break :] Step 34 Insert wisdom here. This document was last generated on 2017-06-26 05:11:20 AM. 2017 www.botsbits.org Page 19 of 19