It's been a while since I last posted. Much has happened, especially with the Bixler 2. Previously I had just FPV'd the Bixler and had been bitten by the bug of fixed wing FPV. Especially the flight times and overall more relaxing experience.
So my first mod was to add a better way to mount items for experimentation.
This turned out to be a really clean look, and worked very well for FPV, even holding 3 cameras.
Until I got cocky... Inverted flight, stock motor, improper balancing... A recipe for a new challenge -a rebuild!
The laser cutter and hot glue gun made the rebuild so much more fun!
With new options for mounting, I decided to experiment some more as well..
After another great landing I had stripped the servo gears for the camera tilt, but pan still worked and flights were generally good.
Eventually I decided I wanted more information on my ground-station as well as to experiment with a flight controller on a plane. So I purchased a cheap APM clone and redesigned the fuselage mount to allow easy access to the room inside.
Adding and moving things around really changed the CG, so I created a lower deck for the battery. This increases my options for larger batteries as well as extra room in the nose.
I have yet to fly this setup yet due to the recent crazy wind. With all this extra drag and weight it'll be interesting to see how it handles. Though I think it would be cool to get up above one of these dust storms..
I plan to squeeze as much life out of the Bixler 2 as I can. In the near future I can foresee a motor upgrade, moving the servos back, and heavy modification of the tail boom (steerable, CF arrow shafts?).
More LED's are definitely on the list too!
