Another Zephyr II Build thread !

[gauravag]

Folks,
Finally i get to build a Zephyr for myself. Well, at least i plan to !

A bit of background about me. I live in India, and have been into aeromodelling for the last 15+ years. Been through kit building, scratch buidling, aerobatic flying, and flown glow and gas airplanes all the time. Had my stint with Helis (both nitro and electric)too. Off late delved into electrics and love flying my Funjet and FPV Twinstar.

This build here might be long and drawn out, since it is extremely tough to source things here. There are postal delays, and stuff routinely gets lost etc etc. I am also going to need a lot of help from members here to get things right the first time around.

Goal : Range: 1-5 miles.

Here is a quick list of what i am collecting :

Airplane & Electronics
- Zephyr II kit From RiteWingRC with lamination roll.
- RitewingRC Gopro mount / skids .
- Castle Creations Phoenic ISE 75 / USB connection
- Castle Creations BEC
- OSMA 3820-1200 Motor
- APC Prop - 10x6 ?
- 2x 3300mah 4S Nanotech batteries
- Futaba 3010 Standard High Torque Servos.
- DPCAV - 12V Step Down Regulator.

FPV gear
- EagleTree OSD w/GPS, Stabilisation, Altimeter
- 600TVL Sony Camera
- GoPro HD Hero.
- Choice between ImmersionRC 5.8GHz 600mW Vtx w/ Cloverleaf or RangeVideo 300/800 mW Vtx w/Inverted Vee


Radio Control
- TSLRS Rx
- Futaba 10CHP Tx

Misc
- Gorilla Glue
- 5Min Epoxy
- 3M 77/90 Spray ?
- Medium CA / Kicker
- Square magnets
- 2 core Shielded cable i got from an audio store

Self Made
-2x Sander Style LC Filter ( one for camera and one for VTx )
-Wooden GoPRO mount ( will trace/copy the RiteWingRC supplied on ply )
-TBS style battery bay


I expect to take a couple of months to get this into the air. Still waiting on a lot of stuff to arrive. Also want to plan out the layout first and will post some of my options below.

Thanks to everyone for watching, and helping .

[gauravag]

Few quick things i need help with :

1. Planning the wiring layout, and thinking of using the shielded cable in 2 places : Cam>OSD and OSD>VTx Now when using shielded cable, should i connect the shield on one end to the battery negative ? or leave it disconnected at both ends.

2. Still deciding whether to use RangeVideo 800mW 1.3Ghz or ImmersionRC 5.8 600mw.
Need a range of around 5 miles. I have flown the 5.8Ghz one to 1 mile on cloverleaf, but that was the best i could go. Anyone here that has experience with RV 1.3 800mW quality ? If i go with 1.3 I will use Inverted Vee on airplane and 8dbi patch on ground.

[Trappy]

1) connect to battery on the side of the power source. leave unconnected at the power consumption side.

2) 1.3 and 800mW, so you got 4x more range from the frequency alone and higher output power. 5 miles will do. 1.2GHz vote from me.

[Freshmint]

which shield cable are you using? cat5/6?

[gauravag]

Thanks Trappy , will go in with the 1.3 and point noted about the shielded cable.

Freshmint, the shielded cable i have is from an audio store. I have a 2 core as well as a 3 core one. Since I do not plan to transmit audio, i guess the 3 core will be enough for me.

[gauravag]

Update here : Started the build of the Zephyr ! Cut the motor mount first, then used PU to mount the cabon spar, and CA to tack it.
Did a major goof up here - Was my first time with PU, and didnt understand the foaming, used a bit too much on top of the spars, and a major mess followed !
Man this PU gets so messy . Hard time getting of my fingers, and on the plane, oozing out like anything !!

Well i am sure I will be able to clean up. Though its not going to be a neat build now. Well, at least i learnt something, and i have another kit to do a perfect job on.

Pictures to follow soon here !

[gauravag]

Question : Would like someone to share with me on how much the TBS Battery Bay weighs.
I was making mine out of Aircraft grade birch ply, and found it was getting very heavy. I used 1/4" for the sides and center, and 1/8" for the bottom and front and rear walls . My bay is getting close to 150 gms. Which i feel may be too much . I have 2 options :

a. To make the side walls thinner to 1/8" and keep only the center at 1/4"
b. To cut spar-like lightening holes in the three supports.

Any ideas here ?

[gauravag]

Ok, here is a rough sketch of how I plan to layout my gear


Would like someone to point me out on how I can improve before i cut it out.

Questions I have are :
- Location of GPS ? Should i take it closer to RC Rx ? This will increase distance from the Vtx ( 1280Mhz ) Or should it keep it besides the battery bay as in the sketch

- Eagle tree altimeter - Can it be buried in foam ? or does it need to be exposed to get an accurate pressure reading ( I might need to post this in Eagle Tree forum )

- Is it a good idea to support the antennas on the winglets ? ie the Inverted Vee on one, and the LRS on one ?

[londonguy]

Personally I wouldn't go to the wing tips for vtx/lrs. No point, 2/3rds down is far enough, less weight on the wing tips. Less wag.

And your GPS should be fine where it is assuming it's any good.

[gauravag]

Thanks londonguy - That was exactly hte kind of thing i wanted to know ( adverse effects of how i had planned things )

Question : How do you mount antennas for Vtx and Rx . Earlier i had thought i would put them on the Winglets, but if i now have the Tx/Rx inboard, then should i still route them to winglets ? I am planning a Vee for the Vtx and another V for the Rx