6 month evolution of the Bixler 2

|nicktutttle
6 month evolution of the Bixler 2

Essentially a copy and paste from my blog. I thought there might be some interest here too. Flitetest has inspired me to go crazy with the hot glue and this is the result applied to my Bixler 2. 

6 months ago I had just FPV'd my Bixler 2 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. The fuse is beginning to look like swiss cheese! 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! 

0 comments

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.

Have a story to share?

Share your builds, flying experiences and tips with the Flite Test community.

Write For Us →