Radio controlled flight camera action issue 5

THE UK’S 1ST DRONE AND MULTIROTOR MAGAZINE

RCFLIGHTCAMERAACTION.COM

ISSUE 4 APRIL / MAY 2016

THE UK’S 1ST DRONE AND MULTIROTOR MAGAZINE

FROM ENTRY LEVEL QUADS TO FPV RACING, AERIAL FILMING, IN-DEPTH BUILD GUIDES AND INDUSTRY INNOVATION

NEW DRONE TECH EXPLAINED & EXPLORED

NINJA JR’S AGILE AEROBAT EXCELS AT 3D

NUREMBERG TOY FAIR DRONES GALORE AT EUROPE’S TOP TOY AND HOBBY TRADE SHOW

TRAXXAS ATON

TESTED! A MULTI-TASKING MULTI-COPTER FROM THE R/C CAR GIANT

FLIGHT TESTS XK AIR DANCER AEROBATIC DRONE

SKY RC SOKAR FPV RACER

HUBSAN X4 ‘FOLLOW ME’ FPV

REALFLIGHT DRONE SIMULATOR

RCFCA ISSUE 05

Issue 05 £4.99

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INSIDE RC FLIGHT CAMERA ACTION

MAY/JUNE 2016. ISSUE 05

JR Ninja

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XK Innovations Air Dancer

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Sky R/C Sokar

28

Traxxas Aton

36

Hubsan X4 FPV

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REVIEWS 10 JR Ninja

Dave Wilshere gets to grips with JR’s debut quad

18 XK Innovations Air Dancer

We step in time with XK Innovations’ latest aerobatic offering

28 Sky R/C Sokar

James Crozier tests the nippy Sokar, a ready to fly FPV racer!

36 Traxxas Aton

R/C Car legends Traxxas take a stab at Quadcopters and pass the test with flying colours

42 Hubsan X4 FPV

‘Follow Me’ flying with Hubsan’s latest creation

78 RealFlight Drone Simulator Practise makes perfect! Jordan Harding gives us the low-down on the Drone Simulator

83 XK FPV Set

XK’s FPV set is put through its paces by Kevin Crozier

86 XT Mini Flyer

We get cagey with the XT Mini Flyer

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Viewpoint

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FEATURES 24 LHC FPV Meet

We take a trip over to Warwickshire to attend the most recent FPV Meet Up at Leamington Hobby Centre

27 Event Calendar

Dates for your diary! All the biggest and best upcoming multirotor events

33 Quad Clips Nuremberg Toy Fair

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Freestyle quadcopter videos are one of the coolest things in our hobby. We’ve collected some of our favourites from recent months

46 Viewpoint

More stunning shots from Dronestagram!

54 Nuremberg Toy Fair

Europe’s top toy and hobby trade show was awash with new multicopters

68 Improving Your Aerial Photography David Bright shows us how to get the best out of your drone snaps

74 Bebop Extras & Backpack

James Crozier wraps up the Parrot Bebop 2 article from the last issue with an in-depth look at some of its other features Improving Your Aerial Photography

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RC FLIGHT CAMERA ACTION

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PRODUCT REVIEW

NINJA

JR Propo enters the quadcopter battle with the Ninja AUTHOR: DAVE WILSHERE PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVE WILSHERE / STEVE ROBERTS

he popularity of four-rotor craft – quadcopters – has grown exponentially over the last few years.

They offer many of the qualities of a helicopter, but with multi axis gyros that make them super stable, easier to learn on and more relaxing to fly.

T

a work horse, this can become boring quite quickly and I’m sure there has been a good number of quadcopters bought that are now sitting on a shelf unused. What was needed was to pep things up, just like the path model helicopters took.

Before quads burst onto the scene, if you wanted to learn to fly a rotary winged machine there was a good chance you would suffer a few spills. With helicopters this means a long rebuild and quite a few parts required.

The first 3D quadcopters released back in 2013 featured a complicated collective pitch system to allow inverted flight (and transitions). Such is the speed of development, a year later the first fixed blade 3D quad was released. Special motors and ESC’s were developed, where an instant change in the rotating direction allowed the fixed blades to go from positive to negative lift. And being a much simpler solution it was quickly adopted by other manufacturers.

Quads are simpler, so by their nature are made of fewer parts, so crashes rarely break more than a prop or an arm. Repairs can be performed quickly with minimal tools. Initially quads were all about stable platforms with obvious uses as a camera platform. Other than as

BELOW: Instruction book features clear drawings

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PRODUCT REVIEW

NINJA

JR Propo enters the quadcopter battle with the Ninja AUTHOR: DAVE WILSHERE PHOTOGRAPHER: DAVE WILSHERE / STEVE ROBERTS

ABOVE & BELOW: The clam shell type body comes factory painted and trimmed. It fitted perfectly

BELOW: Installation complete, ready for binding and then motor direction testing

Basic frame and arms assembled ready for the motors

Motors attached ready for electronics

Lower half fitted. You can see how perfectly positioned it is from the box

Even the velcro straps shout JR’s proud stamp of quality

The control inputs are matched between quads and radio control helicopters, so obviously they will share a following and it was not a surprise to see companies known as helicopter manufacturers starting to offer quads.

of their helicopters. This is encapsulated by a multicoloured polycarbonate bodyshell; the design is printed on the inside of the clear Lexan and the material’s thickness provides a deep high gloss finish that won’t scratch off!

Enter The Ninja

The Ninja shouts quality, with little touches like JR moulded into the rubber arm end caps and a clip in, quick release battery mounting plate. The two piece body is held in position by grommets fitted over body posts, complete with retaining clips.

JR was the first major manufacturer to adopt this system and it released the Ninja MR 400 late in 2014, the 400 relating to the distance in mm between motors.

As expected their offering was assembled on a high quality carbon fibre and aluminium frame, like many

Neither half of the bodyshell needs removing to replace the battery so changes take a few seconds. Most quads have the heavy battery mounted in the centre, to maintain balance, but JR has overcome this with some clever design thoughts. The Ninja is designed for the popular 3S (11.1 V) 2200 mAh LiPo battery.

Many quads feature equal length arms but for 3D this makes orientation difficult. JR made the forward arms shorter and the rears longer, helping with orientation and also allowing the flight battery to be mounted at the back of the frames and still achieve balance. The added bonus for an aerobatic quad is the rear mounted battery helps keep the centre of gravity low.

Designed to use JR’s DMSS system, you will need a transmitter with suitable XBus software. There is a list of all the JR DMSS transmitters in the manual, noting the required software version. Earlier radios may need

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