I'm a fairly new fpv pilot, haven't really built any quads, but I have a question. 

I recently bought a PNP Emax Hawk Pro racing drone (because the price was right) but I really should have bought a freestyle/basher quad. I recently crushed a brand new $30 Lipo trying unsuccessfully to pull out of a dive. I've also beat up a couple other batteries scraping the ground and landing poorly. My username is not referring to fpv flight skills.

 I'm wondering if it would be totally silly to get another bottom plate, some standoffs, and screws and use it as a top plate instead of the plastic canopy so I can strap batteries on top? 

An alternative option which I'm also unsure of would be to get a TBS Source One type frame and swap everything from the Hawk pro to that frame. 

Not a lotta spare cash after being off work for surgery so trying to fly on the cheap 

I attached an image for reference.

Also, if there's a better place to post this, let me know!

There are so many "Hawk" EMax models. Yours is the Sport Hawk. I eventually sold mine even though I loved it as adding HV video gave the same issues as you will have trying to go top battery. Flying buddy still has his and still loves it.

Its a well balanced frame and there's good reason the battery is underneath. Handling WILL deteriorate if moved up above.

I suggest if you cannot learn to avoid wiping out packs fast enough to make a reinforced battery protector. I'd make one on my 3D printer, but some pipe insulation strapped on would be OK while you gain the skills to avoid issues.

Thanks for the reply BadRaven! That makes sense about balance. I do have a 3d printer and some CAD skills. I'll see what others have made and see what I can come up with. I'm not sure any reasonable printed protector would have saved my battery entirely but it was an unreasonably hard crash (see photo)  but it may have saved it from being unusable!

Hi SmoothOperator,

@BadRaven:  Very Good Idea. 

Personally, I think that BadRaven's idea of using the foam pipe insulation
is a very good idea. Maybe one of the best. You could use just about any
type of foam. Consider, just using rubber bands to hold the insulation onto 
the battery, then strap the whole thing onto the quad. It might be a little
bulky, but will not add much weight so handling should not be adversely
effected. In fact, this method might be as good or better than trying to
3D print something. 

Now, if you really wanted to mount the battery on top, I would suggest
making a custom top plate. Plates are pretty easy to fabricate from material
such as LEXAN plastic. Yes, you could use just about anything; some stuff 
is easier to work with than others. Yeah, you could also 3D print one. If you 
have a CNC milling machine, you could cut one from CF or some other 
material. There are a variety of materials that could be used depending 
on what you want to work with and your skill set. 

That said, having a spare bottom plate is still a pretty good idea in case
one of those hard crashes breaks and arm. 

Later, iFly  

Bummer, I just threw away a thick rubber foam yoga mat that would have worked well. I’ll find some foam I can wrap it with.
I was at the drawing board and wasn’t coming up with any great 3d print options. Maybe when I can fly more consistent I’ll make a thin battery skid plate just to prevent scrapes and dings.
Thanks for the advice guys! I get fixated on certain ideas so it’s always good to bounce my thoughts off someone. Usually simple is best.

Hi SmoothOperator,

Yeah, the yoga mat would have been fine. In fact, a foam that is flat might
actually be better than the pipe wrap, although that is still a good idea.

For quads having a bottom battery, protecting the battery, skid plates,
and landing gear can be a bit tricky or least interesting. The dilemma is
that there isn't any "good" way to mount these things; at least not directly
onto the quad. Where does one attach it? How? Depending on the size of
the battery leaving space for the battery has to be a consideration.

The original build of my Phantom-4X quad, had the battery underslung. Now, I
normally prefer a top mounted battery, but this time, I tried an underslung battery,
no top deck plate, and a whoop canopy. Well, the craft would not sit up enough to
arm and launch without falling over, so I constructed a plate with pads for the
explicit purpose of getting it to "stand up" during launch. 

The plate itself was cut from an Isopropyl Alcohol bottle with scissors and Xacto knife.
Next, two standard peel and stick foam landing pads where attached to the plate. Yeah
I cut the plate to fit the pads. This plate is simply held in place by the  battery strap and 
nothing else. Guess what? It worked and is shown in the picture below:



Yeah, I flew it this way for a while and then just got tired of dealing with it. Consequently,
I modified the build in order to top mount the battery. Since I only had a bottom plate
for this build (that is another story), I cut a plate from thin carbon fiber (with hand tools) 
and mounted it to the quad. This plate provided  a suitable place to mount the battery. 
If I were doing this today, I would use 1/16 inch LEXAN plastic. 







Later, iFly  

Looks awesome iFly and thanks for the tips!

Maybe when this quad is no longer beautiful and I have others I'll try modding it but for now I’ll just use the pipe wrap. Tried it today and it works good except that it likes to tip on the ground. I’ll glue some strips of foam along the bottom to give it some “skids” for takeoff. No real crashes yet though.

Something must have clicked because I’m starting to fly with a small amount of precision. Now I gotta start pushing myself just a little bit!

Hi SmoothOperator,

Something that I did not know at that time, but leaned later, it that a 
launch platform can be constructed that looks like rails that the left 
and right set of motors sit on so that the quad does not sit on the battery. 
On the cheap, just use a couple of pieces of 2x24 lumber (scraps).

Later, iFly