I got this frame from banggood lying around for some time now, and since I crashed my Martian 3 yesterday it is a good reason to start that build.

Here is the crash from yesterday. Faceplant a ninja tree again! This time the camera popped out of the cage together with the side plates and I had to spend some time searcing for it in the grass. Next time I will buy a camera with orange case so it is easier to find. Fortunately, all the electronics made it, but the top plate got delaminated around the mounting holes and the standoffs where bent.



      
   
 



Here is the Lantian frame
http://www.banggood.com/Lantian-LTX-HEX4...55199.html



What I really like about this frame is the low rider style and it feels quite solid. I will probably add one two more standoffs right behind where the FC is supposed to be to support the top plate better in crashes.

The arms look a bit fragile with it's cutouts and 3mm thickness, but I have never broken any arms on any quads yet so I guess it will be okay (oh, wait that's a lie. I broke an arm on one of my first builds, an orange diatone ZMR copy plastic frame). I tend to brake top plates and standoffs due to these head on collisions with trees.

Since this is a lowrider frame, I would guess it has a pretty good COG even with a camera mounted on top. I will do some tests once the build is done.

The parts I'm going to use is salvaged from the Martian like mentioned earlier:

SPRacing F3 FC
Littlebee 20A
Realacc hubosd PDB
Kingkong 2205 2300kv
Foxeer HS1177 ir sensitive with ir block lens
Eachine ET600 VTX





I had to mount the PDB sideways since it is a bit longer than usual. If I had mounted it the other way, it would be in the way of the standoffs. On this build it would probably be better to use the Matek version of this PDB with hardmounted XT60 plug from FPVmodel.
The main holes on the sidewalls for the camera doesn't fit the HS1177, the camera will be too high so I had to use the adjustment slots to fasten the camera instead. I think Lantian has it's own version of the HS1177 that will fit better.
Here you can also see I have mounted a servoplug to be able to easily adjust the camera settings without having to remove the camera. On this build it would actually be pretty easy to take out the camera, as you would only have to loosen the 4 screws for the top plate over the camera.

This was all I had time for yesterday, so I will keep this thread updated once I get to do some more work on the quad

Nice flying by the way, and I see you also have ninja trees..... The bloody things breed like Triffids. (wonders how many google Triffids)..LOL

Good flying out there, unlucky crash. Have fun with the transplant

Thanks! That ninja tree was hiding behind that other tree just waiting to get a taste of my flying carbon blender. Unfortunately, chinese carbon fiber is not always the best quality

(02-Sep-2016, 09:24 AM)BigglesFPV Wrote: Nice flying by the way, and I see you also have ninja trees..... The bloody things breed like Triffids.     (wonders how many google Triffids)..LOL

I think you mean Tribbles...

No, he meant Triffids.......

(02-Sep-2016, 08:10 PM)sirdude Wrote: No, he meant Triffids.......

Well, I refuse to google "triffids"...

EDIT: Sorry, I didn't realize I was hijacking this thread, oyvinla - I'll stop now, promise! (Very nice flying, BTW!)

Got a little bit more work done today. The arms, ESCs, PDB and FC is in place. The VTX and RX will be mounted in the back of the frame, The VTX on the top plate and the RX on the bottom.



I had to test fit everything and see if i still got the top plate on. Here without the VTX and RX but I tested it earlier and they both fit:






Here is the camera placed in the lower adjustment holes. If I mount it in the top hole, the top plate will not fit.

I had my maiden yesterday and it was really nice to fly. Had about 12 packs on it and after some chrashes I ended up breaking one of the arms. They are quite fragile as expected.



Since the Martian arms are intact, I will try to modify them so I can make a Frankenstein out of the Lantian:

Frankenframes are the best Happy hacking!

I had to drill a new hole in the arm (number 4 from top, closest to the motor) and cut and file away some of the carbon to be able to fit them to the frame. I am able to use two screws in hole 3 and 4 on each arm, but it could be that I will drill one more hole, so each arm has got 3 bolts. I haven't desided yet. 
Has anyone got any experience with just two bolts on each arm? does it hold up in crashes?

Modified arm on the left



Here is the arms mounted on the frame with two bolts each. I might drill one more hole just for that extra strenght, but i'm not sure yet

This could be interesting. Taranis arrives tomorrow. Hopefully the Emax red bottom clones are not too bad, but I am planning to get some Brotherhobby 2206 Returner eventually

kiss FC with BLHeli_S? or are you flashing Betaflight on it?

No, I was planning to use the Kiss FW, but I have not done any research if it is possible to run blheliS ESCs with Kiss, I just assume it will work

Those ESCs aren't acually the ones Im going to use. Im going to use the 20A racerstar BLHeliS V1, but they are still on my donorquad

A slightly change in plans on this one. The emax clone motors where put in use on another quad, but I have high expectations in the replacement motors, the brotherhobby returner 2206 2300kv. This will actually be my first "high end" motor on any build so I am very excited to see how they perform. I just ordered a set of DAL 5045 Cyclone props and I hope they will be a good match with the motors.

Yesterday I depinned the X8R receiver that came with the taranis and I'm planning on using it here. I connected everything, except the motors and ESCs to make sure it all worked as expected. 

I did not get the RSSI from the X8R to the Hubosd to work on this setup either, so either it is not working or there is something I haven't done right. I connected the RSSI output on the X8R to the RSSI pad on the Hubosd, and as I have mentioned earlier in another thread, according to the hubosd website, it should work automatically.

I also tried to connect a PWM signal to the VTX, but unfortunately I was only able to change between channel 3, 4 and 5. I am going to remove the signal, because I don't see the practical need for it on my setup. The buttons on the VTX will have easy access.

I normally direct solder everything to the FC but on this setup I decided to go for pins Since I'm using Kiss FC  and BLHeli_S ESCs, I would like to have the ability to easily flash and update the ESCs with a Naze32 board I have lying around. The Kiss FC doesn't have BLHeli passtrough from what I know.



So the part list:
Frame body: Lantian LTX-HEX4-215
Frame arms: Reptile Martian 3
Motors: Brotherhobby returner 2206 2300kv
ESCs: Racerstar 20A V1 BLHeli_S
PDB: Realacc Hubosd
FC: Kiss
Camera: Foxeer HS1177
VTX:Eachine ET526
VTX antenna: TBS Triumph