So I'm doing pretty well with getting everything together so far, and still need to wait on an FPV system to arrive. In the meantime I figured it would be a good idea to ask about any major things to watch out for when configuring iNav on a plane. Got a Matek F405 WMN installed with iNav 6.1 and slapped a bunch of supporting hardware on it.

I suppose what I mostly need to know is things to do for a maiden, and maybe various settings a guy with just quad experience wouldn't think to look for in the configurator.

Done:
-Ports
-Power
-RTH
-Modes
-Receiver
-GPS
-Blackbox
-Autolaunch CLI settings
-Correct motor rotation
-Flight controller orientation correction
-Disabled mag

To do:
-OSD
-Nav mode tuning
-Current meter calibration
-Accelerometer calibration

Didn't understand center of gravity. Plane stalled and nose dived into the hardest part of the field. Time to see how good I am at hot gluing foam.

Sorry to hear that, hope it repairs well. I have just acquired my first FPV plane too, a partially built ZOHD Drift. The seller only got to putting in the FC, but not sure why he soldered the servos to the pins instead of just using servo plugs. Will have some setting up to do and don't know anything about iNav so will have quite a bit of learning as well.

I flew some foam board planes many years back and remember the flying wings were extremely squirrely and had very sensitive elevons. It took quite a few launches before getting the right balance for it to fly well. If your Dolphin comes with setup instructions, it might be a good idea to follow CG, thrust line, and elevon throw guidelines if they provide it. Adding extra expo for the pitch/roll also helps.

(11-Jun-2023, 04:50 AM)mstc Wrote: If your Dolphin comes with setup instructions, it might be a good idea to follow CG, thrust line, and elevon throw guidelines if they provide it. Adding extra expo for the pitch/roll also helps.

The manual was actually quite sparce. Most of the worthwhile info I got came from Painless360 on YouTube. While there was a CG marker, I used it incorrectly by trying to place the plane on a flat surface and then trying to balance it by moving the battery around. Turns out I was supposed to put the little dots on my fingertips. So what I thought was still nose heavy was actually extremely tail heavy. Managed to collect around 90% of the foam, but some of it just couldn't be found in the tall grass surrounding the one and only solid dirt patch it landed in.

If you find enough chunks to rebuild the structure it should be good enough to fly. Otherwise you can cut some extra chunks of spare foam and glue it in too. If its really tiny pieces, some hot glue will fill it in without adding too much weight. A bandaid of laminate or packing tape over the surface will help smooth it out, and check the weight is not lopsided after the repair.

Have you flown planes before? Back in the old days, trimming out the plane was really important to getting it to fly well, at least that was for LOS and pre-flight controllers, but I imagine its still an important step. It helps to have an experienced plane pilot in that step, although I've seen some videos of drone youtubers trimming up their plane via FPV and seemed they didn't really have much plane experience.

(11-Jun-2023, 02:08 PM)mstc Wrote: If you find enough chunks to rebuild the structure it should be good enough to fly. Otherwise you can cut some extra chunks of spare foam and glue it in too. If its really tiny pieces, some hot glue will fill it in without adding too much weight. A bandaid of laminate or packing tape over the surface will help smooth it out, and check the weight is not lopsided after the repair.

Have you flown planes before? Back in the old days, trimming out the plane was really important to getting it to fly well, at least that was for LOS and pre-flight controllers, but I imagine its still an important step. It helps to have an experienced plane pilot in that step, although I've seen some videos of drone youtubers trimming up their plane via FPV and seemed they didn't really have much plane experience.

Never used a plane before. I managed to fully rebuild and attempt another launch after finding more settings issues. Didn't know about servo weight.

Second launch was kinda better, (4 seconds instead of 2) but the plane seemed to be very determined to fly inverted. I've rechecked to make sure the servos moved properly for pitch and roll, angle mode also shows the right movements, and the gyro/accel show proper orientation. Kinda stuck right now, so hopefully somebody's got a good idea. Time to go rebuild the front again!

Can drop blackbox, diff, and video if it'll help.

With planes, you can do test launching over soft grass without any throttle to get some initial idea of balance trim. It should take a roughly straight/level path (no stall or rolls) and you should have some control of it even without throttle, and much less chance to damage the plane. With wings though, not sure if that helps as most need throttle to fly.

If you say it wants to fly inverted, that sounds like it is rolling in which case I would double check control surfaces are exactly level on both sides when the stick is centered AND move up/down exactly the same amount when you pitch. Also check the plane left right balance is not lopsided and thrust line is not skewed. However if you have a large prop, you could also be experiencing torque roll, but that should be mainly when you throttle up.

I found my first wing flight just for laughs. It was just a DIY foam board build, didn't even follow any design (funny the things you try when you don't know any better). Not shown in the video, but basically between every launch was adjusting of cg, throws/rates, expos, trims, etc. For DIY planes I remember they get flying within a launch or two. If you don't find an experienced pilot to help you trim out, keep some patience and persistence...

I don't feel like this particular rolling is the result of uneven control surfaces or torque roll as it oscillates left and right after inverting. I checked over the blackbox, but the only stick input it shows is the throttle, and that appears to be controlled by autolaunch rather than the actual sticks.

That aside, I do like your idea of trying to just glide it. Will see about that after reassembly.

Oh you are using autolaunch? I believe your plane must be properly trimmed out before you use that mode? Definitely check your logs, if the FC did that then instead of climbing out it ending up rolling your plane so either accelerometer calibration or controls are off or some autolaunch setting? But shouldn't you be manual launching the plane first. Have you done some simple circuit flying in the sim or you are planning to only fly FPV?

I found the issue. I'm just stupid and did indeed invert the roll deflection. 100% my fault for not knowing what I was doing.
Pawel Spychalski's demo:

My busted mess:

Elevon setups a little more tricky - when viewed from behind
pitch up (stick down) = both up
pitch down = both down
roll left = left up, right down
roll right = right up, left down
But most important, at full pitch you should still be able to control your roll, and similarly at full roll you should still have pitch control so setup your mixes accordingly (or maybe iNav does that for you?)

(14-Jun-2023, 07:22 PM)mstc Wrote: Elevon setups a little more tricky - when viewed from behind
pitch up (stick down) = both up
pitch down = both down
roll left = left up, right down
roll right = right up, left down
But most important, at full pitch you should still be able to control your roll, and similarly at full roll you should still have pitch control so setup your mixes accordingly (or maybe iNav does that for you?)

Yeah, the mixer is handling that. If I move into a corner, one elevon moves to neutral. Is that sane?

Finally got a flight in! Was pretty janky as the nose cone got blown off during launch, (my plane's body is mildly deformed at this point) which allowed for a bunch of air to blast into the front and also blow the battery bay cover off. However, the plane still flew for 15 minutes on half a 2Ah battery. Ended with a lucky accidental landing, where I went out a ways to land into the wind, the wind caught the open bay funny, sending the plane downwards. Hit the RTH and it must've auto leveled just in time to skim the field.

Planes are something else!

Congrats, good job. Its definitely more helpful with an experienced pilot (I remember my first flight with the trainer cable and nice to have someone take over in case I mess up). I guess with flight controllers and FPV it is a different story now. Did you do LOS or go immediately into goggles? Curious to see your DVR. Is there autolanding mode too?!

For loose covers, a fat rubber band usually does the job nicely or some strategically placed toothpick/skewer sticks.

Have been having interesting results so far. Managed one intentional landing since I got it all sorted, but my third successful launch managed to cook the motor. Decided to just upgrade the ESC and motor, plus add a throttle scale of 90%. Currently rocking a T-Motor F90 (2806.5) 1950kv motor, and a 45A Luminier Razor ESC. Changed out the included prop to an HQ Prop 7x5.5 bi-blade. Hopefully I'll be able to rip just a bit harder while also not needing to worry about the motor frying again. The PnP kit motor just didn't seem up to the task of driving a 7 inch prop.