Ok, truth be told.. this quad wasn’t “lost” it was stuck (somewhere) up high in the tree across the street from my house.. let’s back up..
  This was my Kabob Babytooth.. bnf, I thought a 1s 3” would help me progress in the hobby.. i was starting out, and my 5” wizard just sounded BAD when I crashed if.. so a 1s toothpick I figured would be perfect..
 Now mind you.. I’m still flying ANGLE mode.. and testing out ACRO..I’m in my front yard.. and decide to try a powerloop… well… that was it in the tree it went.. and all I could see in the video feed was Spanish Moss..
 Here is the kicker… this quad has been in that tree for ATLEAST 2 maybe 3 YEARS!!!
 Well today as I’m putting flags out for the holiday on the curbs.. look at what I see…. That ONE lavender prop.. THIS is the exact reason I got away from “cool” props and going to the brightest ones I can see..if it wasn’t for that one prop.. I never would have seen it on the ground…

Nice! fire it up. lol. Before I switched to Avan props I had yellow gemfans on the rear on my babytooth. It makes it so much easier to find. My first Flywoo Nano Baby spent a few weeks in a tree. It survived pretty well. I ended up replacing the camera, but that's it.

Absolutely amazing!!!

… oh .. she is ROUGH boys… spent some time cleaning with a brush and alcohol. Not putting power till it’s dry and “clean”… desolderd the camera and vtx, motors are FROZEN.. but have them soaking in penetrating oil….
I’m surprised it’s in one piece.. I think my neighbor JUST had a lawn service there yesterday..

Looks like them bearings are toast. Don't recon any amount of penetrating oil will bring them back. I'm betting the insides of the bearing races have pit marks, might rumble a bit if it does run.

… well,.. some “good” and some bad news..
.. the fc powered up.. no magic smoke..showed up in betaflight. It has 4.1 on it. It responded as it should.. but I’ve got no bind- rx.. I have also put a lipo on it.. no luck..
Unfortunately there are no break out pads.. so a external rx is a no go.. unless someone knows how? Have not put motors on it to see if the esc survived..

Re:  "Well today as I’m putting flanges out for the holiday on the curbs."

Err, Yes, Well ...........  

OK, have to ask, what are "flanges"?  (and why do the curbs need a holiday?)  

Lucky find?  Certainly a challenge.  Lets see you get the LiPo back to operation! 


Beats our club's record, which was four people searching several times over a week before it was found, and that was a 2 metre span plane!

Sorry.. FLAGS… was putting small American flags on the grass / curb edges for Memorial Day weekend…
And like I said, if it wasn’t for that ONE prop.. I never would have found it.. and YES, I would stand in my front yard STARING up in that tree just trying to spot it.. especially over the winter when there were minimal leaves…

Well, powered up the vtx and camera…both “work” meaning I get transmission and a “picture”…
Not sure how strong the vtx transmits.. and the camera is cloudy… kinda sucks.. it was a OG runcam nano 3 with the GOOD lens..

I bet there is moisture inside the camera lens or on the sensor. Not really surprising with it having been out in the elements for 3 years. I'm actually impressed that it works at all. It you remove the lens you can try and dry it out but be careful when trying to clean the delicate sensor.

The motors are definitely toast. I wouldn't risk trying to spin those up from the ESCs. They will probably jam up and then fry the MOSFETs.

(25-May-2024, 03:07 PM)Rob Axel Wrote: .. and YES, I would stand in my front yard STARING up in that tree just trying to spot it.. especially over the winter when there were minimal leaves…

I was the same when my Crux was stuck up in the tree, but it was there for only many months, not years. I also noticed some growth on the inside of the lens, or maybe also hazing from prolonged UV exposure.

Yeah, I’m real surprised ANYTHING still works at all!!! I figure it’s a total loss (except for the frame and camera mount)…
I would have loved to be able to post this thing back in the air with only loosing the lipo. I was able to do that when my twigxl was in a neighboring tree for a week or so.. and it went through a rain storm..
Wished RDQ could have archived their Forum.. I could have posted EXACTLY when it got stuck..
Plus I had a LOT of Tinyhawk repair / troubleshooting threads ..

Got all the motors “unfrozen”and one bell removed. Big props to Ahren Ciotti (Ciottifpv) for the suggestion of using a “zip-loc” bag when removing / installing these tiny “C” clips… basically keeping them from disappearing..
CRUNCHY, doesn’t begin to describe the bearings.. they have smoothed out, but seem “tight” and stiff.. they are still soaking…

(25-May-2024, 07:14 PM)Rob Axel Wrote: Got all the motors “unfrozen”and one bell removed.  Big props to Ahren Ciotti (Ciottifpv) for the suggestion of using a “zip-loc” bag when removing / installing these tiny “C” clips… basically keeping them from disappearing..
 CRUNCHY, doesn’t begin to describe the bearings.. they have smoothed out, but seem “tight” and stiff.. they are still soaking…

Forget salvaging the bearings. They are really inexpensive and worth to get new ones. Once you have rust in the bearing balls they form pits and you will never smooth them out.

IF.. big IF, these motors aren’t toast.. any idea who has these bearings for these Kabob motors?