Hi Ronin,

NICE !!      Now I have 2 frames to buy.       Love it  

If my time estimates are at all accurate, I should be able to get an online store going in one month with stock to sell. I'm aiming for at least the Ronin Mk1 and Shinobi Mk1. I just started designing the racing platform Samurai Mk1.

Sounds Good.

I'm super excited guys.  The prototypes of Ronin Mk1 and Shinobi Mk1 are scheduled to arrive this Thursday.  I'm swapping out the Airblades with the red TMotor 1404s for the Ronin frame.  For the 4 inch long range Shinobi, I've got the "FPVCrate Edition" TMotor 1404 2800KV which I'm very curious about.

I've been balls deep finding sources for hardware and other stuff from China and so far progress has been great.  I am aiming for MSRP of 34.99 ish ... wish I could go cheaper but I'm not quite to scale yet.  I'm hoping to include a custom cut lipo pad but I think the lipo strap will have to be sold separately.  And includes extra hardware!! lol. Either way, the intoFPV fam gets a discount code for sure.

Super excited but super damn tired lol. These dudes in China know the hustle. And I'll keep pace well past 3am trying to eek out what margin I can ... cos they will deal all. day. long. loll.

Little teaser ...

Hi Ronin,

I am really excited about your new frames and website. The frame price looks good to me...you got to make some profit you know.  I am watching and waiting. Keep us informed. 

Thanks.   GOOD JOB   

Love your logo. Looking forward to getting your frames in the near future.

Thank you guys!!  I'm super stoked the prototypes are arriving from China today - 2 days earlier than expected!!!  So here in the U.S., it cost me twice as much off the cheapest price and *more* than twice as long to get this done.  I literally sent designs last Thursday LOL.  Lovin' China!!!!  

Holy crap guys ...  

:-) very nice!

I'm a bit disappointed...


There's only a like button on this forum. Where is the "!@#$% yeah!" button?

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What's the manufacturing quality like mate? You happy with the way they have been cut?

Although I've imported from China before through Alibaba for another company I started, I always get sketched out dude.  Particularly for the price and speed, I just can't believe it's possible.  In this case, I was worried I might get cut "karbon phyber" the new soy-based super cheap material LOL.  They use T300 Toray which despite sounding fancy I think is the standard issue 3K twill carbon fiber.

But man, I am impressed.  To be clear, I am not blown away.  This isn't Diatone level quality of cuts and finish here.  But that would be expecting too much I think.

Here is a closeup.  The piece with the orange sticker is from the domestic supplier.  The piece with clinch nuts installed is from the Diatone Roma frame.



If I had to be harsh, I do see some jagged corners where my Japanese kanji is cut but I suspected that might happen as I did not round off the points.  I will do so for the final draft.  I also redid the pattern on the tail.  I think I was a little bit too much on the whacky tobacky when I thought that design actually looked like the hilt of a katana sword lol.  It looks like this now (the inner outline is a lipo pad concept) ...



... which I think far more closely resembles it.

Alright boys, the v2 is in.  Spoiler alert ... despite the added brace plate, it weighs just about the same than v1 lol wtf right??      Spoiler alert again ... it's the motors.

The biggest change from the v1 is the addition of a 1.5mm brace plate to sandwich the 3mm arm pairs against the 1.5mm bottom plate ...





I swapped out the Airblade Superman 1404s with the T-Motor F1404s honestly just to get my red bling on.  On paper, the difference should have just been 9.37g - 9.34g = 0.03g x 4 = 0.12g but I actually saw closer to a 4g difference lol wow.





I'm sticking to the Runcam 4K whoop split cam because despite messing with RapidFire signal lock, the HD footage really looks so damn good.



I'm also really proud of the revised camera cage which doesn't look so phallic like in v1 lol.



Crossfire.  Cos, Crossfire.



I'm kinda impressed with these mini Immortal T's for close proximity freestyle.  I was getting random low LQ warnings at lower power but at 500mw, zero issues at all.



I opted for this HGLRC Zeus Nano on the v1 cos I needed a small ufl VTX fast.  I gave it a week before I'd swap it out because the oddball mounting just does a number on my level 100 OCD.  But man, the video quality and performance is so good for such a tiny thing that I decided to stick with it (I'm also partial to VTXs with mic's).





I am planning on some changes to the design elements on the top plate for the final version.  There is a high likelihood that I will also be including a custom cut lipo pad with the frame kit (the one pictured is my own ghetto hack) ...



I want to note that TPU parts will not be included but links to the STL files will be made available on the product page.  Also the retail version of the Ronin Mk1 will come with black hardware ... this bling is my own.    



LEDs.  Cos, LEDs.    



And the moment of truth drumbroll please ....  



I know, friggin crazy.  And here's the analysis paralysis on the AUW difference between v1 and v2 ... hey if you are gonna focus on sub-250, you better know what each damn screw weights lol ...



The 4g delta to the AUW in the photo and in the chart is the lipo. That lipo is at about half capacity. I don't know that it's a full 4g less than a fully charged lipo but I figured better to err on the side of the conservatism when it comes to the maths.

I'm super stoked on the buffer to 250 this v2 is showing.  I had thought about beefing up the top plate, maybe the bottom or brace plate ... but then I decided nah.  Between losing the LEDs and using a smaller lipo, that leaves a LOT of room for pilots to choose what parts they want whether that be some HD system, bigger motors, etc. 

The caveat being that I have not tuned this yet.  But I have no reason to believe that the gyro_scaled should be any worse than v1.  I'd be amazed if there was not a noticeable improvement - and if there is not, then we can lose the brace plate providing even more room for options.

For v3, I also want to refine the camera cage interlock with the top and bottom plates so it requires less filing.  Otherwise the rest of the changes are mostly cosmetic rounding off some sharp edges on the Japanese kanji and the points on the brace plate, redesign of the top plate pattern, etc.

Onward!!  

Hi Ronin,

EXCELLENT        I am really excited about your frames      

and   RoninUAV    

Hopefully, I will be ready to build again when your site is fully operational. 
What the H@LL, even if I'm not building....I want them anyway 

I want 1 of each frame.   

Working on these build diagrams are oddly soothing for the OCD lol.    



Still on track for a mid-May drop.  

First batch of frames should arrive next week.  Possibly branded lipo pads too.  Ironically it's the small chotskies like the stickers that are likely to hold off prospects for an early launch lol.  But in the meantime, I've been refocusing a ton of my efforts on the website itself ... which so far looks to include a ton of info on each frame from specs to sub250 auw guidelines to detailed build logs and flight videos lol.  Way more info than you'd see on a typical frame product description, but I don't expect to sell this through other shops. So I can have full control over the product presentation.

Final version of the Ronin Mk1 guys ...