Same for me, probably next month. Think I might try a 3" build first.

Ronin, what is the postage costs to the UK likely to be?

To the UK it's going to be around $18 for USPS First Class Intl - that's with tracking but not express. Not cheap but at least it can also be pretty quick - 7 days for the last one I sent to the UK.

I am still hopeful that I can get the stock up this weekend but it looks like Beijing might be in another lockdown which is where my package is stuck with the notice "Delay Beyond Our Control" which is the first time I'm reading that from FedEx lol.

That's fine, $18 is actually pretty affordable, I was expecting it to be around $25 (or so). 7 days is also fine, I'm not looking to build something next day. I will (probably) be building this quad over 2-3 months or so depending on when I can get parts for the build. Their seems to be a bit of an electronics shortage over here, with most places only having limited stocks of FC, ESC and Motors (or have parts that are overly too powerful for a 3" build, although the mind boggles at what sort of motors require a 60A ESC and whether you could even fit them on a 3").

I'll be looking at July for ordering. Too many other expensive bills that need to be dealt with this month.

I don’t think you’ll have any regrets buying a RoninUAV Sohei MK2. It is my absolute favorite frame so far in my fpv journey.

It’s a ridiculously strong basher, but still, buy some spare arms when you order it in case you fly through a fence.

Yeah I plan to get a set of spare arms at the same time.

Fences over here tend to be wood, or sometimes concrete (but fairly rare to find these nowadays), but mostly steel fencing is used universally. I don't think I've ever seen vinyl fencing over here. So I probably won't be making any holes in fences, unfortunately. Holes in other things might be possible though.

Hi Pathfinder,

RoninUAV frames are my favorite. I like the features, the quality, 
how these frames go together, and all of the extra things like the
instructions, the build threads, the straps, and the attention to detail.
These are my "Go To" frames. 

When I place an order, I like to make the shipping count... So...
I generally order more than 1 frame, extra arms, and anything
else that I want at the time. For me it optimizes the shipping cost
which is the same whether I order 1 frame or 2  ... plus parts. You 
might also consider more than 1 set of arms. You could get a nice
box of goodies for one shipping fee.
Just a thought 

Regarding parts ordering...I often order motors in sets of 8. Yeah,
I know it sounds crazy , however, I look at it this way. If I get 4 motors
and 1 is bad, now I have to order another 1 or 2 {more shipping}. So, the 
generally philosophy is to by 5 or maybe 6 motors to have spares in case a 
motor is bad or you have a crash and damage one. So, now we are up to 6
motors. I am thinking  . Why not just order 8 motors. The shipping will 
not cost any more. If a motor is bad, then I don't have to put in another order
and pay MORE shipping and MORE waiting. Plus, if all the motors are good, 
then I have enough for 2 builds. If I need to, I can cannibalize one quad for 
the other, but I can always keep at least one flying. I will wait until I have to
place an order for other things, then I might tack on any motors that got damaged.

In fact, I always try to optimize my orders, regardless of the vendor.  
That said...if delivery time was long, then I would REALLY try top optimize
every order...all of the time. I guess that is just me.    

For me the big killers are ESC and FC. Even a good AIO is expensive. I was trying to work out a build for a 3" drone and due to issues with parts availability I could be looking at around £150 for the FC, ESC and motors. Then throw in an ELRS receiver and VTX and it's probably now over £220, then add props and you get the idea. But if that's what it costs to build a custom ripper, then so be it.

My initial ideas were something along the lines of the Foxeer Reaper F4 Mini 45A ESC and Foxeer F722 Mini V3 FC. Then probably some generic ELRS board and maybe the HGLRC Zeus 800mw VTX. They are available over here fairly easily. But is this sort of spec overkill for what I need? I should probably fork this question into a different thread.

But i will buy probably 2 sets of arms for the Sohei when i order and their is an outside possibility I might add a second frame, but it might be better to do that after summer. If it was in budget i would order 2 frames and both the 3 and 3.5 arms and just commit to doing the 3 and 3.5 back to back, but given my noobness at this, it's very unwise.

If I didn’t have any of the necessary bits but wanted to build a Sohei on a budget based on what’s available in the UK:
AIO FC/ESC: https://yourfpv.co.uk/product/mamba-f4-a...ller-2-4s/
Motors: https://yourfpv.co.uk/product/stp-a38%e2...ing-drone/
ELRS rx & vtx combo: https://yourfpv.co.uk/product/elrs-fyujo...d-openvtx/
Cam: https://yourfpv.co.uk/product/caddx-ant-...amera-169/

£135 plus the cost of some props, batteries, and the awesome RoninUAV Sohei MK2 frame. Oh, and maybe another £15 for a decent vtx antenna.

If they had the Diatone Mamba Toka 1408 4100kv motors in stock, those things would rock. I’ve got them on another 3” build.

As usual these are the things i don't yet understand. Thanks for that.

If I was doing this myself without help it would probably end up being some franken-drone, with overpowered everything that was a nightmare to fly or went into orbit on it's first flight.

Hopefully with time I will get the FC/ESC/Motors bit. I'm guessing it's a trial and error type process.

Oh and yes, I have like zero parts. In a year or two i will probably be sat on boxes of spares, but not right now.

Yeah, I’m a year plus in and I’ve got boxes of spares and bits and bobs. A big part of that is because I couldn’t seem to keep myself from buying random lots of used bits last year, but it’s serving me well now.

Anyhow, if you start a build thread when you start getting serious about the build, we’ll all chime in. When I first started, I’m pretty sure I would have thrown everything against the wall in frustration after having wasted a bunch of money if it wasn’t for the lovely people on this forum.

+1 on the spare parts.

I have been building for about 4 years now and have boxes of parts.
Like Lemony, I buy things just to have on hand especially if it is on sale
or something that I think might sell out.

Personally, I like the "whoop" format AIO boards in 40A to 55A versions.
The higher rated ones don't weight that much more than the lower rated
ones, they will fit into pretty much ANY frame, they are easier to build with,
and the generally cost less than an equivalent "stack". So, I buy these when
I see one that I like even if I don't have a specific use for it. But hey, it will
fit in anything from a 2 inch whoop (smaller actually) to at least a 7 inch.

Now, you want to talk about Frankenstein builds, 
check out my FrankenFly-2-4  build. It was built completely
with parts that I had lying around.  It started with an Armattan Gecko
bottom plate...yeah, I didn't have any of the other frame parts. The
FC is a 20x20 AIO that was just sitting on the bench. Anyway 

Yes, when you get ready, please DO start a build thread. By the way, you
can start the thread even before you actually have the parts in hand.

(18-Jun-2022, 01:15 AM)the.ronin Wrote:



patiently waiting for the instock email.