Introduction: Nimbus 1800 VTOL Project

By maluegha.com
About: Designer, Artist, Engineer

VTOL or Vertical Takeoff or Landing aircraft is one of the best design of combining between copter and airplane.
it mean combining the flexibility of the copter and durability of the plane, VTOL drone can be the best solution for autonomous drone that's can reach further distance and longer flight time.

Using Nimbus 1800 plane and convert it to VTOL is the easy es way to have VTOL drone. why...?

  1. Flight time approx 1 hour (using 25C 16000 Lipo) if u want more we can combine

    6S 16000mAh Li-ion Battery for Fix wing mode and 6S 2200mAh Lipo Battery for VTOL mode

  2. Using Radio like Crossfire, the radio range up to 100km (depend on condition) full telemetry.

  3. Take-off Weight: 4.8kg Suggested Payload: 800g Total Weight: 2.85kg(no battery)

  4. Wingspan: 1800mm, Length: 1300mm Suggested

  5. Max. Flying Height: 3500m Max. Flying Speed: 35m/s Average Speed: 15m/s to 16m/s

  6. Max Range 15km

  7. Take off and land vertically

Step 1: Raw Materials

This is the basic raw material u need

  1. 1x MFD Nimbus 1800 Long Range RC FPV Plane Kit
  2. 3x 40A ESC xrotor for all motor front and rear
  3. 2x SunnySky X3520 720 kv Brushless Motor for front motor
  4. 1x DFDL 12inch 12x8 CW Wooden propeller for Front right prop
  5. 1x DFDL 12inch 12x8 CCW Wooden propeller for front left prop
  6. 1x SUNNYSKY X4112S 485KV Brushless Motor for rear motor
  7. 1x 1555 Carbon Fiber Tarot Propeller CW for rear prop
  8. 2x SHF12 12mm linear rail shaft support XYZ Table CNC Router 3D printer Part for front motor holder
  9. 2x 50cm 500mm 12mm * 10mm Carbon Fiber tube for front motor holder
  10. Some Nylon Hinge For RC Airplane 15 X 27 Mm
  11. 3x M6 locknut
  12. 2x double head motor servo RDS3115mg 15kg for front motor transition
  13. 1x 22.2V 16000mah 6S 22ah 25C Lipo XT60 25C
  14. Enough AWG16 silicon Red & Black, AWG14 silicon black & red, AWG 30 silicon Red & black
  15. 1x Landing Gear Homemade carbon 40 Class Up
  16. 2x Header 3pin SET Header+Terminal+Housing pitch 2.54mm 3 pin for servo connector
  17. Some 10x M3*8mm Black Aluminum Spacer M3x8mm, 50x M3x18 + M3x12 + M3x30 + M3x20 + M3 Locknut
  18. 1x Digital Airspeed Sensor Pixhawk PX4 Flight Controller i2c
  19. 1x Module ESC Power Distribution Board 5V & 12V BEC
  20. 1x Pixhawk PX4 Black PIX 2.4.8 + Buzz +SD 4gb + Safety Button
  21. 1x Remote Control Transmitter and Receiver 2.4GHz 16CH

and some 3D printed component

u can download here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3833139

Step 2: Front Motor Mount

  1. Replace the original motor mount with 12mm OD x 10mm ID Carbon Fiber tube and SHF12 12mm linear rail shaft
  2. Cut a pair carbon tube 6 inch long and put SHF12 on it

Step 3: Front Motor and Servo

Using spacer and motor bolt mount the SunnySky X3520 720kv Brushless Motor to the servos

Step 4: Wing Motor Placement

place the tube to the original mount and bolt it
PS: bolt it hard enough

Step 5: ESC Placement

U can place the Xrotor 40 amp ESC beneath the wing and organize the wire properly
PS: this include additional servo wire, using 3 pin header mount it at the edge of the wing

Step 6: Using Lock Nut

i prefer using lock nut than the original nut from the motor to reduce the risk of prop loose during flight

Step 7: Rear Motor Mount

using my 3D component u can mount the rear SUNNYSKY X4112S 485 KV Brushless Motor and organize the Xrotor 40 amp ESC on the tail section

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3833139

Step 8: Landing Gear

usually this type of airplane is using for carrying big camera in the bottom, so u need a landing gear for it

Step 9: Pixhawk Schema

i use this configuration for my pixhawk 4

Step 10: Air Sensor Installation

this is important especially for autonomous flight, air sensor will get u an accurate air speen needed for lifting the air plane. so install it to the pitot right

Step 11: Pixhawk 4 Setup

PS: before u set all parameters please do this :

  1. Upgrade ths pixhawk to the latest stable version
  2. reset all to the default setting
  3. do all calibration including gyro, compass, GPS, motor calibration and radio calibration
  4. set the Q_ENABLE : 1 to activate the Quadruplane

Step 12: Test Your Motor Direction

  1. detach all the propeler
  2. Arm it and test the direction just like picture above

Step 13: Test Your Servo Transition

make sure when in plane mode all servo facing front and in quad mode facing up

PS: Test it on the ground

Step 14: Test All the Tail and Aileron

check all the direction of your aileron and tail is right :

  1. Roll to right -> left aileron down and right aileron up & both tail right
  2. Roll to left -> left aileron up and right aileron down & both tail left
  3. Pitch up -> both tail up
  4. Pitch down -> both tail down

Step 15: Autonomous Flight

from here, autonomous flight seems so easy, but there is a lot of procedure has been done before flight. just like full size plane, there is a lot routine , check list and others.
Good luck and have a good flight... Remember, fail is a part of the lesson...:)