Bonzo Moon

I was testing an FPV tx the other day and like a fool forgot to disconnect the lipo until a while later. Put a meter on it and it read zero! Quite a recent 3s 800mA. I was not pleased. Checking cells I discovered that in fact it was only one cell that had gone to zero, two others were showing 3v + . I tried unsuccessfully to kick the zero cell into life by charging as NiCad, at NiMh, but it stubbornly stayed at zero. Reluctant to bin it I salvaged the 2 good cells and turned it into a 2s 800mA. Here's how

Thanks, I'll give it a try sometime!

That looks great mate! And I bet it goes well with that big motor. I've built 10 of the big Lidl's now and on my 1st I fitted an A2212 6T 1600kv , plus lots of carbon. It ended up quite heavy, but was fast. Nowadays I keep them light and use BR1806. Tiny little motor but it's more than enough. I've never tried painting a foamie. Worry that it'll melt the foam, mind you the Lidl are coloured foam so don't really need paint. They are great fun for experimenting with. I've got about 3 planes needing test flights at the moment, but weather has been bad for weeks. Very frustrating!

My RC conversion of £13 foamie FMS Alpha jet gets its 2nd test flight after a very strange day at my local strip. Suggestions after the first pretty unstable maiden were tail heavy, but my research said it was nose heavy, hence moved electrics back a bit, added 2g of lead in the tail, plus a little more downthrust. This flight was much better than the first test, though maybe still needs a bit more downthrust? Messing about with cheap foamies can be frustrating at times, but it's a lot of fun and good learning experience!

Part 2 of my Lidl Big Bird build blog and a few of my tips for anyone thinking of making a Lidl foamie chuck glider RC conversion. I was hoping to maiden it, but I think it may be jinxed, cos it didn't work out that way as you'll see in the video! 😟

Thanks.

Finally got some decent weather to test fly my mini lidl biplane again. It flew around in circles on the maiden! I thought I'd charged all my lipos, but as you can see in the vid, maybe I hadn't. 🤨. Stick with it, the last flight once properly trimmed was superb. Such an easy and well balanced plane to fly now. Just over 100g with 2s 180mA lipo. Build blog is on my channel.

Thanks for that Max, you've given me something good to work on there. I got this idea The red and black wires are most likely the power lines from the drive battery, providing the oomph to the motor via the ESC. It was indeed the signal bit I couldn't figure. I'll have another go later. Thanks. I've just been making a start on repairing last nights storm damage to my garden fence. 90 mph wind gusts last night on the coast not far away from me. 😳

Yes, when I was searching for info on this I did see one advert that said without BEC. As you say Perhaps it’s intended to multi-motor applications where several ESCs would be installed and there would be no need for a BEC on each one. Like drones? I'll have another play with it today! Thanks again for inputs guys.

Thanks Brian, I appreciate the input! And yes, weird that that they'd switch something as important and + - power input ??? Think I'd trawled and seen the other pic in my searches too thanks. I was curious about SW too? Yes, basically I just experimented last time, nothing to lose at that price, and at the moment 92 mph wind gusts on the coast not far from me. Not much chance of flying for a while.

Well spotted Brian, I missed that, I went by what is actually on the board that was supplied. The sad thing is the Ali Express image is wrong! Can't trust these Chinese sellers. Check out this close up pic of mine which shows better the info on the small board. pos+ is actually opposite to their picture. (I'm an electronics engineer and I even checked if the electrolytic capacitor was connected the right way.) The power supply neg and the cap neg side were both on the neg on the board. Their picture is wrong. Those black and red leads power leads were presoldered and were correct when it arrived. I've killed things before with reverse polarity (you can't always rely on there being a diode for protection,) My power leads are correct with the info on the board. Next pad down from the blue , ie white lead, is marked SW which I though would be the signal wire, ie no 3 on a BEC . Bec leads red, black, white or yellow. But to clarify you suggest PPM signal, no 3 on the normal BEC would be on the top pad marked PWM, 5v ie red bec lead, on the one marked SW and the neg/ground on the input power supply black common ground? But to clarify you suggest PPM signal, no 3 on the normal BEC would be on the top pad marked PWM, 5v ie red bec lead, on the one marked SW and the neg/ground on the input power supply black common ground?

KInd of bought this by mistake without noticing it wasn't like a 'normal' ESC with a power input side, 3 wires to a motor and a 5v BEC that would go on channel 3 on a receiver. I'm assuming the 3 terminals are to the brushless motor. Power is red and black and it shows signal on the white. But how do you connect to a receiver? I've tried using white and blue and a common ground on the black to rx but that didn't work? It was only a couple of quid, though small and light and great for my lightweight foamie rc conversions so might be nice to get it working! https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005431131171.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.11.13381802eNPShQ Any advice welcome please. .

Weather finally improved enough for me to maiden my first FMS Alpha jet cheap foamie rc conversion. My first attempt at converting a light foamy jet as opposed to the several+ Lidl foamies I've built. Flight went extremely well but a bit of a handful! Still needed a bit of trimming or maybe CG change and I'd be interested to hear opinions on what might have been wrong, (apart from my lack of piloting skills). My 1st thought was tail heavy, but as you'll see on the video it might have actually been nose heavy? Research says nose heavy? It was a bit of challenge to fly but came home in one piece and It'll be interesting to see if my CG change will make much difference next flight.

Well here it is, my Lidl RC conversion no 10, the Lidl 'Big Bird'. This is a kind of mini build blog. (I've already made full detailed build blogs on my channel.) Still have to decide which motor, probably BR 1806 which I've used successfully on a couple of my other Lidl RC's. I want to keep it as light as possible for slow flying, maybe FPV? Quite like the idea of a pusher with a pod on top, but I don't have a 3D printer and I've not had much previous success with my pushers. Anyhow, watch this space, more will follow. 🤨

A couple of months back I posted a video about a cheap little receiver I'd bought, FS2A 4CH AFHDS 2A Mini Compatible Receiver . Just around £6 delivered. The only downside is you have to solder the connector pins to the tiny little board. Soooo, here's a video showing how to do it and also how to bind it to a FlySky receiver. They are great for small lightweight builds, I've used a few of them and never had any issues with range. Another upside is they will even work with a 1s lipo. aliexpress link is in the video description

Seems like I was late to the party with this one as it was all over the forums 5 years ago, but here's my FMS Alpha Jet RC conversion. Plus another very small foamie jet I've also converted to RC. I was very pleased with my aileron and elevator solutions with the Alpha and no, I wasn't brave enough to go the EDF route with this one as I wanted to keep it light. Next time maybe ? 😉 The bubble canopy I made was in another YT video. You'll see in the video I'm wondering if it'll be underpowered with that little 1104 motor and a 2s and I might try it with a 3s 180mA if that is the case. It gets hot but I'm thinking as long as I go gentle and defo not full chat with it it should be OK? What do you think? Maidens for both will happen when we get a break in this awful weather! Plus the Lidl Mini foam biplane will get a 2nd test flight. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thanks Simon and Happy Xmas to you too mate! I've still got one mini Lidl foamie, plus a big Lidl fusi and 2 big Lidl wings kicking around waiting for inspiration, so I'll have enough to do with those 😉

They are great fun to experiment with, and you learn a lot on the way!

Has anyone seen anything like this before? 🤣 My Mini Lidl Biplane foamie has a most unusual maiden!

A couple of weeks back I asked for suggestions for a build with a couple of cheapo small foamie gliders. WELL, HERE'S THE RESULT. The Mini Lidl Biplane! A quick build blog with a couple of useful building tips. I maidened today, which was 'interesting'? Video will be online as soon as I get a chance to edit it. Sub if you don't want to miss it 😉

Must admit I had to Google that one! That was an amazing design of it's time. Very strange. The Blohm & Voss BV 141 was designed as a tactical reconnaissance aircraft. While passed over by the German Air Ministry for the Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu, it became the better known of the two, due to its asymmetrical body. The aircraft’s unusual design made it appear as though it shouldn’t have been able to safely take to the air. However, tests showed it was able to fly without issue.

Interesting selection... I've ony made one EDF big Lidl out of my 9 and that was top mounted simple design really but flies well. Whereas my twin boom pusher still isn't flying well! It looks like you have used the nylon reinforced tape to help secure ailerons on one model. Word of warning about that stuff! I did the same with my early LIdl conversions and after a couple of years it totally degrades and will just fall off! I had to go through a few models and replace it with Scotch Crystal tape which is everlasting!