Air Titan
 

Im seriously looking at the Air Titan FPV platform. From what Ive read, its a nice solid plane that flies well.
It would be a good plane to be able to add equipment to as well as it s certianly big enough to handle just about anything.
Any comments or has anyone had any experience with this beast?

Re: Air Titan
 

I have not touched one nor flown one so don't know much about it. I have owned and flown it's smaller sibling the Penguin. I found the fuselage in the Penguin was too bulky and heavy and that hurt its performance and efficiency. I prefer the Skywalker type, or Skyhunter (I have one, not built yet). But then I also think a big wing is even more efficient because you don't have the added weight of fuselage and boom, albeit a different animal with pluses and minuses too.

Only thing I liked about the Penguin and Air Titan is they come with nice wheel gear, and very easy access to large hatch area. That is important too.

my Penguin. Flew it a few times then sold it. I had 360 degree pan&tilt for the main cam on it

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps398ba711.jpg

Re: Air Titan
 

I haven't seen it in the flesh either.

But I checked the Readymade RC Site. It looks kinda cute, in the ugly FPV way that only FPV'ers will like.

It seems like it should be able to do the job, but it does appear a bit pricey.

With wheels like that, you are limited to roads/parking lot or short grass runways. Tall grass "chuck it and fly" will not be this plane's specialty. You probably can get away with tall grass "chuck it", but landing in tall grass with that mass and those wheels..??? Nope.

If you do get it, definitely do a build thread. that way we can see the details of this plane and get jealous at the same time :mrgreen:

Re: Air Titan
 

thanks for the replies, it looks like no one here has first hand experience on it yet so I may just have to take one for the team and get it..... :P

If I do, yes I will start a build and fly thread.

Re: Air Titan
 

thats the spirit....blaze the trail of FPV

I still haven't decided what to get.....ugly/scale/large and pricey or smaller and practical. my understanding is that your first fpv plane WILL GET CRASHED...so I am concerned about spending too much.

I get what they are saying about landing gear, especially if we end up flying at more remote places. Hand launch would certainly be a benefit. I suppose you have all winter to decide on whats best. I look forward to the journey.

Daryll

Re: Air Titan
 

yes this is the beauty of the Penguin over the Air Titan. The glider-style wheels integrated in the Penguin fuse makes it usable in all situations. Easy to hand launch, can just mash it into tall weeds/grass without risk of gear hanging out there. Or land it pro-style, wheels on the runway. Mine took off from rough gravel easy enough.

I personally feel the Titan is too big for most purposes. I guess if you have the right location and want to carry big load, perhaps a gimbal, then it is a good choice. They will both carry a lot of batteries for hour long flight. Though the base motor I used in the Penguin was grossly underpowered (easy to just choose bigger).

If you are just doing safe easy FPV close by, then these are ridiculously large and a pita to live with. A Bixler, a 3 foot wing, or even a Hobbyzone Cub is all you need to have a TON of fun doing FPV. Safer, run on 3S 2200mah. Big batteries are an expensive pita to live with in comparison, imho. I have had many big planes, up to 2.5m wingspan, have a 5 ft Zephyr2, 2m FPV gliders, and had 20 other FPV planes. The plane I fly 90% of the time is a 36 inch EPP wing, which is low maintenance, reliable, aerobatic and truly enjoyable. The bigger the plane, the more fragile it is - fullstop.

Re: Air Titan
 

Thats some good info above....many thanks. Were just looking to get into fpv from an entry level standpoint, and I personally would rather not make mistakes that others before me have made. Appreciate the insight into what might be best for line of sight fpv type fun. I would like to know who you all like to order your fpv gear and particularly airframes from?

Daryll

Re: Air Titan
 

hey thanks. Yes I strongly recommend smaller craft for your first fpv experience.

I have my usual vendors to deal with, but truth is this sport expanding so fast there are many more vendors selling things now. Even in Canada Great Hobbies carries a lot of the stuff we used to buy from the US an China. And New Generation Hobbies in Toronto is a long time FPV vendor.

The biggest names in selling FPV stuff is Ready Made RC in North Carolina, and Hobby Wireless of Texas. Both have great selection, expertise and service.

At my flying field, the easiest way to success in FPV for a current LOS flyer is to just pick a foamie you like that is easy to fly and put Plug&Play Fatshark kit on it. The Attitude or Dominator kit is one that is 'good enough', worked great for my friends. Gets you goggles with receiver built in, camera, transmitter and antennas for around $500. All you need to get flying around your usual flying field (and no further). http://www.readymaderc.com/store/ind...roducts_id=781

however if you are really on a budget and don't mind some compromises, then this new $100 kit from Hobbyking is as cheap as you can possibly get and still flyable. I have not tried it myself. The unique video goggle might actually be better for folks who have thick Rx glasses.:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...mera_PNF_.html

Re: Air Titan
 

sounds good. I guess the temptation is to think that to do fpv requires an fpv specific plane. My only experience with foamies is a radian glider that pretty much flew itself. The only drawback to it that I see is very little room inside for additional gear. Also I was hoping not to be seeing through a spinning prop when under power.

I bought a Cularis powered glider to build as an fpv platform but its going to have similar issues to the radian, and is bigger, more complex and heavier. Also less stable being an aileron ship. I think the Cularis will be going up for sale on RCCanada.

I think a foamie "pusher" setup would be awesome, cheap and light. I like that turnkey setups are out there that practically guarantee LOS fpv flight with little risk.

Daryll

Re: Air Titan
 

Radian has been a hugely popular FPV aircraft. You do see the prop, but it's not bad with a ccd camera, and glider folding prop. The low -end cameras and all the HD cameras are CMOS cams, so you see 'windowblinds.' With CCD cam you see a more realistic prop spinning.

A couple years ago I made a bunch of 'FPV pods' out of coroplast and Goop glue. These hold the whole FPV system in a small pod that can be velcroed on top of the fuse. My buddy still has one I made on his Hobbyzone Cub and I have one on a wing that has been on 3 different planes (10 seconds to move between them). So no need to install anything inside the plane, just an Y cable from the main lipo. I elastic band the vTx and cam on, so they don't get shaken up much in a crash, prevents damage if you land inverted on your antenna.

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps6f7c71fc.jpg

http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...ps6f4f950f.jpg