Side Project - Black Widow (Mass Effect)

A little side project I did for a coworker. He really wanted the black widow from Mass Effect, so I modeled, printed, and painted an 11-inch version. The wax based paint I started with didn't pan out at all, so I removed it and used acrylics. The artificial paint chipping effect was achieved by lightly painting Vaseline to the corners, then airbrushing black on top of the silver.

Control Box (Cont.)

After a long hiatus from working on the CNC control box, I ordered some proper drivers and set out to make it happen. I've now got the motors spinning when plugged into the front ports, simply by pressing a key on my keyboard. Now I need the machine...

Should have looked like this.

Ended up like this.

But it has a pretty face. 

Flight Test

Octo Air Frame on the Cheap (cont.(cont.(cont.)))

Here are all of the electronics wired together for a test. I was able to calibrate all of the ESCs this way, and everything seems to be working at this point!

It's just about finished here. All I need to add are the lights and FPV camera. Later I'll swap the arms for longer ones, this will accommodate the new 15-inch props I ordered.

And here is the FPV camera housing I just finished printing.

It's large because I wanted the camera to have a good lens that can focus as well as zoom.

One more ugly glamour shot in the folded position without battery.

Octo Air Frame on the Cheap (cont.(cont.))

 The 20 amp battery was on backorder forever, so I ordered a premium Turnigy 16 amp battery in its place. The rail system works well for offsetting the balance. Also pictured is the power hub in its natural habitat, feeding on a low voltage BEC that clips onto one of the ports. The plugs are set up so that nothing can be accidentally plugged into a power source that it cannot handle. Currently, I'm prototyping the red and blue LED pods that will help orient the drone in flight. Also, trying to send the old Atlas flight controller back because it's not working for some reason, no matter what I try. It responds to compass and gyroscopic motion, but won't power the motors or save any settings. So when the Naza-M gets here, I'll be able to test the electronics before installing everything on the frame. Until then, I can balance the props and keep printing parts for the custom stands.