GETTING STARTED

Let’s get something straight: you will crash, so you better learn to build. Alan Ball, founder of Flying Robot, is on hand to get you set up.

SOLDERING IS KEY

“Don’t be scared to spend money on an iron. Magnum is locally made and is a great product. You can shop cheaper entry-level Magnums or try getting one secondhand. The most important thing is a clean tip. Your tip will last longer if you clean it often; just have a wet sponge and get rid of the old solder because new solder will have new flux in it. Once you’ve tapped it once, most of that flux is actually gone. If you see smoke, it’s probably too hot. If you see it hit and then melt quite nicely, then it’s perfect. You only need the heat for bigger stuff like 12-gauge wire. The problem with holding heat on big wires is that the heat dissipates into the board itself and if you have surface mount components that get too hot, they are going to shift and move. The big downside of these (all-in-one) boards is that the negative plane goes right across the board and that sucks up all of the heat. The secret then is to get your iron as hot as possible and do short hits, let the board cool and go again. I like the split between the PDB and flight controller.

TOOL UP

“Get a good 1,5 mm and 2 mm hex driver, a pair of wirecutters and a very small pair of needle-nose pliers. Those are pretty much the only tools you need. Then something like a Dremel heat gun or even a lighter to work with your heat shrink is also a nice thing to have.”

250 IS ENOUGH

“I always tell guys to get a ZMR 250 frame when you start out. You get videos and tutorial blogposts all over the Internet for it. You get space to work in and there are many ways to customise it. The great thing is that when you want to move on, you will already have all these pieces and transport it straight into something else.”

BATTERY KNOWLEDGE

“The battery is always a standard Lipo. Guys are jumping straight to four cell (4S) batteries and dumbing down to cope with the extra power. It’s best to do that now, so you don’t have to change in future. The charger can be any standard four-button charger or even just a plug-and-play charger. Go for 1 500 mah or bigger because you’re doing mostly hovering. But check the C rating because of the high amp draw. The 95 C is more expensive, but it’s built to take the abuse of powering these things. Put your batteries at 60 per cent for storage. Don’t leave it at 100.”