My first drone (APM 2.5.2 + Dedalus)

My first drone (APM 2.5.2 + Dedalus)
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I’ve always liked “things that fly”. As a child, I spent hours flying kites on the street. Years later, I discovered something called aeromodeling, it’s hypnotic to see such realistic miniatures, with mechanics that seem to defy physics.

In 2012 I imported an AR.Drone via eBay. It flew via Wi-Fi and had a range of about 50 meters. It was fun… for a while. Soon I got the urge to go beyond: build my own drone from scratch.

Dedalus frame in assembly

I started researching and found many people who had success in the project and helped me prepare, forums always save! The project took almost 12 months to be ready. Most of the delay came from importing: almost everything came from China. Generally, it’s 20–30 days to arrive in Brazil and +60 days at Customs. Patience is part of the kit. The only national part was the Dedalus frame, bought from Misiukas (dronehobbymodelismo.com.br).

The process was quite a learning experience: soldering, ESC calibration, radio, compass, GPS, telemetry… I did all tests first without propellers (here’s a tip).

Bench tests: PDB, UBEC, GPS and telemetry

Seeing the radio recognizing each channel and the controller arming for the first time starts giving a taste of hope, the feeling that what was a project is materializing.

Turnigy 9XR configured with my model

In the end, mounting everything on the frame, organizing the wiring, securing the battery at the center of gravity and hearing the four motors gaining rotation together is the feeling of victory.

Finished quad with APM 2.5.2 + GPS

Result: a Dedalus + APM 2.5.2 with GPS quad, 915 MHz telemetry, Turnigy 9XR with FrSky module, Hobbywing 40A ESCs, 750KV motors and LiPo 3S 5000 mAh.

The first flight was in an open area, telemetry monitoring via laptop plugged on top of the car for data monitoring, important to verify information and calibrate.

First flight in open area

Parts list