A cell that contains a price, indicates the item and cost chosen for that particular approach (ideal, minimal cost, or actual.)
My goal is to try to save as much money as possible, but still get new
or newish quality parts. Of course it might be possible to recycle a
person's existing equipment or buy really used stuff to save even more
money.
At the bottom, there are totals for each cost column which give you an
estimated project cost for each column/approach.
Sheet1
| ITEM |
New Price |
Ideal |
Minimum |
Actual |
Notes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Airframe: goal - Big, light wing loading, lots of room and spare lifting capacity for payload and/or fuel |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Sig Kadet Senior ARF |
$220.00 |
$220.00 |
|
$175.00 |
Nice big stable light slow ARF. Bought NIB from R/C universe (including shipping) |
|
|
|
|
|
| Tower Trainer 60 ARF |
$120.00 |
|
$120.00 |
|
Smaller cheaper less capacity |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| World Models Super Frontier Senior |
$190.00 |
|
|
|
Kadet Senior clone |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Engine: goal - Enough power to pull aircraft and load safely, fuel efficient, clean, low vibration |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Magnum XL 61 FS |
$170.00 |
$170.00 |
|
$133.03 |
4 stroke - more fuel efficient, cleaner? Bought NIB from Ebay (includes shipping). |
|
|
|
|
|
| Tower .61 |
$85.00 |
|
$85.00 |
|
2 stroke - less fuel efficient, messier, higher power to weight |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 12x6 propellor |
$3.00 |
$3.00 |
|
$7.00 |
For Magnum XL .61 - I bought 2 from the LHS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 11x7 propellor |
$3.00 |
|
$3.00 |
|
For Tower .61 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Radio: goal - Nice general purpose system with at least 6 channels. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Radio #1: Futaba 6XAS 6 Channel |
$200.00 |
$200.00 |
|
|
Nice general purpose 6 channel setup for core flight control |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Radio #1: Hitec Laser 6 ch. |
$150.00 |
|
$150.00 |
|
Cheaper system for core flight control |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Radio #1: Futaba Flight Pack |
$120.93 |
|
|
$120.93 |
Flight pack=$110, Crystal=$13 (New, Tower Hobbies) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Radio #1: Accesories |
$31.00 |
|
|
$31.00 |
5th servo, extension cables for remote mounted aileron servos (New, Tower Hobbies) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Stability and Navigation: goal - Simple, robust, cost effective, minimize new hardware development |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Stability: FMA Direct Copilot |
$100.00 |
$100.00 |
$100.00 |
$80.00 |
Provides core stability control. Bought new/never used from ebay. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Flight Comp: First Robotics Mini |
$249.00 |
$249.00 |
|
$150.00 |
Reads/writes servos directly, small, low power (www.ifirobotics.com). Purchased from an ebay seller. |
|
|
|
| Flight Comp: Gumstix/Robostix |
$150.00 |
|
|
|
Not released yet, but could be a viable alternative |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Flight Comp: Minipod |
$90.00 |
|
$90.00 |
|
Input gps data, crunch heading/roll and climb/pitch targets for |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
sensor gimbal, drive 2 sensor attitude control servos (www.newmicros.com) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Garmin Etrex Summit |
$165.00 |
$165.00 |
|
$92.00 |
(ebay + shipping) No WAAS, but has barametric altimeter and magnetic compass |
|
|
|
|
|
| Garmin GPS 18 OEM |
$85.00 |
|
$85.00 |
|
(Projected) Cheap GPS source, serial output |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Electrical System |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 7.2v Battery for Flight Computer |
$14.99 |
$14.99 |
|
$14.99 |
Epic 6 cell 3000 mah Ni-MH (on the heavy side but it's a starting point) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Battery charger for 7.2v battery |
$50.00 |
$50.00 |
|
$50.00 |
Black Widow Peak Detector (Ni-Cd/Ni-Mh) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| EMS Battery backup |
$45.00 |
$90.00 |
|
|
Safety battery for primary (and secondary) flight control systems |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Sullivan Products Genesys |
$100.00 |
$100.00 |
|
$80.00 |
Onboard electric generator (trade batteries for fuel) http://www.sullivanproducts.com/GenesysContent.htm Purchased NIB from RC Universe. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Other/Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| www.ractsystems.com |
$1,000.00 |
|
|
|
Real time telemetry |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| www.eagletreesystems.com |
$140.00 |
|
|
|
telemetry saved on board |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| www.maxtream.com |
$249.00 |
$249 |
|
|
9 Xstream radio modem dev kit (web special until 8/31/05) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Total |
|
$1610.99 |
$633.00 |
$933.95 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
