• The first thing I will do is the rudder modification, my EasyStar will be around 950 grams heavy and the stock rudder is just not big enough, this is the reason i have to build a little bit larger rudder than the stock.

• I used a SNAP knife for the first surgery

• Then i made a sketch of the new rudder, the rudder should not be made to big because this may negatively affect the behavior of the plane.

• Making slots for the DU-BRO hinges

• Ready for gluing in the DU-BRO hinges

• Use 3mm plywood for the new rudder, i didn’t have plywood so i used 3mm laminated balsa wood. DU-BRO hinges of course

• Glued both sides with super glue. Be careful so that no glue comes in to the hinges!!

• I used 2mm carbon fiber rods for stiffening the elevator.

• Gluing the rudder and the elevator together with CA + activator

• I used 10mm x 0.5mm carbon strips to stiffen the wings

• Added magnets in to the wing for security (watch the magnet polarisation before gluing) 

• Here is the second surgery, free up some space for all the electronics

• Eagle Tree Complete OSD system (OSD Pro Expander, MicroPower V3 E-Logger, GPS Expander)  …

• GPS Expander,

• Eagle Tree MicroPower Micro Temp Sensor

• Eagle Tree OSD Pro Expander,

• Eagle Tree MicroPower V3 E-Logger, The main thing of this project was that i wanted to have all the components except the video tx and the camera inside of the fuselage (wiring diagram can be found here), minimal change of the outlook,  despite all the nice things it has its disadvantages. I had few problems (unreachable RX, unreachable OSD…) but the main problem was that i had to build extensions cables for the USB-connection of the OSD, also extension cables for pan/tilt servos (need to be able to disconnect them sometimes..), sure they can be bought but at that moment they where sold out in every single online shop i found. BTW the USB extension is non standard. So i started thinking how make this extensions, and then i spotted an old PC housing in a corner which is laying around for years, it had only a CD-ROM inside with a cd-rom audio cable. This cable was almost perfect for me, so i went to a local computer service and got my self a bunch of this cables. With very little modification i was able to make the extensions i needed. Here a few pictures…

• Here the male and female connector for the pan and tilt servos, one made from an cd-rom audio cable, and the other cuted from a cdrom PCB

• This is the connector which i used for the USB extension, also cuted out from a cd-rom pcb.

• After i had all my extensions made, i starded to line up the components in to the fuselage

• Yes, under the cable salad is the fuselage of the easystar . On the right under the motor is the FASST Reciver, The GPS expander is behind the motor cuted in to the foam, the OSD PRO is directly under the reciver…

• The red thing is the ESC, under that is the Eagle Tree MicroPower V3 E-Logger, under the E-Logger covered in blach shrink tube is the Voltage step down for the camera. The wiring is simple and users manuals can be found here, the programing is not that hard to but very soon you will find something about programing in the “guides” area

• I build my self a EasyPod for the camera, you can find details here.

• This is my video camera,  it is a CMOS camera, but would highly recommend this one (CCD) with this camera mount and two of this servos . I modified the Pan servo for 180 degree travel, here the guide

• My 1.2GHz video TX, T1012 1000mW 1.2 GHz (AFAIK illegal in the USA), but would suggest this one because 500 mW is just enough. A 1000 mW video tx creates to much noise for the servos ( result = the servos moving randomly and shake, you can avoid this by moving the TX as far away as possible from servos) . Since the connectors (see picture above) are heavy and not needed i removed them, follow this schematics.

• I used the anntena plastic tube which came with the easystar for my FASST antennas…

• The antennas have to be positioned in a 90 degree angle…

• I temporary fixed the fuselage with adhesive tape just in case i have to get to the inside after the first flight

• Gluing the rudder and the elevator to the fuselage….

• I moved the Video TX from the EasyPod because i just had to much noise on my pan/tilt servos

• As you can see on the scale 955 grams heavy.

• Waiting for nice weather for the maiden flight!

The maiden flight…