FlightClub Freestyle Frame is Coming

*Image for this post is just a placeholder. It’s not the freestyle frame, that’s the Neutron.

It’s about time…sheesh! I know, I know, I’ve been delaying this for far too long.

Getting back to the roots of FPV flying. FPV racing can get pretty serious sometimes so we lose sight of what it’s all about. Freestyle FPV flying is all about having fun. Exploring abandoned warehouses, diving playgrounds/buildings, cruising with a flock of geese or long ranging in the mountains.

Goals for the Freestyle frame

Of course everything will be protected
Wide X arm pattern
Easy to build
Fun to build
Top mount battery
Protected FPV camera mount
RX antenna mount
Crossfire antenna mount
can use standard or micro cameras

Here are the design features the frame has so far:

Butter Mount – yup, this will help with getting that buttery smooth HD footage
Easy to replace arms, 1 screw
Different arm options – 5″, 6″ and 7″. Thinking about doing wide arms for individual ESC and skinny thick arms for 4in1 ESC builds
Low profile
Plenty of room for electronics but yet still easy to access and build
Multiple mount locations for a GoPro: front, rear and bottom for sweet chase videos (will need to test)

I need your help!

The frame is about 50% designed so there’s still room for changes. I don’t do a lot of freestyle flying so I don’t know the problems or shortcomings with current freestyle frames.

Here’s where you can add your input in the FlightClub freestyle frame in the comments below

What are problems or things you don’t like about your current freestyle frame?

What features do want in a freestyle frame?

Tell me what your ultimate freestyle frame looks like. I will choose 10 readers to be testers of this prototype freestyle frame.

Thanks in advance!

Posted

August 22, 2018

News

miket

Tags:

Comments

35 responses to “FlightClub Freestyle Frame is Coming”

Justin Heasman

August 22, 2018

Hey Mike super stoked that your gonna do a freestyle frame!!! Been rocking the protons for a few months now.. Lovin them..
I’d like to see a top mount with some room for bit bigger battery..mqc fusion style.. with a lower top plate height for good Cg .. with the proton style session mount..itd i be hard to incorporate one backwards for chase cam.. perhaps between the rear arm’s?? good thick 5mm arms with options up to 7″ for LR purposes! Same width standoffs as the proton in the front so we could mount the micro cams the same.. perhaps a little more sunk back for good camera protection maybe a good tpu bumper out front to keep it safe when the enivtable happens..
And a way to make the bottom flat so we can put sliders on the arms for skidding on the cement…
Make something like that and I’ll beat the hell out of it!!

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 22, 2018
  
  Sweet! All those features will be incorporated in the frame. thanks for the feedback Justin
  
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MLFPV

August 22, 2018

Top mount battery, room on top plate for go pro and 1500 battery (length).

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 22, 2018
  
  yes sir, done
  
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Fernando

August 22, 2018

Yeeeeees! I’ll soon be off your back insisting on this frame lol.

Something really important to me is the ease of access to the inside. I really like my Tokios because I remove two screws and the pod pops off. The pod also keeps stuff inside relatively clean compared to standoffs. My old standoff frames were always nasty inside after crashing in grass or puddles.

The Unify’s button being accesible without opening anything is also really sweet. Love the flexible camera mount (and pod lip on the front) because I like to crash into hard things like trees hahaha.

Have had no freestyle frames since I fell in love with my first Tokio and retired the rest. Only Flight Club for me now. :’) Can’t wait for it.

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 22, 2018
  
  so you’re wanting something like a pod frame? hmm that’d be hard for a top mount frame. it’d be a really big pod too!
  
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  1. Fernando
    
    August 22, 2018
    
    Just saying stuff that sucks on current freestyle frames. 🙂 You tend to break the mold and kick other frames’ ass so you might think of something. Maybe a hybrid? Something like the Xlabs Steez but with more TPU lol. Don’t know. 🙂 As long as there is some beefy tpu protecting the fpv camera (and front of the frame with suffers the most abuse) and you don’t have to deal with six screws to get to the fc stack, I suppose standoffs could cut it.
    
    Reply
Ronald Cox

August 22, 2018

Aloha Mike,
So awesome to hear about your freestyle frame! Been loving your Protons as well!
You’re going to get a lot of input on this I’m sure, so I’ll make only one suggestion, CG! I’m sure you’ve thought about it and can be a real pain when designing a freestyle frame , especially one with different options. I’ve noticed personally that having the center of gravity almost perfect practically eliminates tuning! Hope this helps.
Mahalo for the awesome frames!!

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 22, 2018
  
  Yes, I think having the CNC center plate for the butter mounts will keep a lot of the weight dead center of the frame
  
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KumoKraft

August 22, 2018

Tight center of Mass
Toilet Tank battery top mount option
Slightly stretched symmetrical (opposite of wide but optional configurations would be great to be able to try)
Battery mounting top or middle of prop line

I prefer these characteristics usually but I agree with your list of goals

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 22, 2018
  
  i’ll tweak these features in the prototype
  
  Reply
lrryhll

August 22, 2018

I’d request a couple items (and keep in mind these may not be features per se):
– Immortal T mounts for us CRSF folks. I’ve basically ditched every other protocol so if there are 3D prints please consider this. An arm mount is acceptable.
– jello management – no better way to put it but a means to shield the fpv cam from vibrations/oscillilations. This could be some way of mounting.
– arm/front bumper rigidness – I crash because I am trying to get as low to the ground in my flow. I’m usually catching an arm, the front bumper (all the time on my reverb), or a prop. I break arms like trump lies: often
– fpv cam protection – I hate cage designs because they add too much weight but that doesn’t mean the cam should be backed into the frame in all cases. Also support micro/regular sized (?) cams.
– integrated pdb – I can’t say greater things about the simplicity of the reverb pdb, but it’s great to keep things looking clean and nice. I love the plug and play aspects of it.

You know I’ll be the first to buy this so just hit me up when it’s ready 😉

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 22, 2018
  
  most of these these features are already in the preliminary design or in the works. some will need some brainstorming to incorporate it but i’ll work on it. thanks for the feedback
  
  Reply
Azmi Wiggins

August 22, 2018

Hey Mike, I love the fact your doing a freestyle frame, I would like to see enough space to mount 2 boards side by side so 4in1’s won’t get in the way of my build. Eg 4in1 stacked with Fc, then vtx stacked with rx. That allows for a slammed style with low cg. Plus allow for both 20×20 & 35×35. Boomerang arms for rigidity, somehow keep the neutron plate just longer, needs to be stronger than a race frame. Maybe 5mm arms ? Like you said good GoPro mountings with vairiable arm sizes. A good way to mount your vtx without touching cf. good luck friend I know you’ll design a great one !

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 22, 2018
  
  yes, everything you said will be incorporated but the boomerang arms. thanks!
  
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Dale

August 22, 2018

Mike

I’ve used the Tokio for freestyle for the last year and it’s taken some abuse. Still hasn’t broken. Full whack into concrete and it just laughs it off.
If you are going to do a freestyle frame I really think you should make the arms as tough as possible or at least include an optional 3d printed arm/motor guard.

The placement for the antenna should also be considered. It’ll need to have the option to use a normal antenna and a stubby antenna.

The top plate should be a minimum of 3mm thick for durability.

The camera should be very well protected as head on into objects is a standard day for most of us.

I also think you should include an optional low profile frame so if you run an AIO you can have a sleeker look.

Personally I don’t think weight is a huge issue to freestyle pilots as long as the frame is tough and a pleasure to fly.

They are the main things I’d like to see in a freestyle frame.

Look forward to seeing what you can cook up in the future.

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 22, 2018
  
  thanks, i’ll keep these in mind. 3mm for a top plate is massive but definitely 2.5mm. most freestyle frames use 1.5mm which is a joke
  
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Justin Heasman

August 22, 2018

I agree 2.5mm top plate..toliet tank option would be great! The double stacks would be great but it would require a longer nucleus plate… Which would be super cool if it was backwards compatible with the proton arms and just get a new top plate to make it into the new freestyle rig.. and honestly the practice arms for the proton are what it needs just with the length options..keep the motor end of the arm the Same shape..they work great! There is already alot of options for booties out there…
There’s a million ways to build a stack..but it’d be cool to be able to use different height standoffs for aio boards/individual esc’s for a lower top plate for great CG if one chose! With the option of two stack mountings front to back
Basically I want a longer Proton with the option of different standoff Heights and dual stacks!!

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Jamison

August 22, 2018

It would be interesting to see a freestyle frame with arms that matched a race frame, this way you could have a standard set of arms that were interchangeable for both styles of your quads. If you race and do freestyle on a regular basis you would only have to carry one style of extra arms to make replacements.

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Adam

August 22, 2018

About damn time Mike 🙂
You have covered a lot of the standard freestyle requirements: top mi7nt lipo, short-x motor layout.
I would say weight is an interesting one, classics like the chameleon, qav210 or alien/reverb are about 120-130 grams and generally freestyle frames need some weight as some tricks require momentum.
I would also suggest you get smoother flight if the arms are a little bit longer than convention (like the 5.5 inch on the proton)

I would ask you to do one thing, make the fpv antenna mount different from your race ones, freestyle often includes flying behind stuff you don’t get in racing, fpv signal is frequently worse, the ballon needs to be clear of the quad and the lipo on a top mount, and needs to be orientated with the correct orientation for normal forward flight, otherwise the signal is compromised befor you fly behind that

I would target mini cams like the foxeer predator or runcam sparrow 2 pro, micro cam weight savings as above are less relevant and tpwhen they get wet they tend to grey out, and freestyle is more likely to get wet. (I had 4 quads disabled by this on a rainy freestyle meet)

Good solid landing/skid pads like the ones you did ages ago for the qav210 are excellent

You obviously have competition from the classics above, also the recent crop of cheaper freestyle frames from Armattan (sabotage) and TBS. Catalyst Machine Works just released their freestyle (Smooth Opperator – mine arrives tomorrow) as well as all the rotor riot named pilot frames

Otherwise my favourite acro frames are my dronewolf pup (3 year old carbon, no longer available) and an interesting variant which I mostly fly ATM is THuG frames Sub zero 225HX which is light (90 gram frame) using hawksky 2205 2600kv (24 gram motors) with tmotor 5143, it is different because it is light, and as above, some tricks it lacks momentum, but it is more agile than normal, great for proximity and gaps, but not really mainstream I suppose

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Ali Barrett

August 22, 2018

awesom mike. Look foreward to seeing what you come up with. Always the best looking frames on the market. Especially like the idea of rear mounting cameras. It’s my new favourite angle 😛 I’ll have a think of any design ideas that havent already been brought up.

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Borris Norris

August 23, 2018

I have flown a handful of different freestyle frames, and I agree with the top mount battery. Some of the super compact frames with the bottom mount (cough cough skitzo..) are great in theory but has a twitchy feel that isnt as solid in many freestyle maneuvers. I believe having a cage for the camera with many mounting holes is super key for freestyle!!! It allows the camera to have more beef in the mount eliminating breaking the camera housing, and the additional weight isnt a concern in freestyle, and can actually help carry thequad gracefully through moves!!! i broke ab out half dozen camera casings on frames without a cage and now im in love with them!!
My big input would be on the angle of the carbon fiber “stiching” in regards to how the arms mount to the frame, if removable arms are the way… strongly consider having the cuts be at an angle to the mounting area. I have had issues with arms breaking at the area where they hit the main frame with ones that seem to the carbon pattern perpendicular to the mount if that makes sense. Ive also has issues with narrower arms and what i can torsional weakness, where i can easily twist the arms…. My prefered freestyle frame is a solid unbody frame with thick and wide arms. the simplicity and toughness is second to none. Nobody wants to be out far at a cool fly spot and spend time replacing arms, which crashes are very common flying freestyle. (much more hard objects to hit like concrete asphalt and poles and trees)!! The armatan chamelion be it simple, is bulletproof and solid, two very important factors to consider in freestyle IMO

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Damon Johnson

August 23, 2018

Mike you doing a kickstarter for the Freestyle frame? Seriously let me know when we can make deposits, I’ve been happy with my Tokios and PROtons thus far. Can’t wait to see the freestyle. As for must haves, how about keeping the nucleus plate such that we can remove arms without having to futz around with the stack. Enough room on the arms for traditional ESCs. I know a lot of people are going to 4n1s but it really sucks when an esc on the 4n1 dies and you have to either replace it or try to mount a traditional esc on a barely there arm. How about a low CG deck where you can place say the vtx board mounted to frame behind the flight controller board, thereby removing the requirement to stack one on top of the other or this could make room for those of us who would like to use runcam splits. GoPros are dead now that the session is gone. Integrated zip tie holder for securing the XT60 pigtail. No unibody frames as those things resonate like heck and are PITA to remove noise. Just look at a chameleon forum and you’ll see many issues with that. Whatever you come up with I’m sure it’ll be a quality piece. Can’t wait.

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 23, 2018
  
  thanks Damon, pretty much all those features will be in the frame. it will have some sort of nucleus plate and removable arms. i’m now figuring out the best way to mount the camera.
  
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Osborne David

August 24, 2018

Mike, I was wondering when you were going to release a freestyle frame, so glad you doing it. I have your ProTON and love it. Your designs are always innovative and I am sure you will not disappoint with this one too.

Some of the things that I look for in a freestyle frame are:
a. Frame. Strong frame to take abuse when flying on and around concrete. And when it breaks the broken parts should be easily replaceable without having to take apart the entire quad. Especially the arms. It has to be independent of the FC/ESC stack.
b. Flight. Top mount with Lower CG and true X. It seems to be more balanced and easy to tune.
c. Build and maintenance. Properly spaced for all the components (runcam split??) and easy to build and more importantly easy to open up and do maintenance on the field and on the workbench.
d. Protection. The camera and VTX antenna (for folks who don’t use AXII stubby) needs good protection. The camera housing should hold the camera firmly so that you don’t have to keep adjusting it after every crash. Also some sort of degrees marking on the camera housing, so that you don’t have to constantly keep guessing what your camera angle is.

I am sure you are already considering these and more. Good luck!! Can’t wait to see the final product.

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 24, 2018
  
  a, b and c are pretty much done. working on d and i’ll make a note of the camera angle markings, good idea. thanks Osborne!
  
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Borris Norris

August 25, 2018

Damon; Butter or silicone mounts and a cap do wonders for noise feedback ;). Removable arms are the ideal, as long as they are designed right:). Just make them stout Mike!!! Lightest frame you can design isnt a concern for freestyle, durability and ease of bench work is ;). Im sure you will design the most awsomest frame possible

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  August 25, 2018
  
  yeah this one is going to be a tank! thanks Borris
  
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Joel Warburton

August 29, 2018

Hello Mike! Very exciting – I remember when you announced the first Flight Club designed frame (before you announced Tokio) and asked for requirements… first thing I thought was a top mounted battery! Great you’re doing your first top mount!

OK, so a listing of things I’d like to see in a freestyle frame:
Top Mount Battery
Ability to fit (center) a 1550 4S
removable arms with minimal (or no) impact to the flight stack
slammed chassis to keep the CG down (like 20mm or so – micro cams like the new micro Eagle are so good and all the hardware fits on 1 FC board so no need for deck height)
Integrated Crossfire Immortal T mount – all my new builds are going Crossfire Nano with Immortal T now
Integrated GPS mount to fit a small UBLOX GPS (like a Furious FPV GPS) – new AIOs have so many UARTs its easy to add GPS to a build and fun to get speed, etc
BOTH your butter mounts AND hard mounts – some FCs have soft mount gyros (Kakute F7, etc) and would not do well with a soft mount also. The Helio Spring is the best worst example of this – it can not be mounted softly and must only be mounted lightly on its integrated gummies.

definitely interested to try a build if you make me a beta tester. If not, count me in for a purchase when its available.
thx
Joel

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Arnold Garcia

September 3, 2018

1. Buttermounts 2. Threaded holes 3. Nucleus plate 4. Slightly longer body 5. Light weight 6. Light weight 7. Proton style HD camera mount 8. 2 or 1 screw arm replacement 9. 5” 6” 7” arms truex or squishx configurations. 10. If long body then buttermounts in 2 locations. 11. Mount 2 separate cameras in front and/or back or place for servos to move camera to different angle positions 11. Light weight 12. Less hardware as much as possible 13. Battery placed closer to center line. 14. Durable enough 15. Longer/larger flight club sticky pad 16. Light weight 17. Nucleus plate to accommodate different body sizes (medium length body, long, and xtra long) 18. Light weight 19. Flight club flag mount 20. LED’s

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  September 3, 2018
  
  i’ll add the flightclub flag mount, haha. curious, why do you want a longer body? most of these features are incorporated
  
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  1. Arnold Garcia
    
    September 10, 2018
    
    Would like more room to add components for long range. sometimes the standard long bodies just a tad bit short. I have been also flying 2200mah 6s on the proton and the batt is pretty long. So for top mount I may need more length :). Yes with the flag!!!!
    
    Reply
Albert Villalobos

October 14, 2018

I have seen some reviews with different one bolt arms is slack. A few that I had seen would move. Just some input from what I have seen. Can’t wait to see what the master jedi comes up with. Funny as I just found this and was researching to use for a 6″ trainer for the man cub as most freestyle frames are build like tanks.

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Tor Skurdal

October 21, 2018

Would this possible be a good frame for a endurance bild (long fight times)? Thinking in terms og 7″ arms, light low KV motors with 7″ two-blades (max efficiency)? That would be really cool. In my opinion, the market is allready full of hardcore racers and freestyle frames, but few frames for exploring, filming and long flight times.

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1. Mike Tseng
  
  October 22, 2018
  
  yes, initially I’ll release it with 5″ arms but 6 and 7 inch will follow
  
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