SoundMan,
Of course, you will get better payload with the 500 mostly because it can handle 10" or even 11" props so can have bigger motor on it.
The limitation is the hole size of the top arm plate which is 30mm.
You will need to lighten your paintball supply to be able to lift it, maybe hack a plastic pistol as it will be lighter and use a small disposable Co2 tank ?
SoundMan,
I love the “Dream”. I played Tourneys for a while and got up to Semi-Pro in the NPPL. Here are my thoughts. If you are considering what we played with, .68 cal, I think it will be a fruitless endeavor (Too much weight, low round count).
However, I think it can be done with Airsoft. My thoughts are a stripped down semi auto electric pistol with 6mm paintballs. I think with a small pistol, you can get a decent round count (10 plus), lite weight, and maybe even tie it into the Lipo (Got to check voltage). Depending on weight, maybe 2 setups. The only hard part would be figuring mounting, and servo set up to fire. Example ( amazon.com/Electric-James-FPS-150-Pistol-Airsoft/dp/B008BM098C/ref=sr_1_34?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1409847365&sr=1-34&keywords=electric+airsoft+pistol)
Hunter VTail Gun Ship (Literally) = BA
thanks for all the tips. I’m gonna go with the 500. I have the mini currently for practice.
Came across this little nifty board.
some of the video really got me wanting it even more.
paintballsentry.com/StarterKit.htm
youtu.be/tfEpdVqOLXs
I am a noob trying to do my research before buying. I have a mini (LaTrax Alias) and want something bigger, in comes the V-tail 500, looks awesome and I’m thinking I’ll buy the $475 T-Motor package.
My goals:
My delima: I don’t know which Flight Controller to buy. (Suggestions?)
I’m a construction worker, I figure I’ll be able to put it all together but the programming / software side has me spooked. The reason I’m thinking of the $475 package is cause the flight controller your bundle offers won’t meet my goals. Naza won’t work, I looked at this on HobbyKing and emailed their support asking if it supported a vtail which they said it did but he also told me that their was various software you could run on it such as (Multiwii or MegaPirateNG) so now my head is swimming… I start to read the megaPNG forum link he supplied and didn’t see anything about a vtail configuration… so what am I seeking… Is their a flight controller out there that meets my goals above and is somewhat noob friendly and supports the vtail?
Love all the vids, I did zero work today and read this entire forum so my coworkers probably aren’t as appreciative.
Jay
btw, T-Motors or the other - that big a deal? I saw a previous post where Eric said the T-Motors were more effiecient I’m more like Tim Thomas from Hometime, More power grunt grunt, so naturally I pick the more expensive cause they must be more powerful right? lol
more thoughts to add, I’m an old guy, so one of my friend’s kids is big into quads (he’s my go-to sorce of knowledge atm, lol) but he keeps pushing open pilot revo and atom, revo would work but the gps isn’t available yet, plus who knows if that supports vtail? Anyone use this? Would recommend it?
lights - I love the lights I’ve seen on these posts, one guy had what looked like a spotlight on the nose and then red stripes on either side, then another guy had what looked like actual port and starboard lights green and red… where do you guys get these from? Are they from anywhere and you just make sure you have the appropriate connector to swap out? After adding lights, and servos, and flight controllers and vtx and etc… how do you know which battery is best? Once again I was going to do the bundle along with the suggested battery but as far as if that’s enough pwr for everything I dunno… lol… I also assume it ALL taps into the lone battery onboard.
component layout? is it “slap it where ever it fits” or is there a suggested component placement? Bad idea to drill into the frame? Use a tap tool so that I can screw stuff down? With all the pictures I’ve seen of Velcro, zipties, and double sided tape I’ll assume drilling into the frame is a bad idea… just wanted to hear it from someone more knowledgable about the subject then me.
Hi James,
Ok let’s start from the beginning, as this is quite a long list of questions… 
Usually Aerobatics and FPV don’t go really well together as you need to carry more weight when you’re doing FPV.
What i suggest when people ask is to get a 400mm for sport flying as it is overall stronger. Mostly because the tail twist more on the 500 since it’s longer and wider.
This said, the 400 can carry less weight and/or less flight time for the same equipment.
At the moment, i have not tried full stabilization and GPS on a VTail platform. I know that PixHawk is now said to be supporting VTail configuration and some basic test on NAZA proven that it can at least fly.
If it’s reliable and efficient, i cannot tell at the moment.
Retracts will add weight, which is to avoid if you plan on carrying FPV stuff that are already heavy.
There are MultiWii boards out there with GPS and full set of sensors, but we do not have them in our store. Nothing avoid you to get a package without Flight Controller or even get it with since the one we have is so cheap in price.
This is tuned right will get you AutoLevel feature but not more.
We can help with the software but it will require some tuning most of the time. It’s not like a NAZA flight controller that you barely have to setup anything.
The FC you are pointing is a MultiWii compatible board, so yes it will work.
T-Motor has the advantage of listing all the specification and actual run test with props/consumption and trust rating.
Other motor in the Basic combo are very good, they are to me as good but don’t have the spec sheet to prove it.
You can fly a VTail with a “Y4” configuration and i think OpenPilot does support that. I have not tried myself.
There are many 12V LED strip and light available. They can be connected to the 3S LiPo directly.
robotshop.com/en/catalogsear … t&dir=desc
(btw: you can put the 3800mAh on the 400, it will give you slightly more flight time but with more wight)
You can drill in not critical area but double side tape and zip tie are good choices.
Let me know if i missed some of your concerns…
Thanks so much for the reply, very informative and helpful. Now all I have to do is make up my mind, lol. I’m looking at this now. I emailed that guy Tim that posted the 500 build on youtube and he said this was the flight controller he used. He also said that it comes preloaded so that’s appealing. I still wonder how much tweeking and adjusting I’ll have to do though. Like you mentioned above, I too started thinking I should just get the full bundle that includes your FC since like you said, it is there specifically for that frame. Then down the road trying to incorporate this FC once I’ve learned and read a little more. I was wondering, I know software has to be updated and esc’s have to be flashed, each time this needs to happen, does the setup process and tweeking have to be done over again? All in all I’m feeling a little better about dropping the cash, but like I said, still can’t make up my mind on which to get. You mentioned the T-Motors had the data sheets or something, do they show thrust? Is there a way for me to calculate the amount of weight that 500 could carry? After motors and all other needed components were installed?
As always, thanks for your help,
James
Hey Eric, did you ever hear back from the guy if this file you posted worked or not?
anything ever come of this?
looks cool to me, makes it land kinda bug like… maybe… looks fragile tho. just sayin, I’d still buy it to get some added height.
my 2 cents
It is not that fragile… G10 can flex a lot in that configuration.
Here is a test i did in the past
I think i need to make some Prototypes and test on the VTail…
Eric
I like the look of that landing gear, I miss my mini Hunter Vtail it flew away and someone didn’t have a beeper or battery alarm on it, so it got lost in the middle of some bean field out at Flite Fest 2014 - it’s out there somewhere in Ohio 
Next up I am going to get the Vtail 500 back together and running. I got some new SunnySky 980Kv motors I want to try on it. I also have a CC3D board and Naze32 acro board I wanna try out, I really really like the Naze32 acro board - I have it running on Thrust-UAV’s HyperLite 275. As to the FPV and Acro - definately do it check out my FPV flight today, I even did a combo pitch/roll flip - which from FPV point of view is crazy!!!
youtube.com/watch?v=u5UfuBXZ-Ng
Check out the Lynxmotion strap used to hold down the Mobius. Anyway I got 500 bits and parts to put together, enjoy. I wanna try the new landing gear setup when it’s ready to buy. I did buy a whole bunch of landing legs because I will break them
indiegogo.com/projects/trac … erk-select
Has anyone tried this or something like it? I was thinking of dropping the $49 to get 2…
The height for the VTail 500 shows 60.23mm, how much would those legs increase the height?
Also, some time ago you mentioned a front plate for FPV, anything more on that? There was a picture you had attached but I can’t find it now.
As always, great work and thanks,
James
The change in hight will depend on the end length of the plate.
I have to cut and try the first. I think of making two different height adjustable maybe on the same ?
I can get a fixed plate fast, what would it need to accommodate ?
I just recently got a Mobius Action cam, which I may or may not use. If I do use it, I had wanted to put it on the bottom, but that’s where the battery will be. Then I was thinking about putting it on the top deck… but my buddy says there are better, smaller cameras suited for FPV so once again I am undecided. This is why I was asking about height and the front plate, cause those would influence what I ultimately pick to use. Either way, I would buy the legs… and if you had some kind of plate for a Mobius, I’d probably buy that too, lol.
There are benefit for weight balance to put the camera up front.
It help get better CG on those particular platforms.
A Mobius is long and thin, better mounted on top of the frame than up front but it can be done as well. (not sure how it will look… lol)
I could do a FPV top plate with slots and hook so people can mount things up front too…
Ya a Mobius cam sticking off the front might look somewhat spear like, lol.
The top plate probably would be best, at least for the Mobius, only reason I wasn’t going there is cause I am going to do GPS so it’ll wind up looking like the one from Tim’s off of YouTube.
Then I started thinking the flight controller board probably sits back a little from the nose so maybe I can recess the Mobius into the nose some…
Ultimately this is why I also am exploring camera options…
Or I could mount the cam to the underside of the top plate depending on space between FC and top deck, plus the one Tim did has the top deck and then the GPS is an inch or so above that so the Mobius might still be able to mount on a top plate. Plus I may do something like the Mobius and a super low lux combo. Once again jus exploring my options.
Can you post overall size of the mobius ? So i can take a look ?
