Description
- Have you ever wished you had an extra sidekick quad to help you recover your main machine from a tree?
- Or perhaps one you could quickly deploy to recon a new spot without the hassle of walking around the place?
- Or maybe just an ultra-compact video rig to give your loved one an excuse to rip a few packs under the pretense of documenting your vacation?
Well, the Wingman is all of that, and much more!
The idea for this frame stemmed from Dave C’s nano long-range, concept
I was immediately hooked on the idea of being able to pop a single, general-purpose 18650 li-ion cell on a quad and cruise around longer than with any of my freestyle rigs
Back then the only frame option was the original 3D printed one
I knew I could greatly improve upon the concept by utilizing carbon fiber, but I also knew that by the time I would be ready to release, I wouldn’t be the only one with a CF arms nano LR
So I decided to up it a notch; I’ve had this idea of folding arms in my head for a while, and the lightweight, light load use case of that format would be the best proving ground for it
Block II – 3.5″ Upgrade note:
Initially launched in April 2022 for 3″ prop size, the Wingman platform has gone through many small revisions to follow along the hardware evolution in the hobby.
For 2025 however it is receiving a major upgrade, with the expansion to 3.5″ propellers thanks to extended arms.
I’ve found this small change to help improve general performance by lighten up the prop load, especially with increasingly heavy builds, when running HD digital VTX, GPS or action cams.
This update also comes with a few quality of life changes, such as the pressed pins now replaced by stronger screws in the arm locks, slightly extended cam plates to fit larger cameras, all of it within the same weight as before, and even a tighter folding package!
In addition to this, I’ve made the 3.5″ arms entirely compatible with the OG 3″ wingman, which you can get alone as a drop-in replacement 🙂
Lastly, I’m replacing the included TPU peanut cam mount by a nano GPS mount, much more useful with its new capabilities.
Going along with the many custom pieces of gear specifically developed, at least in part for this platform (the Fractal Scout motors, Boostybaby voltage booster and TBS Lucid AIO), I would safely say the Wingman platform has now reached peak potential and now is the best moment to get onboard!
So what is the result of these 4+ years of development, and countless hours of testing?
The first-ever foldable and soft mounted arms in FPV
The major unique feature of this frame kit is undoubtedly the folding arms
And the way it manages to achieve this feature in such an integrated manner is where the whole secret sauce resides
This 3.5″ 1S format offers the possibility to push incredibly intricate ideas down to an incredibly simple execution thanks to the low prop load
In this case, I’ve chosen to make the top and bottom plates clamped to the standoffs,
While using the same standoffs as pivots for the arms, themselves sandwiched between 2 TPU shims and a nylon spacer to press them down in position
Those TPU shims also serve 2 purposes at the same time; they primarily provide friction for the quick deployment of the arms, while also dampening the whole arms
This helps reduce the amount of vibrations transmitted to the FPV and HD camera (more on that in a bit) and the FC gyro, enabling smooth footage and easy tuning
Ultra-lightweight, durable and compact design
The spaceframe carbon fiber body was meticulously designed to only keep material where absolutely necessary
This includes protecting all the electronics and maintaining a rigid platform,
While pocketing everything else for lightweight and airflow
Making it only 22g frame only, or as little as 60g ready to fly excl. battery
Quick-release arm mechanism
For being designed around ease of use and quick deployment, I went for a friction fit with a light detent to hold the arms open
Simply pull the arms out until the detent clicks, and fold them back in when you’re done
That means no manual latch, no thumbscrew, no positive lock
This also means that in the event of a crash the arms might fold and you would need to go get it…
…But you’re also more likely to be able to take off again without any damage, as I’ve found during testing that the folding appears to absorb a lot of energy that might have snapped something otherwise
In any event, let that be clear that this remains a stable and soft cruiser above all; you won’t have much fun going bando bashing with it I can almost guarantee it 😄
Extremely efficient and long flight time – Over 20mins – 13km total distance
Plenty of time to push the boundaries of what you thought was even possible with a single cell and do a little mischief 😈
Works best with high performance 18650 such as Molicel P28A or P30B
Now comes with a 12mm GPS mount standard to encourage taking more risks 😎
HD Cam capable
The optional (and self printable) camera mount isn’t just for shows, it can definitely carry it 😄
Well maybe not your full-size gopro, but if you have a caddx peanut, insta360 go, or a thumb you’ll get a lot of fun from it
I bring mine on short trips, takes no space in the bag, is quickly deployed, just a great little compact video rig
HDZero, Walksnail and DJI O4 Capable!
The first batch of ~100 Wingmans was designed before lightweight HD FPV options became available
With the later batches I’ve implemented many small revisions, from cooling improvement to weight savings passing by M1.4 cam mounts for the Nano Lite camera and improved general tolerances
This makes it a fantastic frame for HD FPV cruising, exploring and rediscovering the world with this new improved resolution
As such I’ve also created a 12mm stack height option giving more room to comfortably build a double stacked boards build
— not mandatory however for advanced builders
To sum it up
just a great tool to always have with you, just so many uses for it
- Toss it in your bag when you’re going on vacation for drone videos (also a great excuse for your wife to bring a quad)
- Use it to recon new spots to rip without going out of the car (walking? like with your legs?)
- Search and rescue! Take advantage of the long flight time to look for a lost quad (I hope you find it brother/sister)
- Attach a string to the back, fly around that branch you got your main quad stuck on, bring it back and give it a good tug (watch your head)
- Or even get that whoop you got stuck on that roof (I know you could just climb up the gutter but come on it’s 2022)
- Guerilla dive! pull it out of pocket, deploy it in a second, rip that huge building tower (you know which one), fold it back in your pocket and bail
- Or simply just cruise around for a relaxing chill flight, perhaps to wind down after a hard charger sesh (if you got the patience for it)
- … or whatever else you want it to be!
I’ve built this frame not to be an alarmingly fast zippy freestyle rocket, or a purpose-built cinema rig to carry your gopro
I’ve built it to be always there when all your other quads are down,
Always there to have your back when you need it
Hence why I’ve named it so.
I’ve built it to be your Wingman.
I hope I got you as excited as I am about this new creation and I hope you get all the fun and use from it as I’ve been having!
Get yours today, tell me about it!
Contents
- 1 x Top plate
- 1x Bottom plate
- 2x Front plates
- 4x Arms
- 1x 18650 Tray (needs trimming, see manual)
- 4x M2 x 10mm alu standoffs
- 4x M4 x 6mm nylon spacer
- 10x M2 x 5mm steel screw (for the standoffs)
- 4x M1.7 x 5mm steel self-threading screw (for the 18650 Tray)
- 5x M1.4 x 4mm steel screws (for arm locks)
- 1x 12mm nano gps holder
- 2x Purple TPU shim set
- 1x Black TPU trim shim set (for adjusting friction if needed)
- 4x M2 x 10mm steel screw (for the stack)
- 10x M2 nylon nuts (for the stack)
- 10x M2 x 4mm socket screws (for the motors)
Build recommendation
Motors: 1202.5 11500kv or equivalent, 80mm long wires. See the custom HM Scout I’ve developed here
Props: 3.5″: HQ T3.5×2.2 or 3″: Gemfan 3018-2
AIO: TBS Lucid AIO 1-2S for zero compromise on Crossfire, or anything equivalent
Camera: Any 14mm micro cam.
VTX:
- Analog: I recommend using a discrete VTX such as the TBS Unify Pro32 nano, with it’s own voltage booster such as the Boostybaby for best reliability throughout the battery
- HDZero/Walksnail/DJI O4 lite: Use the optional HD Grommets for a compact stack, voltage booster module is strongly recommended as most VTX brownouts below 2.8V, which happens rather quickly on a 18650
Also make sure to get 60-80mm mipi cable
Notes:
1-Only the frame kit is included. Full build pictures for reference only.
2-Due to continually ongoing development, the actual product you receive may differ from the pictures/description.
Sean “BogwitcH” Shitstorm –
Just finished my Wingman build. This kit rulez! This was my very first scratch build and also my get good at soldering build. I watched Yves hdzero build video at least ten times just to watch him solder. I hope i can get that good!
Maiden flight was today, 15:35 starting on a 4.01v charge molicel p28a with bt2.0 pigtail. At the end of the flight as it dropped from the air at a recorded low voltage of 3.06v!
I’m so pumped on this little friend and have many awesome adventures planned for it!
Thanks Fractal Engineering!!!
Brandon Scott (verified owner) –
This will be a life long friendship with my Wingman! I can take it anywhere and cruise for days!
DaPeachFPV –
The analog build is easy as pie, a bit of a heavy flyer when bearing a Caddx Peanut but okay for a cinematic line. Without the Peanut load (so 58g dry) the promise is met: 18 minutes of flight time (down to 3.0v).
To come arround this short coming (difficult flight with the peanut) I decided to make a WS build. I wanted a true nano-longrange so I added a GPS and an autonomous buzzer. It brought the build to 70g dry, 117g with a 18650, so 12g more than the analog version but with built-in HD recording (no frame and no props in view), GPS and buzzer 😎
With the help of the Boostyboi to power the VTx I was able to fly 13 minutes when landing at a conservative 3.0v and 18 minutes (yes, eighteen minutes!) when landing (well, droping from the sky) at 2.3v!
Did I mention that it folds and you can bring it everywhere you go? I love it, thanks Yves for this amazing design 🤩
Dennis Navle (verified owner) –
Yves was hugely helpful in answering many of my concerns and questions. I finally took the plunge and bought the wingman frame. I had a Crux3 ELRS that I wasn’t flying anymore so I salvaged all the parts from that, extended the motor and camera wires, soldered everything into place (with some helpful guidance from his 3 hour long youtube video build), and just took it for it’s maiden flight today!
This is exactly what is promised, a compact, lightweight, folding, single cell quad. With my ultralight setup (think: ceramic antenna and dipole VTX atenna) and gentle flying, I got ALMOST 24 minutes of flight time. Thats INSANE. It was actually TOO much for the limited range of my crappy video signal. But with that kind of flight time, it would be easy to add weight and increase it’s range capabilities and still get 15 min in the air.
The only thing I would add is that it will often take more throttle input that your’e probably used to – I smacked the ground a couple of times trying to fly like my normal LiPo quads. With practice I figured out how to better control it. I certainly wouldn’t want to try to fight the wind on a long flight on the wrong day. This isn’t a criticism of the product, more like a resetting of expectations for a 1s Li ion quad. I’ve got other quads for flippy floppies, this is unique, simple, and would be a great way to pack something small on a vacation. My fatshark and radio all use 18650 batteries. What an easy travel setup!
This thing is everything I was hoping it was going to be! Thank you Yves!
Steve (verified owner) –
Once you have it in your hands you can tell how much thought, time, effort and love has gone into this design. Every aspect is well thought out both aesthetically and mechanically. The way the arms lock into place, the shape of the arms when folded in, carbon just where it’s needed and the unique look of the finished build, all contribute to a well done product.
Congratulations Mr Fractal, it’s brilliant!
Aaron (verified owner) –
Ordered this kit but only ordered one motor. before it shipped Yves thankfully reached out and double checked to see if that was right. A quick correction and everything was on its way. Took 2 weeks to arrive in Canada, not bad.
When it got here I followed the we code on it to build it. This lead to a exploded diagram of how to assemble the body. This didn’t include any of the electronics though. I needed to modify the frame and do some guessing work to get it together but after a few hours it was all assembled and looking great.
The tune provided in the download links turned out to be quicksilver. This is a really nice tune but I had to do a fair amount of work to get the motor directions right. Largest issue was the tune had the motors out of order and because the usb plug is under the battery it took a janky setup to get power to the board and still being plugged into usb. After getting everything setup correctly and the directions corrected the drone flys great. Using vt6 3000mah batteries I get around 16min of aggressive flying.
Note, the kit doesn’t have the correct bolts for the props. They have been fine just friction fit but I will be putting in 2 bolts asap just incase.
Clay C (verified owner) –
an awesome frame, build wasn’t too hard. did have some trouble with the 18650 battery tray but besides that it’s not terribly difficult. flies okay enough, does feel like its sliding on ice with how heavy it is and with the bi-blade props. might try some tri blade 2.5″ and see how it turns out. 5 stars, great frame. only 1 gram heavier than the Rekon 3/nanolongrange frame.
Michael (verified owner) –
Looking forward to this build. Still debating on what FC I want to go with.