Contents
Zero to Quad: Build Your First FPV Drone
From Your First Solder Joint to Your First Dive.
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The fifteen chapters
Start with the foundations, then work through equipment choices, setup and flight practice at your own pace. Chapter 1 explains the alternative route for a prebuilt drone. A second build and filming can wait until you are ready; follow each chapter's prerequisites and practical checks.
Foundations
- 1
What FPV Actually IsFree
The hook: spectacular footage, chaotic listings · What FPV actually feels like · The five-category starter ecosystem · When four of those five categories can be reused · Start a budget, not a shopping cart · The quad category map
- 2
The Physics in Plain English
Lift, thrust, gravity, and torque · Thrust-to-weight ratio · Prop pitch and bite · The four-motor mix · Inertial measurement: gyro and accelerometer · The control loop
- 3
The Radio Link, the Video Link, and the Goggles
The cart you cannot finish · What you will be able to do · Why this gear is shared · What the control link actually does · Why this book uses ELRS · ELRS 4.1 features you should know exist
- 4
Power — LiPos, Chargers, and Not Burning Your House Down
The video that scared you, and the habits that reduce the risk · Why LiPos earn their place — and their risk · Condition first, operating status second · Voltage landmarks: useful numbers, not universal settings · S, P, and why six 4S packs are not a 6S setup · Reading the label
- 5
Sim Before Sky
Your first hover lasts 1.2 seconds · Why sim-before-sky belongs before soldering · The simulator landscape · What to install · First-run setup and beginner settings · Connecting the radio over USB
Build One: Tinywhoop
- 6
Picking Your First Quad — The Whoop Build Sheet
The cart that doesn't add up yet · What you'll get out of this chapter · The BOM is the chapter, not a footnote · Build One, default path: HD digital tinywhoop — price the exact packages · Parallel cart: analog tinywhoop · Frame: exact geometry, mounting and prop clearance
- 7
Building the Whoop
Three bench states to keep separate · Workbench tools — plan the complete setup · Consumables — what gets used up · Safety — the non-skippable callouts · Tool setup — temperature, tips, and tinning · Lead-free versus 60/40 — the tradeoff, briefly
- 8
First Flights — Indoor to Park
The 1.2-second hover and the question that follows · Safety before configuration · Backup before you change anything · Identify the ELRS endpoints before binding or changing firmware · Binding and confirming channel order · The Betaflight tab walkthrough, scoped to first flight
Build Two: 5-inch or sub-250 g
- 9
Picking Build Two — 5-inch Freestyle or Sub-250 g Toothpick
Choosing Your Path · Regulatory Humility — the build-two implication · The Sub-250 g Camera Cliff · Comparing the Build Two BOMs · What Each BOM Column Buys You · Frame Geometry for the 5-inch
- 10
Building the Quad
Build Two on the Bench · Two Paths, One Workflow · Frame Dry-Fit Before Anything Gets Soldered · Soldering the Battery Lead · Battery Lead Routing and Strain Relief · Low-ESR Capacitor
- 11
Betaflight Deep-Dive
A first connection, and a 3D model that doesn't match your quad · Version pinning: record firmware and App separately · Safety pre-flight: choose the right power state · Firmware and target sanity check · Configuration evidence: keep received and changed states separate · Tabs that matter, and the order to touch them
- 12
Tuning — From Stock to Smooth
The first decent flight, and the question that follows · Setting up safely for tuning flights · Betaflight version context · The four tuning levers in plain language · Separate stick feel from tracking · The filter chain, gyro to motor
- 13
Capture and Share — Filming What You Watched
The 1.2-second hover all over again, except now it's the footage · Recording options, not a ranking · What the camera weighs to your build · When the existing recorder is enough · The Naked GoPro and what airflow does for it · Camera settings for a first edit
Beyond the Build
- 14
Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Crash Repair
When the bench looks worse than the crash · The before-every-flight check · The wallet-card · After the crash: the safe order · Won't arm · Yaws on takeoff
- 15
Your First Year as an FPV Pilot
Where you are now · The roadmap · The first 30 days · The next six months · The first year · Community, not directory
What it assumes, and what it leaves out
Assumed knowledge: none of it
- Soldering. Chapter 7 starts at what a soldering iron is.
- Electronics theory, or any RC, FPV or simulator time.
- Motor, ESC or PID vocabulary.
- LiPo handling, radio regulations, or camera and editing familiarity.
Not covered
- ArduPilot and PX4 in depth — optional further-learning topics, not taught.
- Colour-grading instruction — the first-edit lesson uses cuts without grading.
- FAA Part 107 commercial certification — referenced for awareness, not taught.
- Racing strategy and league play, beyond the closing chapter.
- Custom firmware development or PCB design.
- DJI ready-to-fly platforms — Mavic, Mini, and Avata as fixed-configuration aircraft.
- Fixed-wing, helicopters, RC cars, or anything that is not a multirotor.
Reference plans are not current shopping quotes. The book names selected parts and compatible reference routes, with dated prices, unpriced items and stated planning allowances. Confirm the exact variants and complete delivered cost before ordering, then inspect the received parts and weigh the completed aircraft during assembly. These documented choices are not claims of tested builds. Check any substitute against the components it must work with; a matching name is not enough.