MiniMaestro12 controls LandingGear of a C-123, 1:12 scale

Hi friends of Pololu Robotics & Electronics,
I would like to introduce myself briefly. My name is Lars, I am from Berlin, Germany and I have been building RC model airplanes for over 50 years.

Over the decades, the construction of my model airplanes has remained virtually the same, I love it and build primarily from wood, but the technologies and tools have changed. These days I develop models entirely in 3D with Fusion360, use among many other tools, 3D printers and a Stepcraft 3-axis milling machine to create parts.

Especially with remote control technology a lot has changed. Everything can be programmed and mixed and I love the philosophy of Jeti a manufacturer of remote control systems and other electronic components.

In my new project, a C-123 Provider, in scale 1:12, which I have been working on for 2 years, a Pololu Mini Maestro 12 servo Controller is used for the first time. This device should control the landing gear and Pololu support, who I recently had contact with, thought it would be a good idea to present this project here.

The picture shows the status 3 months ago (a lot has happened in the meantime):

If anyone is interested in the history, there are 3 videos on YouTube of the machine. One video is about the design, another one shows the construction of the nose gear and the complicated gear doors and a longer clip documents the construction.

The first Rollout will be in April this year and it is scheduled to make also its maiden flight this year … but to do that, the retractable gear is supposed to retract and also extend by a switch on the remote control and the Pololu has to choreograph all the flaps and the landing gear itself correctly. I am currently working on this complex task.

If anyone is interested, he can read the build diary on RCScalebuilder.com, where I blog extensively about this machine.

At the moment I’m still gathering first experiences with my Pololu and I still have too many questions. Unfortunately I don’t know any script language either, although I earn my money as a software analyst. But not on code level. However, even if I am completely new in this topic, I am confident that I can learn enough to solve this task … but it will take his time.

Currently I am testing and working with the Pololu online documentation and using Chat GPT to understand sample scripts … actually it is still quite chinese for me.

If I have specific questions, problems that I am stuck on, I will contact for sure this community … and it is more than likely that I will need your help pretty soon :wink:

Until then.

all the best from Berlin,
Lars

3 Likes

Wow! It needed a lot of hard work no doubt. I wish you all the best for its first flight. Pardon my ignorance please, but I am wondering about one thing. Did you not use any BLDC motor here? I never used them. I came to know about BLDC motors here: Brushless DC Motor - The Engineering Projects

I also heard from my friends that BLDC motors are must for aircraft projects. But in your project, I am not sure if you have used any. Am I missing something?

Hi bidrohini,
thank you for your feedback and I’m sure you didn’t miss anything because I don’t think I mentioned it in my post :wink: However, I’m sure the vast majority of questions will answer themselves if you look at the sources I have linked. It would go beyond a reasonable scope if I write all the details here in this thread, my internal documentation of the whole design already covers well over 100 A4 pages and after all this Forum is actually about the Maestro Micro Controller … but yes, to answer your question. This model is of course electrically powered by 2 Hacker brushless motors and 2 6S 5000mAh LiPo batteries.

Thanks a lot. I’d love to see it flying.