Making your tiny whoop lighter can enhance flight efficiency and effectivity. Trendy BNF tiny whoops weigh as little as 17g, so even saving half a gram makes a noticeable distinction in dealing with and flight time. On this construct, we mix components from a number of the lightest BNF tiny whoops in the marketplace to create what may very well be the lightest tiny whoop attainable. If you wish to replicate this construct, you don’t want to purchase the total BNF fashions simply to salvage components—you should buy the elements individually. I’ll embody affiliate hyperlinks all through this submit.
Try my tiny whoop suggestions and equipment: https://oscarliang.com/best-tiny-whoop/
The Lightest BNF Whoops
The lightest off-the-shelf tiny whoops are the BetaFPV Air65 II Champion and the NewBeeDrone RaceSpec V2.
Should you’re deciding between them, try my full opinions:
Now let’s dismember them and weigh every part to seek out the lightest mixture.
AIO Flight Controller
Select an AIO FC—the extra elements built-in right into a single board, the lighter the setup. A 5in1 AIO board usually contains FC, ESC, RX, OSD, and VTX.
Each boards embody a 36mm lengthy BT2.0 battery lead, and 4 rubber gummies when weighing.
The Matrix is the clear winner by way of weight.
Each boards have related specs (ICM42688P gyro, 2 free UARTs), however:
- RaceSpec has 18A ESC vs Matrix’s 12A (though it’s actually doesn’t matter both case for whoops, even 12A is overkill)
- Matrix has 16MB blackbox reminiscence
- Matrix has bigger, easier-to-solder motor pads
- Matrix USB adapter is simpler to make use of
Body
These 3 frames dominate the tiny whoop market in the mean time:
The conventional Air65 II body is likely to be the heaviest, however for observe and novices it’s the perfect alternative as a result of it’s extra crash resistant thank to the additional strut helps within the ducts.
For racers and hardcore freestyle pilots, the Air65 II champion body is the proper possibility:
- Lightest
- Stiffer than the LiteAF
- Comparable sturdiness to the LiteAF
- Higher battery holder than LiteAF – it holds the battery securely not like the LiteAF, battery is unfastened and shifts in crashes
Digital camera
Each cameras connects to the FC board by way of a connector, so no soldering is required. And conveniently each cameras use the identical connector, which suggests they’re interchangeable and appropriate with the AIO FC we’re going to use.
Whereas each cameras are completely flyable, the BeeEye V2 is lighter and has a wider FOV, so it’s the higher alternative right here, regardless that the C03 has barely higher picture high quality (coloration and readability) IMO.
Cover
The cover of alternative can rely on which digital camera you utilize, as they’re normally designed round a selected digital camera. Luckily, the BeeEye V2 digital camera works completely high quality with each canopies.
The BetaFPV cover wins:
- Lighter
- Injection molded (extra streamlined and stronger than TPU 3D prints)
Cover Screws
| BetaFPV | NBD |
 |
 |
| 0.30g | 0.26g |
These screws ought to be included with the cover.
Motors
When weighing, each BetaFPV and RCINPower have 26mm wires, whereas NBD has 23mm wires.
The NBD 0702 motors use extraordinarily gentle weight enamel wires as an alternative of silicone wires. Some may fear about soldering these tiny wires, really it’s not a lot more durable than regular silicone wires.
Study soldering on this information: https://oscarliang.com/soldering-guide/
Motor Screws
These screws include both the motors or the body.
| BetaFPV | NBD |
 |
 |
| 0.34g | 0.43g |
BetaFPV Peek plastic screws are additionally fairly gentle weight (probably gives a weight saving as much as 0.2g), you possibly can decide them up right here: https://oscarliang.com/product-ctaq
Nonetheless peek screws aren’t very safe – I used them on my different gentle weight construct, they usually stored falling out in crashes. Steel screws with thread lock stay a extra dependable possibility.
Propellers
The lightest prop possibility is definitely the HQ Ultralight 2-blade (0.51g), get them right here:
Nonetheless I just like the Gemfan triblade much more – extra grippy and extra energy, 0.07g weight distinction is sort of minimal anyway.
VTX Antenna
Each whoops use a monopole antenna. The BetaFPV one has a small heatshrink on it for further sturdiness, therefore a tiny bit heavier. So I’m utilizing the NBD antenna right here, however you possibly can simply take away that heatshrink on the BetaFPV one to cut back weight.
| BetaFPV | NBD |
 |
 |
| 0.20g | 0.16g |
BetaFPV and NBD don’t appear to promote these antennas, I suppose it’s as a result of they’re simply too low worth. Solely AliExpress has them.
You too can make it your self simply from small coaxial wires with UFL connector (IPEX1), reduce it to an acceptable size, and strip again the shielding jacket by about 12-13mm to show the interior wire with out damaging it: https://oscarliang.com/make-simple-whip-antenna-5-8ghz-linear-polo/
Get some coaxial wires right here:
Battery
Meeting
So these are the components I’m utilizing:
- FC: Matrix 1S G4 5in1 II
- Body: Air65 Champion
- Digital camera: NBD BeeEye V2
- Cover: BetaFPV Air II
- Cover screws: NBD
- Motors: NBD 0702 30,000KV
- Motor screws: BetaFPV
- Props: Gemfan 1207 3-Blade
- VTX Antenna: NBD
Should you ever want soldering serving to hand it is a good one: https://s.click on.aliexpress.com/e/_c31Va9Pf
Last weight: 15.41g.
It’s 0.1g heavier than anticipated, in all probability as a result of tiny drop of solder used on the motor wires.
With battery, it weighs solely 22.19g. I keep in mind again within the days, tiny whoop weighs this a lot with out battery 🙂 they’ve have come a great distance.
Conclusion
Constructing the lightest tiny whoop isn’t a few single part—it’s about optimizing each half. Small financial savings add up rapidly, and even fractions of a gram can noticeably enhance flight efficiency. Should you’re chasing most weight saving, this sort of optimization is completely value attempting. Simply needless to say lighter builds can sacrifice sturdiness, so select your elements primarily based in your flying fashion.