Making your tiny whoop lighter can enhance flight efficiency and effectivity. Fashionable 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 elements from a few of the lightest BNF tiny whoops available on the market to create what could possibly be the lightest tiny whoop potential. If you wish to replicate this construct, you don’t want to purchase the complete BNF fashions simply to salvage elements—you should purchase the parts individually. I’ll embrace affiliate hyperlinks all through this publish.
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.
If you happen to’re deciding between them, take a look at my full opinions:
Now let’s dismember them and weigh every element to seek out the lightest mixture.
AIO Flight Controller
Select an AIO FC—the extra parts built-in right into a single board, the lighter the setup. A 5in1 AIO board sometimes contains FC, ESC, RX, OSD, and VTX.
Each boards embrace a 36mm lengthy BT2.0 battery lead, and 4 rubber gummies when weighing.
The Matrix is the clear winner when it comes to 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 traditional Air65 II body could be the heaviest, however for apply and rookies it’s the perfect selection 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 right possibility:
- Lightest
- Stiffer than the LiteAF
- Related sturdiness to the LiteAF
- Higher battery holder than LiteAF – it holds the battery securely in contrast to the LiteAF, battery is unfastened and shifts in crashes
Digicam
Each cameras connects to the FC board through 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 selection right here, regardless that the C03 has barely higher picture high quality (shade and readability) IMO.
Cover
The cover of selection can rely upon which digicam you utilize, as they’re normally designed round a selected digicam. Luckily, the BeeEye V2 digicam works completely fantastic 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 needs 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 would possibly fear about soldering these tiny wires, truly 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 (doubtlessly gives a weight saving as much as 0.2g), you possibly can choose them up right here: https://oscarliang.com/product-ctaq
Nevertheless peek screws aren’t very safe – I used them on my different gentle weight construct, they usually saved 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:
Nevertheless 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 assume it’s as a result of they’re simply too low worth. Solely AliExpress has them.
You may as well make it your self simply from small coaxial wires with UFL connector (IPEX1), minimize it to an appropriate size, and strip again the shielding jacket by about 12-13mm to reveal the internal 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 elements I’m utilizing:
- FC: Matrix 1S G4 5in1 II
- Body: Air65 Champion
- Digicam: 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
If you happen to ever want soldering serving to hand this can be a good one: https://s.click on.aliexpress.com/e/_c31Va9Pf
Remaining weight: 15.41g.
It’s 0.1g heavier than anticipated, most likely because of the tiny drop of solder used on the motor wires.
With battery, it weighs solely 22.19g. I bear in mind again within the days, tiny whoop weighs this a lot with out battery 🙂 they’ve have come a good distance.
Conclusion
Constructing the lightest tiny whoop isn’t a couple of single element—it’s about optimizing each half. Small financial savings add up shortly, and even fractions of a gram can noticeably enhance flight efficiency. If you happen to’re chasing most weight saving, this type of optimization is completely price attempting. Simply remember that lighter builds can sacrifice sturdiness, so select your parts primarily based in your flying type.
