Featherlight 3
Lightweight without compromise.
Each kit comes with five arms to keep you in the air.
If you crash like us, you're eventually going to break an arm. We know it can be brutal to be left unable to get back into the air, and that's why we ship 5 arms with every kit.
When it comes time to swap an arm in between heats, the pressnuts in the mid-plate make it easy with only two screws to remove, and the included FC mounting hardware makes it so your stack won't be perturbed in the process.
Vitals
| Wheelbase | 152mm |
| Prop size | 3" |
| Weight | 34g |
| Arm Dimensions | 3mm thick, 9.25mm wide |
| Stack height | 15mm or 20mm |
Buy with the right hardware in mind.
Featherlight is engineered to be as light as possible, and that means choosing specific components.
If you're not buying a bundle, be sure to select your parts accordingly.
Flight Controller
Featherlight supports both 20mm and 30.5mm FCs, but 20mm is preferred for protection. There are 3 ways to mount your flight controller:
- 20mm from the bottom: 12mm screw -> bottom plate -> arm -> x plate -> threaded insert -> 8mm standoff -> FC <- 5mm screw
- 20mm from the top: 5mm screw -> top plate -> 8mm standoff -> FC <- 5mm screw
- 30.5mm structural: 14mm screw -> bottom plate -> arm —> x plate -> 10mm standoff, 16mm -> top plate -> 8mm standoff -> FC -> 10mm standoff
Additionally, 20mm stacks can be built with 2 layers to support FC + 4in1 configurations, though you'll need your own hardware to do so.
ESCs
Small ESCs, such as DYS XSD12, can easily be mounted on the arms with little overhang. We suggest using VHB between the ESC and the arm, then adding heatshrink to secure the ESC to the arms (leaving the motor pads accessible in case you need to swap motors).
Motors
As with batteries, lighter motors rule on this frame. We suggest a motor weight of less than 25g.
Featherlight 3 has 9x9mm spaced M2 mounting holes for motors, so all standard 11XX motors will fit.
Batteries
It's very important to run a light pack with this frame. Though the arms are thicker and wider than heavier competitors, an extra 50g from a heavier pack will result in more arm breakage.
We suggest you stick to 650-800mAh 3S packs for this build, and trust you'll find the efficiency of a light, aerodynamic frame results in more flight time than you'd otherwise expect.
Camera
Featherlight was designed around the RunCam Micro camera, and the Foxeer Micro fits as well.
VTX
Tiny VTXs fair best in Featherlight, VTX03, TX25 and other U.FL-equipped VTXs are preferred. Don't bother with SMA-equipped VTXs, the additional 15g is unnecessary, and circular polarized U.FL antennas are readily available.
