Hey Cougar. Welcome to the crazyness.
Have you perused the Guide section here? There’s a bit of a tools and materials list. Your exact needs are going to depend on how you wire everything. Are you going with the preload switch? Are you going with a single switch or two? How will you mount the batteries? How will you route wires? How will you mount the voltage regulator for the hub? … There are a lot of little decisions. Take your time, this thing doesn’t go together in a weekend (may they do for Zack and Paul). You will have time to shop for stuff.
Things I didn’t have:
- Locktite
- Crimp connectors 18ga as well as 12ga and 8
- Yeah a BIG soldering iron. I did a lot of stuff with a propane torch but that tends to be dirty. Esp for the XT150 Connectors on the main power leads a big soldering iron really works best.
- Heat shrink tubing.
- Plastic wire ties (aka zapstraps)
- 3/4" velcro wire tie for the battery mounting
I used 3/16" high pressure fuel tubing as a sort of grommet around the hole where the main battery connections come through the back plate. I also put some pieces along the bottom of the ‘feet’ just to protect the floor in the house from scratches. They fell off and I don’t worry about them in the garage or at the field or in the car.
More serious lessons:
Keep all wires tied securely away from any carbon fibre or aluminium edges. They’re all hard enough to wear through wire insulation if ignored long enough.
Do not accept anything but excellence in your workmanship. Anything not right could be a very bad day at some point. This is particularly true of your solder connections. I got lucky and that XT150 popped off when I tugged on it to unplug and it didn’t just get loose enough to vibrate free in the air.
I’ve nicked a prop tip folding it up. Not sure how as I’m pretty careful. Either be more pretty careful than me or perhaps fashion some prop tip covers. The tiny chip is not a problem either for prop balance or thrust but I wish I hadn’t done it.