Roc Ultralight 190 / 218

Ultralight Racing Beast!

Roc Ultralight Notes:

For a while now our sponsored pilots have been looking for something new, something faster, something nimbler. There are a multitude of frames with skinny arms out there right now but in our opinion, they are all lacking something. After noodling on this for a while we decided to combine some of the light weight concepts with some of the design philosophy behind the roc_ul. We figured we could achieve higher performance with less power if we could bring down the weight enough. In short, 80% of the power, 60% of the weight.

After the completion of the full time Roc and embracing the philosophy of Side plates instead of top plates we wanted to refine that concept. We also looked at ways to drastically reduce weight. As an initial goal, we were hoping to hit under 200g without battery for the 4” ROC. Little did we know that we would actually be hitting well under that, even with the battery. We made some hard decisions on how to accomplish this and fully embraced miniaturization. The core of this design is the low parts count, the 20mm X 20mm stack, the micro sized camera as well as the reduced sized motors; 14mm motors for the 4” instead of 18mm motors and 18mm motors for the 5” instead of 22mm/23mm motors.

 

Specifications

  • Size:
    190mm (measured diagonally from motor center to motor center) or
    218mm (measured diagonally from motor center to motor center)
  • Frame Geometry:
    Slightly stretched X / H hybrid
  • Max Prop Size:
    4” for the 190, 5” for the 218
  • Material:
    3K Matte Carbon Fiber, Twill Weave
  • Plate Thicknesses:
    2mm
  • Arm Thicknesses:
    4mm
  • Frame Weight:
    37g for the 190, 43g for the 218

Required to Complete

  • Motors:
    14XX for the 190
    18XX for the 218
  • ESCs
    4-in-1 with 20mm X 20mm mounting holes
  • Propeller:
    Maximum 4” for the 190
    Maximum 5” for the 218
  • Flight Controller
    20mm X 20mm mounting holes
  • Battery
  • VTX
  • Camera:
    Micro Size, 19mm width

Recommended Equipment

Please note that Quad Monsters does not endorse any particular equipment vendor, these recommendations are provided merely as a selection of components that we know will work with this frame.

Also, please note that as a design philosophy, the Roc Ultralight will use equipment that is smaller and lighter than what is typically used on larger quads using equivalent prop sizes. The fact that this quad weighs so little and is so aerodynamic creates a much lesser load on these components. However, ensure after flying that the components are not coming down too hot. If anything is running over temperature you can use less aggressive props and/or lighter batteries.

Finally, the body of the Roc 190 and 218 are identical, they only change in the arm design. For that reason, any of the internals (stack, VTX, camera) will be the same for both models.

Roc Ultralight 190
  • Motor:
    The ROC ultralight 190 is drilled to run 14mm motors. We have run DYS and Xnova motors on our quads with great success. Here are a couple of motors that we know will work.
    Xnova 1407 - 3500KV
    DYS SE1407 - 3500KV
    Brotherhobby Tornado 1407 - 3600KV
  • Flight Controller:
    We have been running exclusively 20mm X 20mm FC / ESC combos in this model. There are several out there but these are the ones we have used and know work.
    Receflight Millivolt
    Omnibus F4 (as part of the HGLRC XJB F428 stack)
  • ESCs:
    On the Roc 190 we have been running ESCs with 15A and higher capacity. We have not had any issues with heat as we are rarely running any high throttle values.
    Receflight Spark
    BS28A 4IN1 (as part of the HGLRC XJB F428 stack)
  • Propeller:
    The Roc 190 will fit up to a 4" prop; we started running two bladed props to keep the loads on the equipment down but have now switched to 3 blade props. So far, we have stuck to narrow profile props, no wide blades or bullnose designs. The temperature of your equipment derived from your flying style will tell you whether you can prop up or not. Although we have tried may props this is the one that is currently on our quads:
    HQ Prop 4 X 4.3 X 3 V1S
  • VTX:
    On our first build we went with the Blade Torrent VTX because it is small and user friendly. We have successfully run other video transmitters lately as well.
    Blade Torrent 150mW VTX
    XJB - TX20 (as part of the HGLRC XJB F428 stack)
  • Camera:
    Simple, either the Runcam Micro or the Foxeer Micro camera.
    RunCam Micro
    Foxeer Micro
  • Battery:
    Wow, where to go with this one, we have flown everything from 450 3S all the way up to 1300 4S, you will have to test a few and see what matches your requirements.
Roc Ultralight 218
  • Motor:
    The ROC ultralight 218 is drilled to run newer generation 18mm motors (m3 bolts on a 12mm diameter bolt pattern). So far, we have been running exclusively Brotherhobby Returner 1806 R4 motors in both the 2600KV and 2850KV variant. If you want to run different motors just check the mounting patter. Please note that the frame will not fit any motors with 16mm or 19mm diameter mounting hole pattern.
    Brotherhobby Returner 1806 - 2600KV R4
    Brotherhobby Returner 1806 - 2850KV R4
  • Flight Controller:
    We have been running exclusively 20mm X 20mm FC / ESC combos in this model. There are several out there but these are the ones we have used and know work.
    Omnibus F4 (as part of the HGLRC XJB F428 stack)
  • ESCs:
    On the Roc 218 we have been running ESCs with 20A and higher capacity. We have not had any issues with heat as we are rarely running any high throttle values.
    BS28A 4IN1 (as part of the HGLRC XJB F428 stack)
  • Propeller:
    The Roc 218 will fit up to a 5" prop; we started running two bladed props to keep the loads on the equipment down but have now switched to 3 blade props. So far, we have stuck to narrow profile props, no wide blades or bullnose designs. The temperature of your equipment derived from your flying style will tell you whether you can prop up or not. Although we have tried may props this is the one that is currently on our quads:
    Dal 5040 Triprops
  • VTX:
    The 28A ESC on the HGLRC stack was what made this model possible so we have not seen any reason to try any different VTXs. However, this is an area where pretty much anything will work.
    XJB - TX20 (as part of the HGLRC XJB F428 stack)
  • Camera:
    Simple, either the Runcam Micro or the Foxeer Micro camera.
    RunCam Micro
    Foxeer Micro
  • Battery:
    Same as above, we have flown everything from 650 3S all the way up to 1500 4S, you will have to test a few and see what matches your requirements.

Gallery