Pre-built drones aren’t your thing? Here are 25 DIY kits and projects for the wannabe drone pilot in you.
DJI is primarily known for its high-end Phantom line of drones, but it also offers a line of build-your-own kits known as the Flame Wheel ARF Kits. The kits run from roughly $310-$920 depending on the options you want.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
The Robocat Co-Co 280 is 11-inches long but is still called a “mini drone.”
The kit comes with everything you need to construct this adorable bumblebee-like flyer, except for batteries and a radio system. For $116, that’s a pretty good deal.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
LHI, which makes carbon fiber drone frames, offers this ready-to-build kit on its website for $112.16. This model includes a 250mm frame, but LHI also offers a kit with its 500mm frame.
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The OCDAY H250 is less kit and more ready-to-fly drone, though some assembly is still required.
For just $194.73, you too can have this drone capable of flying up to 25 mph.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
The biggest problem with drones, DIY or otherwise, is that a crash has the potential to cost hundreds of dollars. Not with Flybrix–all a crash will get you is the need to rebuild your LEGO project.
Flybrix drones aren’t produced by LEGO but they are LEGO-compatible, meaning any of the bricks you have lying around at home are fair game to take to the sky. Prices start at $159.99.
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This kit from Lynxmotion costs $381.75 and allows for easy, solder-less assembly. It comes with most of the parts you’ll need, but you will have to add a flight controller, battery, charger, and remote.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
A great way to get started with drones is with the PowerUp Toys PowerUp 3.0, a kit that allows you to turn a paper airplane into a controllable vehicle. The kit is $50 and connects to a Bluetooth-enabled smartphone to act as a controller.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
For only $39 you can build this kit drone, but keep in mind it’s cheap for a reason. Great for starters who want to see if the hobby is for them.
Note: Assembly requires some soldering.
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This complete kit comes with everything you need to build your drone, aside from a battery. With advanced components capable of connecting to a first-person view camera, it’s definitely a step up from the RadioShack kit.
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It might look a bit lanky, but that is only because it’s able to fold up when you’re done using it. The Hobbypower X525, like many other drones, doesn’t come with a controller.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
If programming isn’t your thing but 3D printing is, you’re going to love this kit. It comes with all the guts needed to fly, but the body is up to you and your 3D printer. Blueprints are provided, too.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
The Chinese company Cheerson manufactures drones and other electronics that are a bargain. This kit comes with everything you need–even VR goggles for first-person flying, it seems.
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This LEGO drone kit isn’t as robust as Flybrix, but it’s a lot cheaper. And you can do it with fewer pieces.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
What better way to learn than with cardstock? Crashing this drone will be very cost-effective, and if you decide you don’t like it, you can just chuck it in the recycle bin.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
The CoDrone isn’t a kit–in fact, this tiny drone comes fully assembled just without any code. It’s up to you to program it!
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
If you want to build a drone designed for racing, the Qwinout DIY FPV Drone Quadcopter is your kit. FPV (or first person view) enables the drone pilot to see from the drone’s front-mounted camera, making it ideal for competitive races or trick flight competitions.
This Qwinout kit comes with a controller, battery, and everything you need to build a flight-ready drone, and one Amazon reviewer notes that no soldering is required. You’ll have to buy FPV goggles yourself, though.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Let’s say you want to build a drone, but you don’t want a cheap kit that’s going to feel like a toy. If you’re not an experienced flyer, that can be a tough call to make–if you spend money on an expensive drone and promptly break it, you’re out several hundred dollars, right?
Not if you go with the Beagle Drone Racing Kit. It contains everything you need to build a flyable racing drone, including a 30-day warranty (extendable to six months if you buy the kit in installments). Anything you break during the warranty period can be sent back to Beagle for a replacement free of charge.
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Quadcopters have been the ubiquitous form factor for drones since they started to become a hobby, so what do you do if you’re not interested in building a four-rotored flying X? You get a SonicModell Skywalker X8 2122.
This flying wing drone kit comes with everything you need to get this 6.9″ behemoth off the ground, minus batteries and a controller. If minis, micros, and other tiny drones aren’t your thing, this beast just might be.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
The Airblock kit is another simple snap-together drone kit, but it’s nothing like the plastic brick kits featured elsewhere in this gallery. Airblock kits feature a number of modular parts that can magnetically snap together to build a multitude of different drones–even a hovercraft. Best of all, the modules are all built of high-durability styrofoam, so breaking it will be difficult.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Whether you’re looking for a simple drone kit to give as a gift to a young person or want a basic and affordable DIY kit for yourself, the Maxxrace DIY Mini Racing Drone kit is worth checking out.
This simple kit builds a 3″x3″ drone that can be customized to include a FPV camera (not included) and contains everything you need to get it up in the air. It also features one-button take off and landing, making the two hardest parts of flying a drone as simple as pushing a button.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Less DIY learning experience and more simply assembled kit, this TIE Advanced drone was too cool, and packed with neat features, not to include.
After assembling the drone, you can learn to fly it using a smartphone app, along with accessing one-button tricks and variable controls designed for beginner to advanced pilots. The coolest feature: You can use drone-mounted lasers to battle other Star Wars-themed drones from the same product line. “Hitting” an opponent’s drone with your laser actually registers as damage, and enough hits will take you out of combat.
For $53.97, this combat drone kit can be yours.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
If you really want a custom drone, you can put one together from separately purchased parts. Make sure you get an open source controller, like the one used by the ArduPilot community, and either purchase or 3D print the parts yourself for a personal touch.
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If pre-built drones pique your interest but Star Wars doesn’t, there’s no need to worry: This Star Trek Enterprise drone is designed for enthusiasts of the other big sci-fi franchise to fly with geeky pride.
Not only does this Enterprise drone hide its props in the ship’s saucer section, it also comes with sound effects, lights, and a speed-boosting warp drive mode to get a little extra oomph from the engines.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Sometimes you need someone—or something—to walk you through the assembly process. If that sounds like you, the Sky Viper e1700 kit might be the right fit.
This drone kit makes you do the work, but has its own mobile app which walks you through the building process complete with 3D animations showing how parts go together.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
If building and programming your own drone isn’t a neat enough experience there’s the DJI Tello Iron Man edition drone, which kicks the fun up a notch.
Along with supporting the Tello EDU app, Swift Playgrounds, Python, and Scratch, the Iron Man edition drone has a special app that teaches flying while giving pilots and programmers missions to complete to help Tony Stark keep the skies safe from miscreants.
SEE: Getting started with drone photography (free PDF) (TechRepublic)
Conner is a former Senior Editor for TechRepublic. He is now a Senior Research Analyst at 451 Research.
