I have a video in preparation where I give a walkthrough of the frame but wanted to post here about some of the issues I've run into.
Even though this frame looks almost identical to the true alien the dimensions are not the same. The true alien has has proportions of length/width = 3/4 while this clone is 4/5. Soma went into justification for this approach on the Alien RcGroups post.
The metal screw going through the pdb and arms are too close to the esc pads and I had to put a little piece of washer there. In this picture I had to create some rubber washers because what I had laying around was too thick. This is just some heat shrink cut to size. I still need to clean it up but it's easy to see here
A HS1177 camera doesn't have a nice snug fit and there is an 1/8th inch gap on either side of the camera when centered. If the gap wasn't there it would be perfect. Another issue I've come across many times is the provided static camera angle mount has a hole that is too large. The HS1177 slides right through it so it would required additional hardware (large washer) to mount the camera to it.
So far it's been a pretty easy build with enough room to put all the wiring and extras (LC filter and bec). I was planning on having a maiden flight today but with the camera issue I'll need to find some longer screws and washers to snug the camera in.
For only $40 I'm sure it will be a fun frame to fly but you get what you pay for. The carbon fiber came scratched in a few spots, there was leftover carbon dust from tooling, and a really popular camera doesn't fit like I think it should.
UPDATE (6-14-16) - The PDB is pretty crappy. I was having issues with my ESCs restarting and went through all sorts of things trying to find out what was wrong. This included removing the XT60 connector and putting a new one on. In this process I removed liquid electrical tape from the surface and it peeled up lots of the red mask around the xt60 connector. Removing the connector also caused some heat damage to the board. It will have to be replaced. They are about $2.50 each on goodluckbuy but one more thing that really makes the true alien shine.
YouTube review
