About two months ago, volunteer Violetta Oliynyk decided that instead of buying ready-made drones as usual for the Ukrainian army, she could learn to assemble them herself. With the donations collected, She started to buy parts and build the necessary drones with her own hands. The hardest thing was assembling the first drone, she admits, and then the work went faster and better.

Ukrinform correspondent met the craftsman, talked and watched the process of making an FPV drone.

MAIN CUSTOMERS – FATHER AND SISTERS

The volunteer set up his workshop not far from his home, he comes here every day for a few hours. She says she doesn’t want to do repairs at home because of the specific smells caused by soldering. Acquaintances shared a small room in a non-residential building. Here, on a small well-lit table, are the necessary accessories and an already semi-assembled kamikaze FPV drone.

Before the Great War, Violetta was engaged in art – she organized various performances, made original jewelry to order. However, the large-scale Russian occupation completely changed his lifestyle. Violetta’s father and her older and younger brothers volunteered for the war in the first days after the Russian offensive. After a while, the girl began to be given “orders” from the front line.

– I had experience of volunteer work, or rather, I saw how my relatives were engaged in it. In 2014, my brother went to war, he was in the Right Sector. That’s when my father and younger brother volunteered. I was still a student and therefore was not much involved in this study. And in 2022 I realized that I should already be volunteering. After all, Violetta Oliynyk says, the father and his younger brother also went to the fight.

At the beginning of the great war, relatives at the front ordered various things – ammunition, sights, thermal imagers, etc. The girl’s mother, who lives in Poland, helped search and purchase the necessary items. Later, the need for drones and cars increased even more. The girl collected money for things for the army on social networks, and other volunteers also helped. In particular, Violetta’s colleague, Canadian artist of Ukrainian origin Taras Polatayko, and his daughter began to actively collect donations from friends abroad. He also held an art fundraiser where artists from all over the world showcased their works, and the money from the sales went to aid the Ukrainian military.

– Two years have passed in active volunteer work for our army. My family fights in three separate units and we try to help each unit. Now, in parallel with my usual volunteering, I have also switched to drone production. It’s actually relaxing. When you live all day only by correspondence with relatives at the front, I can come here for a few hours and distract myself a little with quiet work. “This is a kind of hobby that has turned into a full-time job for me,” the girl says with a smile.

ANYONE CAN INSTALL A DRONE AT HOME

When the need for FPV drones increased in the Ukrainian military, Violetta decided to learn how to assemble them herself. For this, the young craftsman took two free online courses on drone assembly.

– These are nationwide courses. One is called “Drone in every home” – it is an application for collecting bomber and kamikaze drones. Other courses are called Victory Drones and teach how to make fully FPV kamikaze drones. I recently passed and passed the theory exam. You are required to join this community via video conferencing and are given access to educational materials. There is also the opportunity to communicate with teachers and ask for advice, says Violetta Oliynyk.

Now the volunteer can talk for hours about drones: how one model differs from another, how far they fly, the maneuverability of this or that type of drone, at what frequencies they fly, etc. He had never dealt with this technique before the start of a full-scale war. In addition, the girl did not have any skills in assembling a complete object from various parts. But I learned everything in online courses. For this reason, he believes that anyone who wants can assemble a drone at home.

– The main thing is to have the desire, money and time. The only thing I knew how to do before the Great War that I needed now was soldering small parts because I used to make jewelry. But now there are many different videos to learn soldering. I gained the rest of the knowledge about drone assembly in these courses. Voluntary, so I advise everyone who wants to participate in the destruction of the Russian invaders to take the Victory Drones course.

He assures that even in case of some errors in the assembly of the drone, it can be sent to the course instructors who will check it, correct the defects and send it to the front line.

The craftsman orders the main parts of the folding drone on AliExpress. Some spare parts can be purchased from Ukraine. True, they may cost more, but you can get them faster. The courses immediately provide a list of the required parts and specific links to online stores that sell them.

He spent more than a week creating his first bomber jacket. I went to the experts who “made” the drone and tested it indoors. Later, he was very pleased with the result and sent his work to the army. Violetta watched the video of the first drone working on the Russian invaders more than once.

– Everything became easier after we managed to assemble the first drone and had it tested by the military. First, my confidence in my abilities has increased. Secondly, it became easier to raise money for parts for the next drones because there was already a result and I could show it to people. After all, at first it is difficult to understand whether you will succeed or not, the girl admits.

He shows the box that was sent to him recently. He says all the parts of another drone were collected there. He was contacted by a man who was also trying to assemble the drone, purchasing the necessary parts, but his situation changed and he was unable to complete the matter. Therefore, Violetta will start this work as soon as she finishes assembling the previously planned drones.

The first 9 drones Violetta collected are already destroying the Russian invaders on the front lines. The craftswoman recently assembled four more bombers and sent them to the 78th separate air assault regiment, where one of her brothers served. Next on the list is the sire unit’s turn. He builds 6 kamikaze drones for them.

I DID NOT RECEIVE ANY COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE “WAR JEWELER”.

According to the craftsman, the cost of a kamikaze drone is up to 16,000 hryvnia, while parts for the bomber cost about 19,000 hryvnia. Donations for drone parts help the girl gather her artist friends, she herself announces the meeting on her page on social networks. In parallel, when such a need arises, meetings are held to purchase “Mavik”.

A volunteer can name drones. If a person pays for the entire cost of a drone, Violetta will have her name engraved on the body. And during the “blink” the word found by the donor is placed in the video as a watermark.

– One of the assembled drones was called “Canada”, and when it was turned on, we set it to the melody of the Canadian national anthem, the craftswoman recalled.

While we chat, the volunteer continues to solder the parts of the FPV drone sitting on his desk. The day before he assembled the frame for him and polished the boards, spending up to an hour on this.

– Today I fixed the motors on it, installed the camera, this middle part, soldered the capacitor, the power cables that will be included in the battery, and now I am soldering the motors. Next I need to place the top panel, solder the camera and two more communication antennas. After that you can varnish it, screw the top cover on and take it home. I spent about an hour and a half on work today, and if I don’t rush, I will finish the essay in two hours, says Violetta Oliynyk.

According to their calculations, if you put in up to eight working hours, you can easily assemble two drones a day. After that, the assembled equipment is “sewn up” and tested.

When asked which is easier – making jewelry or assembling a drone, Violetta answered with a smile:

– Collect drones. Jewelry may or may not be liked by me or the customer. And the soldering is smooth, bright and strong. No one will tell you, “You have an ugly salary.” All my “customers” love my drones, I haven’t received any complaints yet.

Vitaly Oliynyk, Chernivtsi

Author’s photo