Archive
The Mode 2 FPV archive, 2013 to 2020
Before this domain became a drone reference site, it was Mode 2 FPV, a carbon frame manufacturer whose old product pages the FPV building community still links to.
Frames and products, as documented
- FRAME
Ghost
The original of the line. Mode 2 FPV called it "the frame that revolutionized FPV racing," and said it was inspired by the original Hyperlite Floss.
- FRAME
Ghost 2
5 mm boomerang arms and 3K matte carbon, in sizes from 4" to 7". Documented weight runs from 60 g to 75 g depending on size and stack hardware.
- FRAME
Shredder
Symmetrical X, 220 mm (5") and 280 mm (7"), at 100 g and 105 g. The 7" size, Mode 2 FPV said, "helped to popularize the 7" long range frame segment."
- FRAME
Shredder II
Released additionally in 10", which Mode 2 FPV said "helped popularize longer range 10" FPV flight."
- FRAME
Kilowatt
A 30 g unibody 3" frame, 145 mm symmetrical X, built for 13xx/14xx motors on a 20x20 mm flight controller mount.
- FRAME
Splinter
Mode 2 FPV described it as "designed to be a carbon fiber upgrade for the Tiny Whoop class of FPV drones."
- FRAME
Gizmo
An earlier 3" frame, discontinued once the Kilowatt replaced it. Mode 2 FPV's own line was "with the Gizmo gone we needed a new 3" frame."
- FRAME
Interceptor
Mode 2 FPV's description: "one of our very first concepts, this frame was made to be a proverbial tank. It proved to be basically indestructible."
- FLIGHT CONTROLLER
Flux
Mode 2 FPV's own flight controller, sold alongside the frames. No specification beyond its name and place in the catalogue is documented.
- GPL v3
Open source frames
The page that matters most here: Mode 2 FPV released its entire frame line under the GNU GPL v3, with source files on GitHub and Thingiverse.
What this domain was
From roughly 2013 to 2020, mode-2.com belonged to Mode 2 FPV, a US carbon FPV frame manufacturer run by Brian Welch. His Thingiverse account, handle mode2fpv, is the clearest surviving record of who was behind the designs: thingiverse.com/mode2fpv.
The site sold direct to US builders ("free shipping to USA on all orders over $100") through a WordPress and WooCommerce shop. By the last real capture available, from May 2020, its catalogue covered a line of racing and freestyle frames, a flight controller, an ESC, printed parts and apparel. The site went offline sometime after that. Nothing in the surviving record says why.
This site is not Mode 2 FPV
This site is unaffiliated with Mode 2 FPV and with whoever operated it. It did not acquire that business, does not hold its trademark and has no relationship with Brian Welch. What it has is the domain, and the domain still carries a working set of inbound links: builders on Thingiverse and RotorBuilds who documented a Ghost or a Shredder years ago pointed their write-ups at mode-2.com product pages that no longer exist. This archive is what now sits behind those links, clearly marked as history rather than as a continuation of the company.
What this archive can and cannot tell you
Everything on the pages below is reconstructed from two kinds of source: Wayback Machine captures of the old site, dated between June 2013 and May 2020, and Brian Welch's Thingiverse profile. Neither is a company record. There is no sales ledger, no production count and no staff list behind any of this, only what a handful of archived product pages said about themselves at the time they happened to be captured.
That leaves real gaps. We do not know why Mode 2 FPV stopped operating, whether it closed, was sold, or simply stalled. We do not know how many of any frame were made or sold. A page at /shop/terminator/ existed at some point, named only in a 2018 keyword export with no page capture behind it, so beyond the fact that a frame called Terminator was once listed, nothing about it is documented. Where a page below has no figure for something, it says so rather than filling the gap.