Welcome to my SkyWalker build thread, which promises to be a complete let-down compared to most you'll find online, but here we are :D
The goals of this project are (in order):
- Reliable airframe which works every single time
- Stable footage from either a GoPro or Mobius (or both), gimballed or otherwise
- Quiet cruise
Notice that range is not on the list. I'm lucky enough to now live right in the middle of the countryside, with many acres of land surrounding my house. It's fair to say that the location and convenience for flying was a big factor in purchasing the place and while it's not quite "bonafidepirate" style it's good enough for me. Here is a picture of my row:
(http://s24.postimg.org/95lxjqatt/luddy.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/95lxjqatt/)
Suffice to say, there is plenty of exploring to do close in - if I do decide to go for range, I can simply sit in my back garden with an antenna on my shed roof, look in the opposite direction of the photograph and head out about 7 miles before I hit any sort of village or otherwise. So I'm cool for different places to fly (for once).
So on that note, I decided I want a nice slow cruiser plane which will be used to take some nice aerial shots of the local area, without disturbing people too much if I fly close to home. Takeoff is always going to be noisy, but cruising around should be nice and quiet with a larger prop than what is commonly on a Bixler or the like.
So, to get started I bought a Skywalker 1900 from Hobby King, it is the foam tail version, pictured here next to my AXN:
(http://s2.postimg.org/6ncs0ov5h/photo_19.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/6ncs0ov5h/)
The problem with the AXN is not that it's a poor plane, it's just that it is very much subject to random acts of playing up whenever I go to fly it FPV - sometimes I have great signal, but if my wires have moved even a couple of millimetres then I can have a really bad time of it - having to remove the canopy and stuff wires in all over the place when changing the battery is really grating on me.
With the Skywalker, I plane to have the wires embedded in the foam so they can't move - essentially I'll be starting each flight with the same airframe, the same setup and the same luck - hopefully this will help me increase in confidence with each flight when things just simply work reliably because if I'm honest, I've never really advanced much in all the years I've been flying.
Build Spec:
Skywalker 1900mm
40A HobbyKing S-BEC ESC (Red)
Turnigy 35/42 1250kv motor
9x6 APC prop
3 cell 4400mAh battery (2x2200mAh in parallel), perhaps more
600mw Immersion vtx
Sony HAD II WDR camera with 2.8mm lens
Mobius / GoPro Silver 3
Separate video / led / ancillaries battery
Aluminium detachable landing gear.
TowerPro 90MGs all round.
So - here we go!
So, first up were the wings.
In keeping with tradition, I broke out the tape - and lots of it. I decided I wanted them to be covered because I like my planes to be clean - wiping mud off foam is a pointless affair because it just smudges, but if you cover it with nice shiny tape beforehand it comes off no problem, keeping your airframe looking nice and new...
(http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDgwWDY0MA==/z/fecAAMXQWzNSg~RH/$_12.JPG?set_id=880000500F)
This tape isn't bad - my FPV Raptor wings are still going strong with it after 2 years without any signs of it coming off so that's good enough for me... here's the first wing:
Here is the first wing.
(http://s2.postimg.org/duexfxn05/photo_2_1.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/duexfxn05/)
First I placed the black decorative tape on there, and also in the centre sections of each wing for strength (for the rubber bands), then the green (and red) on the tips of each wing. Then I covered it all with the clear covering tape along the wing chord from front to back.
I want the wings to remain separable so I glued the spar into only one of them.
I also bought an LED set, and each wing has a red or green LED on each tip:
(http://s28.postimg.org/q4dxvdge1/photo_1_2.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/q4dxvdge1/)
The wiring for the LEDs is embedded flush into the foam, although I had to extend them with some 500mm servo extensions as they are only 600mm wires. That leave about 100mm - 200mm on a lead ready for plugging into the control board - if I need any extra length, I can just add another servo extension cable because the plugs are still on :)
Then I decided to wire up the rudder + tail servos in one side of the fuselage ... a fairly simple affair - I was going to run the wires through the carbon fibre tube, but decided I wouldn't bother as it'd be more of a pain in the backside if they ever needed replaced. So they are simply stuffed into the top of the tailboom for easier access:
(http://s23.postimg.org/wnjd7ewlz/photo_18.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/wnjd7ewlz/)
(http://s3.postimg.org/717v9xunz/photo_3_1.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/717v9xunz/)
The keen eyed among you may have noticed two pieces of plastic within the tail mounted vertically - this is about 5mm thick, and gives plenty of stiffness to the tail (I did not have any carbon fibre).
I have also run some of those along the rear edge of the elevator to keep it nice and stiff.
Now, I really REALLY hate the idea of using the elastic bands that came with the Skywalker to hold on such a critical piece of the airframe as the wing. I know people do it, but it seems crazy to me to risk a plane and all of its gear to a few pieces of rubber band.
Since I'll be flying this in the summer for quite a long time per flight, I'm worried about the bands perishing so I decided it wasn't for me.
I bought some 6mm nylon screws with nuts and washers and proceeded to build a wing attachment.
First off, I glued the screws into the fuselage using my usual finesse....
(http://s9.postimg.org/hoq90qjsr/photo_4_1.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/hoq90qjsr/)
I then tunnelled through my beautiful new wings with the wife's knitting needle having first marked where the holes would go.
(http://s2.postimg.org/yzveooalx/photo_5.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/yzveooalx/)
Once done, I glued some washers into the wings and then bolted them down with the nuts. I did order some wing-nuts instead, but the morons sent me 8mm instead of 6mm so that'll have to wait - no rush anyway. They'll make it much quicker and easier to detach the wings if need be.
I did almost glue the nuts into the fuselage instead, but I had bad memories of my FPV Raptor running through my mind - with the nuts under the wing, you can have a nightmare lining up the screws when attaching it - therefore I did the opposite, I attached the screws to the fuselage and will leave them protruding, essentially reversing the fastening process. It's not as pretty, obviously, but who cares about that.
Now the wings are on really solidly and I still have the option of using the rubber bands to add even more security which I may actually do. Remember this plane is all about increasing my confidence, and worrying about the wings suddenly coming off was the last thing I wanted.
I'm not running an OSD on this, but I do have an EZOSD which I can use if I buy a new current sensor for it.
I had planned on buying a Cyclops Storm with RTH, but then I figured that I might as well use what I have in the meantime, and save some cash (thanks Mr Taxman for ripping my hard earned away).
Without the OSD though, I still want the security of RTH if I'm venturing out a little - so I bought what may turn out to be a mistake, but may turn out to be very useful IF it works ..
(http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/2/7/4/2/9/6/ai16394931-78-thumb-tf1.jpg?d=1389118195)
I bought a Turnigy T1000FC (http://www.hobbyking.co.uk/hobbyking/store/__48219__Turnigy_T1000FC_Auto_Pilot_System_With_GPS_and_Return_To_Home.html) which comes with a GPS and has RTH. It also has flight stability which may be handy. If it crashes the plane though I'll be pissed - let's wait and see!!!
One thing I'm a little concerned about is that if the GPS is plugged in, you no longer have a "manual" mode... it always limits you to a max of 45 degrees on pitch + roll. This may work in the favour of the Skywalkers dodgy wings though - who knows? In normal flight though, this will be more than enough.
If it's crap well, meh .. I can always simply remove it as it sits inline between the servos + rx. I'm sure it'll come in useful as a stabiliser for one of my sons' planes.
The jury is most definitely out on this and yes, a Storm is still on the cards once I'm not feeling a bit raw from HMRC :laugh:
Nice build thread so far Steve, lots of detail, looks like its going to be a good build.
Stunning tape work on the wings BTW :)
Looks great so far. Dead jealous of your flying location.
There's a ccompany in the states called cnc parts on ebay which sells motor extensions for the SW. It allows you to raise the motor up a 1-2" allowing you to run bigger props. May make it even more efficient and quieter at launch too?
can't believe you're flying without an OSD. I would get lost within about 5 mins without a home arrow. Guess I'm showing my inexperience.
Wing looks great Steve - looking forward to your maiden
Will be keeping an eye on this, it's coming on a lot faster than mine!
Nice build log, enjoyed reading it :)
Although I wasnt really worried about my rubber bands / Wings coming off mid flight until I read this! :o
Quote from: AdamG on March 02, 2015, 12:28:31 PM
Nice build log, enjoyed reading it :)
Although I wasnt really worried about my rubber bands / Wings coming off mid flight until I read this! :o
rubber bands are fine, I used to fly glow power trainer planes with 4/6 bands holding the wings on and loop and roll, fly inverted.
as long as the bands are in good condition don't worry about them ;)
Yep, rubber bands are absolutely fine, an excellent solution if you anticipate crashing a lot, as long as you use ones that are thick enough and enough of them. You can tell whether they're shot or not as you put them on, they aren't going to perish mid-flight. That said the last plane I had with banded on wings was a .40 trainer about twenty five years ago.
I honestly don't care :laugh:
it just seems ridiculous to trust so much gear, time and expense to tensioned rubber with no mechanical failsafe. Thankfully I don't need to detach them anyway so it's not a big deal.
I think you're doing exactly the right thing which is to build the frame up in the way you get the most confidence in it to get the true potential out of it. That's the great thing about this hobby, just how many solutions there are to any given problem.
That said, have you thought about the potential for vibrations to untighten the bolts? Maybe some spring clips would be a good safeguard?
Nice build Steve, I have a friend who has the same turnigy rth thing, works great for him but like you said, the 45degree thing is a right pita at times
You know something else which is a PITA?
Just reading the instructions as it's just arrived ...
"Return Mode - The plane will maintain the current altitude and return home automatically. Pay attention to the power during flight and avoid loss of speed".
So basically if I lose control at 2,000ft it will come home.. at 2,000ft.
That could be a bad day.... wish it would descend to say, 200 ft so I could actually see it and take control :laugh:
Starting to have reservations!
Also, loose control at 20ft.... I'd ditch that unit, seems flawed. Buy cheap buy twice and all that.
Build it without rth until you can buy something worth while. Just my option of course.
To be fair, many APs would struggle at 20ft as even with a prescribed RTH altitude they won't suddenly go vertical to get there. It depends on why you'd need RTH - I had exactly the situation you wouldn't want where I lost my FPV camera and had to bring it in LOS. At something like 220m, my wing looked like a dot - my RTH altitude on Storm was 100m but it would have taken a fair while to descend.
So if it's just a case of loss of control signal of course, you'd get control back way before it reached you (at least you should) so you should be able to carry on FPVing it. I'm presuming you can get it back out of RTH ?
Well.... primarily my goal for RTH is to re-orient myself if I get lost... I don't plan on losing control and with FrSky I should be good for 2km radius anyway.
We'll see, I'll give it a chance - it's only foam at stake.
Quote from: Steve W on March 02, 2015, 05:48:10 PM
Well.... primarily my goal for RTH is to re-orient myself if I get lost... I don't plan on losing control and with FrSky I should be good for 2km radius anyway.
We'll see, I'll give it a chance - it's only foam at stake.
Its all the gear in the foam i'd be worried about :laugh: My skywalker has an up in the air value of over £1,000... but the foam was only £99 :laugh:
Yea but you usually get the gear back, the foam is disposable :)
Quote from: Steve W on March 02, 2015, 06:49:47 PM
Yea but you usually get the gear back, the foam is disposable :)
Yeah hopefully. My worst nightmare would be to just lose all power while at high altitude and far from home. Would be a complete nightmare trying to guess where it came down... especially now i know how well the 1900 glides on zero throttle :o as long as my video feed works until i hit the ground i think it wouldn't be too bad :laugh:
Quote from: AdamG on March 02, 2015, 07:39:28 PM
Yeah hopefully. My worst nightmare would be to just lose all power while at high altitude and far from home. Would be a complete nightmare trying to guess where it came down... especially now i know how well the 1900 glides on zero throttle :o as long as my video feed works until i hit the ground i think it wouldn't be too bad :laugh:
This is what goes in all my long range stuff now: http://www.multirotorsuperstore.com/brotronics-powertowerrx-for-openlrsng.html (http://www.multirotorsuperstore.com/brotronics-powertowerrx-for-openlrsng.html)
It conditions a lightweight 1s battery and in the event of a crash that ends up losing the flight battery it can still use its own battery to power the PMR beacon, meaning I can find my stuff using a cheapo' kid's walkie-talkie.
Not really had time to make much progress, but I have at least done the following.
First I taped up the underside of the fuselage so that it can be wiped clean, although the plan for this airframe is to put some undercarriage on it anyway - I still figured it was a good idea in order to preserve the cleanliness of the plane as I hate it when they get covered in mud and all you can do is smudge it into the foam.
(http://s9.postimg.org/6zudx9itn/photo_1_4.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/6zudx9itn/)
Next, I cut an access door into the side of the fuselage, using a little plastic handle as the door. No need for magnets as I simply made a hotglue hinge on the front-most edge, so airflow will keep it closed (and friction).
(http://s29.postimg.org/ltqggmysj/photo_3_3.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/ltqggmysj/)
I did however add some more plastic bits on the inside of the door to ensure it couldn't be closed too far.
(http://s29.postimg.org/9mvwqk7mr/photo_4_2.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/9mvwqk7mr/)
Next up was to line the inside of the fuselage with more tape, and then put some self-adhesive velcro (rough side) into the plane ready to accept the leccy bits.
(http://s7.postimg.org/67o541b9j/photo_5_1.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/67o541b9j/)
I only did it halfway though because I plan to glue a plywood battery tray into the nose with velcro straps to keep my batteries in place properly. I figure that although the plane won't be doing any aerobatics, it'd be slightly disastrous if the batteries move so it needs to be something a bit more substantial than just batteries velcroed into the fuselage.
(http://s18.postimg.org/3z66uur6d/photo_2_3.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/3z66uur6d/)
I've also placed an airhole in the side of the fuselage to allow airflow into the ESC bay under the wings to keep things cool. I'll put an airscoop on here in due course. I also bevelled the trailing edge of this, so that the airflow is a bit smoother than just hitting a flat surface inside the scoop, this way it should reduce what little drag the scoop will cause.
Make sure the air being scooped in has an escape route ;)
Quote from: MarkLincs on March 04, 2015, 10:10:41 AM
Make sure the air being scooped in has an escape route ;)
There is a large hole under the motor which will accommodate the wires (and also let air escape).
If the vent hole is a T shape on its side with the bottom bit of the T facing forward then it will draw the air in without needing a scoop. I forget what the proper name for these are.
One of the 1000 or so FliteTest videos went into it once, around the time of the FT3D I think.
Edit: It's called a NACA duct - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NACA_duct (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NACA_duct)
Linked because embedding doesn't let you jump to a time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rfcFKKDUxU&t=11m15s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rfcFKKDUxU&t=11m15s)
That's interesting actually ... bit late for me now though as I've already cut it :(
Reading that wikipedia article it seems like they need to be just right in order to create the vortices which make it work. Probably just cutting a hole which looks a bit the same would do nothing.
Looking forward to seeing the maiden, Steve.
I've decided I want to try this flight controller in my AXN first before I trust it in the Skywalker, so I'll be sticking it in the air this weekend to see how it works. If the AXN goes in so be it, but I'd be slightly annoyed if it took out my new plane for some silly reason :laugh:
I think you're doing the right thing Steve, by the looks of things you're taking that next step. Would be a shame to lose all your hard work at this stage.
Storm OSD would be a minimum for a Skywalker build in my opinion, I'd even stretch for a Vector if I could afford one.
Quote from: Steve W on March 04, 2015, 07:06:48 PM
I've decided I want to try this flight controller in my AXN first before I trust it in the Skywalker, so I'll be sticking it in the air this weekend to see how it works. If the AXN goes in so be it, but I'd be slightly annoyed if it took out my new plane for some silly reason :laugh:
Good call Steve
Hi Steve, I have the T1000FC fitted in my UCF, it works good for the amount of USD it cost. You are right though about that you don't have manual control any more when the GPS is plugged in, it is stab, HDG or RTH from there on. But as I said for the price it is not bad. The other thing which you don't want to forget is that when you fly at different places you have to reset the home location!!! It will NOT do that by itself at power up.
Quote from: UAV Aviation on March 04, 2015, 09:59:45 PM
Hi Steve, I have the T1000FC fitted in my UCF, it works good for the amount of USD it cost. You are right though about that you don't have manual control any more when the GPS is plugged in, it is stab, HDG or RTH from there on. But as I said for the price it is not bad. The other thing which you don't want to forget is that when you fly at different places you have to reset the home location!!! It will NOT do that by itself at power up.
I wonder what would happen if you fitted an rc switch into the T1000FC GPS wiring - would that allow for stabilisation 'Off' ????
That could work 😄. And then it's a good thing it remembers its RTH location and it does not resets its home location at power up👍. Will try it on the UCF.
I'll be very interested in your trial as I have a T1000FC that I will be fitting into my next airframe - when it comes.
Quote from: UAV Aviation on March 04, 2015, 09:59:45 PMThe other thing which you don't want to forget is that when you fly at different places you have to reset the home location!!! It will NOT do that by itself at power up.
OMG, that's just asking for trouble... I know we all strive to be as safe as we can, and some of us have checklists (whether mental or physically written down) but this is just another thing to remember.
I know I'd forget to do this at least once
Happened to me already 😳 luckily I knew the shortcomings of the T1000 and recognized it and switched off the RTH and NAVed back home manually 😜
For the GPS on / off RC switch I will let you know Steve.
Quote from: BlueFlyer on March 04, 2015, 10:28:25 PM
Quote from: UAV Aviation on March 04, 2015, 09:59:45 PMThe other thing which you don't want to forget is that when you fly at different places you have to reset the home location!!! It will NOT do that by itself at power up.
OMG, that's just asking for trouble... I know we all strive to be as safe as we can, and some of us have checklists (whether mental or physically written down) but this is just another thing to remember.
I know I'd forget to do this at least once
I don't know about anyone else, but for each of my airframes - all controlled from different memory programs on the same tx - I keep in my toolbox an A4 sheet of paper, one for each airframe, listing which are the relevant tx switches, the c of g, which lipo to use and what each tx Channel does, how to initiate the electronics or OSD, if fitted, etc.
These sheets help me not to forget !!
Yeah... I have different pieces of paper, this sounds more organized. An other thing to do 😄
Well one of the first things to do will be to test RTH after takeoff .. if anything is dodgy then it's time to land. So if I do forget, I'll be able to get it back.
Thing is though it's not a huge deal ... I generally fly out of the same spot anyway so if it remembers "home" then great :laugh:
Tbh it's nothing I didn't have to do with the Suppo OSD ... you have to reset position to mark "home" every time regardless, to calibrate it.
Quote from: wgt40w on March 04, 2015, 10:16:31 PM
Quote from: UAV Aviation on March 04, 2015, 09:59:45 PM
Hi Steve, I have the T1000FC fitted in my UCF, it works good for the amount of USD it cost. You are right though about that you don't have manual control any more when the GPS is plugged in, it is stab, HDG or RTH from there on. But as I said for the price it is not bad. The other thing which you don't want to forget is that when you fly at different places you have to reset the home location!!! It will NOT do that by itself at power up.
I wonder what would happen if you fitted an rc switch into the T1000FC GPS wiring - would that allow for stabilisation 'Off' ????
I'm sure I saw this mentioned on RCGroups but I can't for the life of me find the thread.
It may potentially work but if I'm honest, I don't actually mind the limitations of stabilised flight for this airframe... the SW is not exactly being built for aerobatics, I want nice steady video with a slow cruise.
The plan is to do plenty of narrated videos looking around with the camera, if the plane flies itself without me having to worry about stray gusts of wind then great as far as I'm concerned :)
Yep that's the reason I bought mine 😄
So I started adding some of the leccy bits... I've decided I can't be bothered testing the flight controller in the AXN first so I'm going all in, if it crashes it crashes. I wired it up, it seems to work as I'd expect and it doesn't lock out the controls at all so I'm sure (he says) it'll be fine. How many people test their FC's in another aircraft first anyway?
First up was to position the ESC and feed the wires through to the motor, the signal wire to the Rx and the 5A UBEC powering all of the flight control stuff.
(http://s4.postimg.org/eewselryh/photo_1_5.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/eewselryh/)
Here's the UBEC on the underside, showing the power leads splitting cleanly to the front of the plane where the battery will sit, and the UBEC output going to the Rx. Both have LCFilters on them to get rid of any noise.
(http://s12.postimg.org/u3zro76dl/photo_3_4.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/u3zro76dl/)
I then mounted the GPS receiver on the tailboom and fed the cable through into the fuselage:
(http://s18.postimg.org/682p7k2g5/photo_2_4.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/682p7k2g5/)
This feeds into the T1000FC which in turn communicates with a FrSky D8RII+ receiver. I will be mounting the 2.4GHz antennas in a V and they will feed out each side of the fuselage in some plastic tubing. undecided whether to mount them upwards or downwards yet... it won't make any difference though.
(http://s24.postimg.org/3xpmw4ild/photo_4_3.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/3xpmw4ild/)
Obviously there is some cable tidying to do :P
Looking good so far.
Even if the autopilot makes the plane go berserk as soon as you activate it- given how forgiving the skywalker is and provided you're pretty high it should be ok I would have thought?!
Don't forget the skywalkers penchant for a stall and hard to recover spin.
Quote from: krikey on March 06, 2015, 04:59:19 PM
Don't forget the skywalkers penchant for a stall and hard to recover spin.
I'm lucky enough to have never experienced that with my skywalkers in the past.
Will you be using landing gear Steve? Would be cool to take off and land on the road!
Yes, I've got some aluminium that I've yet to cut to shape + drill.
It'll be held into a wooden block on the underside of the fuselage by some nylon screws which will hopefully simply shear off if I land a bit too enthusiastically.
I'm also going to fit a steerable tailwheel via the rudder.
Out of interest why are you going down the landing gear route?
Will you eventually carry a gimbal? Or do you just prefer the look?
I have only ever had belly landers and mostly think the landing gear is a bit pointless- heavy and poor aero- but I must admit the ability to taxi around is very cool.
Well it's going to be detachable so I can do both.
While it's attached though I much prefer the ability to takeoff from the ground while I sit with goggles on. It just feels more like real flying (which I like).
There are also plenty of nice, smooth, quiet roads around here which I can use.
I'd love to have landing gear on a FPV plane, if I was like you Steve and had roads to take off from I'd deffo have landing gear too.
Before I sold my skywalker, I actually made a landing gear for it with a GoPro quick release mount. That way all I needed to do was unclip it from the corresponding gopro mount on the underside of the skywalker. I never got round to putting the mount on the walker though before I sold it, and never had any roads or tracks to take off from either.
look forward to seeing your solution.
Interested in seeing that setup BlueFlyer... I have loads of gopro mounts that I never use
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Gosh it never occurred to me to be taking off with landing gear fpv. That and taxiing around would be extremely cool!
Gopro detachable feature is a great idea would love to see a pic?
just popped to the garage for you, made a quick vid... better to show how it all fits together that way. Just uploading now bud
Here you go.
Skywalker Landing Gear (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAdR810QSOw#ws)
What a great idea- tempted to fit that on my sky eye :)
Excellent work ... Hmm I have some thinking to do. I will still probably go the nylon bolt route simply because there's less chance of me ripping my fuselage on a hard landing, but this is nice and tidy !!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A nice talk through of your build Steve Fingers crossed she will give you many sweet FPV flights :D
The only thing I wouldn't have done is use 4 nylon bolts two will give easily in the event of an unhappy landing but 4 maybe a bit too strong in the event of a clipped wing on landing :) My planes have been saved many times by the freedom of movement in a crash situation ( just my two pennies worth) but an extremely nice clean build if I may say :D
dizzy :)
Quote from: Dizzy on March 07, 2015, 10:27:03 PM
A nice talk through of your build Steve Fingers crossed she will give you many sweet FPV flights :D
The only thing I wouldn't have done is use 4 nylon bolts two will give easily in the event of an unhappy landing but 4 maybe a bit too strong in the event of a clipped wing on landing :) My planes have been saved many times by the freedom of movement in a crash situation ( just my two pennies worth) but an extremely nice clean build if I may say :D
dizzy :)
Well... I'm not planning to crash. Any time I have done before it's trashed the airframe and I find it's better to just walk away because it's never the same again even when reinforced, glued, etc.
So, I went for security - the wings ain't coming off :P
Quote from: BlueFlyer on March 07, 2015, 08:12:19 PM
Here you go.
Skywalker Landing Gear (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAdR810QSOw#ws)
That's a neat idea. Thanks for sharing the video. Might give that a go.
if it helps, this is the landing gear I used
http://www.fpvmodel.com/landing-gear-for-new-skywalker-1680-etc_g461.html (http://www.fpvmodel.com/landing-gear-for-new-skywalker-1680-etc_g461.html)
(http://www.fpvmodel.com/u/tmp/goods_desc/2014-01/20140108161829-4559.jpg)
It has been way too long getting this thing up in the air so I've resolved to get it done ASAP! Loads of work being down on the house at the minute and I simply have not had time.
But, she now has a motor fitted.
First run up of the Skywalker 1900 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLfASxN-QyA#ws)
You can also see the plywood canopy I have made fitted on the front...
TODO:
Control surfaces to bring to life
FPV Gear to fit
Landing Gear to fit
Pan mount for GoPro + Flight Camera
Yay - nice to see you getting a bit of time in to finish this off Steve.. call that one the garage maiden
Looking forward to the maiden!
Installed the video gear today
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtp1/v/t1.0-9/11168099_442545065903940_6195044383233648725_n.jpg?oh=8e543a6ce786d85f27d8ef64abc76c56&oe=55D767A4&__gda__=1440961682_090e3c8318761faf855b56a7faf3a416)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11156332_442545069237273_7073571640279463446_n.jpg?oh=3f853d434761e54b8693f31558d0efd5&oe=5599EB04&__gda__=1441013645_e4f8e365cb9fb241cbcc1ed209864040)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/10001302_442545072570606_1480395576879383786_n.jpg?oh=c9d4090433203ebda6e2131745e8f2a4&oe=55A35895&__gda__=1437034641_adc499cc0cd33273eb62bd1d991cfdc5)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xta1/v/t1.0-9/11146297_442545075903939_3926190609030265781_n.jpg?oh=c5e29c56ccb5b8a1902596ede4f7badb&oe=55DC6B76&__gda__=1436728575_e77333b34f52486708f8e18a5c2e3e62)
Nice tape work Mr Steve :)
That plane is screaming laminate though, its like tape but huge !!!!! You will love it :)
Control surfaces also done .. just the landing gear + gopro to fit.
getting there Steve.
I know what it's like having hardly any time to work on my planes. Better to take one's time and do it well than rush something out the door eh.
Yea .. I snapped today though, I've had enough of working constantly on the house + client crap while the sunny days have been passing by. At least now it's done (or 99% there anyway) I might be able to nip out for an hour here and there and have some kind of life lol
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11150179_442828402542273_720732066471917967_n.jpg?oh=e8fe122c358e9980dc682a687b4b81ba&oe=55DE3612&__gda__=1437190096_c3fa61297d72ea405d852553371d2294)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11150540_442828399208940_2220647267537674188_n.jpg?oh=fd4dcbb3822ed6fdd3bc924f4c57519f&oe=559785BD&__gda__=1440533990_62b6759b0b7f8966ee4f78208d2d6a10)
She flies, brilliantly! I'm hooked again.
I had been scared she was going to fly like my FPVRaptor and be all over the place simply feeling "wrong" but nope ... flawless. No nasty tendencies at all and flew where I wanted it to go.
The only problem I had was RTH wouldn't engage .. that's either:
- me being stupid
- the FC manual being impossible to make head nor tails of
- or, not enough satellites
Sure it'll come right though, video to follow :)
Nice one Steve.
Quote from: Steve W on April 20, 2015, 05:42:07 PM
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11150179_442828402542273_720732066471917967_n.jpg?oh=e8fe122c358e9980dc682a687b4b81ba&oe=55DE3612&__gda__=1437190096_c3fa61297d72ea405d852553371d2294)
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xtf1/v/t1.0-9/11150540_442828399208940_2220647267537674188_n.jpg?oh=fd4dcbb3822ed6fdd3bc924f4c57519f&oe=559785BD&__gda__=1440533990_62b6759b0b7f8966ee4f78208d2d6a10)
She flies, brilliantly! I'm hooked again.
I had been scared she was going to fly like my FPVRaptor and be all over the place simply feeling "wrong" but nope ... flawless. No nasty tendencies at all and flew where I wanted it to go.
The only problem I had was RTH wouldn't engage .. that's either:
- me being stupid
- the FC manual being impossible to make head nor tails of
- or, not enough satellites
Sure it'll come right though, video to follow :)
They have a great presense in the air too.
Fly great, will also fly in 20mph winds (just not enjoyable) but if the withdrawals kick in lol.
Congratulations Steve, glad everything went well :
Skywalker 1900 Maiden (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmStRUpZ_G8#ws)
Really crappy video .... I flew a bit too far away but there are a couple of nice passes.
GoPro5 with autozoom please :P
Onboard video uploading...
Onboard video:
Skywalker 1900 Maiden - Onboard View (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxdw1wMl9oY#ws)
I actually uploaded the wrong one but you get the idea.
Things to sort:
I want the GoPro to have an unrestricted view
I want a better view from the flight camera - too much "rear of GoPro" in the view for my liking.
Anyone got some good ideas?
I have the flight camera in the servo hole on top of the fuselage - the canopy area is for various connotations of HD camera .. at the moment it is housing a GoPro in plastic case on a hard mount. I want to have swappable canopies for:
How it is now
A gimbal
A mobius.
Any thoughts?
only suggestion i have is to move the gopro hard mount forward till the nose is out of shot... but i guess you've figured that out yourself lol...
A mate of mine has put it inside at the nose.
View is great.
And leaves the top free.
I'd do it mine if I wasn't so lazy.
The only way to get what you want is to :
Move the Gopro forward to get rid of the model in shot
Fly from the GoPro so you cant see the GoPro in shot
Or
Mount the Gopro further forward with the main flight cam either to the left or right of it. This will again meet your requirements but be a bit draggy.
or put your FPV camera on your gopro case like I have done on my skyhunter:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Skyhunter%202.0/sh2-11.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/Skyhunter%202.0/sh2-12.jpg)
That's actually a really nice solution Chris, i'm using a small cased camera not one of the big 12V WDR's so drag will be minimal.
Oh well, the fiddling starts I guess!
IMO an underrated advantage of the skywalker style over a wing is the ease at which a pan and tilt is fitted.
It looks great on board cam footage- but it's extremely cool in HD. Worth considering IMO. Blueflyer design could easily work with pan and tilt.
like this?
looking back (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCf6Ea2BkDQ#ws)
Yes exactly that!
Biggest disadvantage to a wing IMO.
(https://scontent-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/11149398_443304022494711_9010721731615822132_n.jpg?oh=ec0fd5c526c2e08d0ab7e392e6442742&oe=55A154F2)
Made some landing gear out of some old alumunium I had lying around
Great maiden Steve!
here's mine - all on top of 360 servo for back scratching
(http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r529/mergecontrols/gda2_zps4jtw0mji.jpg) (http://s1170.photobucket.com/user/mergecontrols/media/gda2_zps4jtw0mji.jpg.html)
Looks really nice steve. Flyboy see 360 mod would finish it off perfectly ;)
RMRC Pod on mine:
(http://s27.postimg.org/57w02sq7j/IMG_0915.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/57w02sq7j/)
No nose in view,
(http://s23.postimg.org/mjcgkm253/IMAG0138.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/mjcgkm253/)
The thing with these solutions (while great, granted) are that they are GoPro only.
My plan is to have the flight camera separate (which I have now) so I can swap FPV pods .. one with fixed GoPro (built this one already), one with pan GoPro, one with pan Mobius, one with a gimbal for a GoPro.
I think I'm just gonna have to put up with having the GoPro being in view of the flight camera as I want that to pan (as it does now) so I can't cut it into the nose (which would be an option otherwise).
The panning is linked to my flight cam via a Y lead.
Quote from: Steve W on April 22, 2015, 08:06:01 PM
The thing with these solutions (while great, granted) are that they are GoPro only.
My plan is to have the flight camera separate (which I have now) so I can swap FPV pods .. one with fixed GoPro (built this one already), one with pan GoPro, one with pan Mobius, one with a gimbal for a GoPro.
I think I'm just gonna have to put up with having the GoPro being in view of the flight camera as I want that to pan (as it does now) so I can't cut it into the nose (which would be an option otherwise).
The panning is linked to my flight cam via a Y lead.
For the sake of 2x £30 board cam why not have 3 pods and 3 board cams? Get rid of the non pan GoPro option which leaves you with GoPro, mobius and gimbal.
Because it's more hassle .. I like having the FPV gear in-situ, and then just chop+change whatever I need at the time with the HD recording stuff. I have the FPV gear wired in nicely throughout the airframe so it's not so simple to change the locations.
I did this deliberately so that I had a known working setup that didn't need any faffing around.
As said, I think I'm just going to have to put up with it - the only real issue I have at the minute is the GoPro being in view of the flight camera:
(http://s11.postimg.org/fflp8u57z/wot_i_see.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/fflp8u57z/)
I've not tried it yet but I suspect the mobius will be almost a non-issue because it has a nice flat low profile.
Doesn't help that I'm using a 2.5mm (not 2.8!) lens for a nicer FOV
Fair enough man the less hassle the better I'm sure.
You could paint the back of the go pro case grey or black to make it less distracting.
Quote from: Billy_boy_2010 on April 22, 2015, 10:44:42 PM
Fair enough man the less hassle the better I'm sure.
You could paint the back of the go pro case grey or black to make it less distracting.
or the top half blue and bottom half green ;D
sorry its England... top half grey :laugh:
that would do my head in lol.
on my first skywalker, I used that same servo hole for the fpv cam on a pan servo... didn't take me long to rip it out and put the fpv cam next to the gopro.
each to their own though I guess, place would be boring if every skywalker was the same.
I wonder how much of a ballache it would be to put a 1g camera in the nose and switch between them both...
Well, I'll decide tomorrow as I'll be taking her out for a spot of FPV .. if it gets on my nerves then changes will be made :D
Nifty camera mount for the möbius on my Skywalker (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbmUx70k4IY#ws)
Looks good!
Does the gopro not pick up on the mobius when it's mounted in front? Or do you mean you use the mobius for HD and video out both of which are unobstructed and you don't fit the gopro?
And why is your board cam poor when facing the sun? I have just buggered up my mobius and I'm replacing it with a different camera, but, whilst I thought it was fantastic in many ways, my main gripe with it was its poor low light/low sun performance. I find board cams much better than the mobius for that.
The flight cam is a cheap CMOS affair, poor light handling - to be honest it'd be fine if it weren't so dark. I've tried changing the brightness + contrast in the goggles, still not great.
GoPro won't be in use if I'm recording with the Mobius...
Steve,
Have you thought of using the Mobius cam for fpv and recording and use flight batteries for power works great, i had Sony super had and Gopro but have changed for the Mobius solution , easy.
On my skywalker I have a cased sony effio-v flight camera on a 260degree pan servo - my mobius is mounted directly on top of flight camera so nothings in the way and everything pans at the same time, its small,light and works great - i threw it together to test but its been so good ive continued using it for last 2 years.
Steve,
Been playing around with the Mobius on my Gopro-Sony mount works great on the 360 pan, one cam for both fpv osd recording and normal recording, it must be remembered the Mobius is 5 volt
here is a pic of mine i will alter the mount later
(http://s4.postimg.org/tlgzd676x/IMAG0139.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/tlgzd676x/)
John.
Before, creates a lot of drag,
(http://s9.postimg.org/7wo5dge6j/IMAG0138.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/7wo5dge6j/)
Now,
(http://s29.postimg.org/pa7r0gxfn/IMAG0139.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/pa7r0gxfn/)
John
Yea I used the Mobius on my AXN for live + recording, I powered it direct from the immersion vtx, I'm doing the same thing here - I simply have to swap servo leads between the mobius + my CMOS camera (which is also 5v, and why I bought it).
What I really need is a 5v WDR flight camera.
Steve,
Think you should try 12v cams on 5v reduced power most work with less noise my modius recorders + live simultaneously
John
John
This lead gives you flight cam through osd and live recorder simultaneously on your Mobius
(http://s15.postimg.org/s8i19ysyv/IMAG0140.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/s8i19ysyv/)
John
Personally, I liked the landing in the maiden... F'Kin' 'ell...! 😄
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
haha .. yea glide caught me out.
I do land fairly close from time to time ...
What a bollocks landing that was (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELB8jRPw2n8#ws)
lol that was awsome - ive landed too close once and wiped out about 3 tripod ground stations
😄
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
:laugh:
Hahaha! Just watched that again and it still made me laugh! There was only one thing that was going to happen and I love the blip of throttle just to make sure you got a good whack!
Steve.
Old topic I know but could you let me know what tape you used?
Did you do upper and lower surfaces?
Thank you.
Mark.
Quote from: markwilliams on February 12, 2016, 09:47:12 AM
Old topic I know but could you let me know what tape you used?
Duck HD Clear heavy duty packaging tape. There's a picture of it on the first page
Thanks Adam.
Unfortunately being offshore on a boat my internet access is rubbish and the photos never load. I'll have a look when I get home next week.
Mark.
Quote from: Steve W on April 25, 2015, 03:40:40 PM
haha .. yea glide caught me out.
I do land fairly close from time to time ...
What a bollocks landing that was (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELB8jRPw2n8#ws)
If you do decide to ask the farmer to fly on his land then do we all need to wear safety gear :laugh: saying that I got quite close to my head on my last flight :-\
haha... I wish I could say I've improved my landings over the years but no...
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlTnE--fOL4#)
Oh yea.. then I fitted landing gear so it wouldn't actually stop even when I did land :laugh:
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMb2EQUM8cw#)
So let me revise my gear for a days fpving so I need my quad and props some tools and batteries a set of goggles erm packup and a flask errr what else o yes steves going to be there I'll need my helmet :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :dazed: :dazed: :dazed: :dazed: