Well after my powerline shenanigans (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLAtmJFzBFs) the other day I decided to retire the old Skywalker 1900 airframe and visit pastures new - a Skywalker Revolution 1720mm
I ordered it from HobbyKing UK for about £93 delivered, it arrived in under 48 hours so the build can begin.
It has no FPV gear on board yet as I'm still waiting for my sailwinch servo to arrive for the GoPro but here's the current spec and progress.
Things I like:- Much wider fuselage - can fit my whole fist right down it now
- Flat bottom fuselage - great for working on as it stands up without one of those stands (which I don't have :laugh: ). Also good for gluing a (supplied) battery tray into the bottom of the fuselage as it gets good contact.
- Plastic tailboom and connection mechanism - well thought out, works well
- THE TAIL IS STRAIGHT!!!
- It looks more in proportion than before (IMO) with the wider fuselage - sort of like an Icon A5 but bigger, I like it.
- I like the builtin dihedral in the wing, looking forward to seeing how it flies.
Things I don't like:- The canopy mechanism - the rear of it is great, as it has a mechanical spring-loaded mechanism to secure it to the fuselage. However the plastic "pins" which poke intothe front of the canopy to keep it secured wore away the foam while I was working on it and now the front lifts up - useless.
- The canopy fit was a bit crap (gaps)
So I need to come up with a decent way of latching on the front of the canopy - for now I'm using some velcro which won't hold properly once I put my GoPro on.
Spec:1050kv 3628 (I think) Turnigy Aerodrive motor
9x6 prop
4s 10000mAh
MG90 servos all round
Sailwinch servo coming for Pan
GoPro Hero 3 silver
Mobius (going on the wing)
250mw 5.8GHz VTX + HS1177 Camera
Frsky 2.4GHz w/ D8RII+ Receiver
Cyclops Tornado OSD and Autopilot
Pics so far:One of my builds wouldn't be complete without copious amounts of Duck Tape :D
(http://s32.postimg.org/o2m3ayg1t/WP_20160507_20_31_40_Pro.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/o2m3ayg1t/)
(http://s32.postimg.org/mfwvpq401/WP_20160507_20_48_00_Pro.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/mfwvpq401/)
(http://s32.postimg.org/sqxhsefup/WP_20160507_20_48_12_Pro.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/sqxhsefup/)
Edit:
Oh yea - need two more screws for the motor mount before anyone says anything :laugh:
That really does look nice Steve, love the paint scheme :)
Tape scheme :P
Looks the biz Steve :D I wonder how much difference the wingspan difference will make :D we have bits of ribbon hanging around on power lines here so we can see them ;)
dizzy ;)
The wings are 1720mm instead of 1900mm but they have extra chord so who knows... looking forward to chucking her up :)
looking good there steve mate, I still havent maidened mine due to work commitments and a brief FPV ban lol
What do you mean when you say the plastic pins wore the foam away? did you glue in both plastic parts?
the "pins" glue on the front of the canopy recess here:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/SkywalkerRevolution/SWR41.jpg)
and the opposing plastic part with the holes on glues onto the front of the canopy itself here:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8259957/FPV/SkywalkerRevolution/SWR42.jpg)
Quote from: Dizzy on May 07, 2016, 10:31:43 PM
Looks the biz Steve :D I wonder how much difference the wingspan difference will make
I've owned 2 x 1680 Skywalkers and both of them flew very well with the polyhedral.
This 1720 wing is very similar in design to the 1680 wing, I mean it's only 4cm longer for goodness sake so it's near identical really.
The 1900 wing made for a very "floaty" skywalker which is good and bad... good if you want fairly boring long range high endurance flights, but bad if you want to have a bit of fun. I found that the 1900 wing did not like fast or mild aerobatic flights and was the main reason I went for the SW Revolution. If I'd have just bought a set of replacement wings form FPVModel or similar, then the shipping costs would have made the whole purchase similar in price to a full SW Revolution from HK UK.
The 1900 wing also had no di- or polyhedral so whilst it generated a lot of lift with it's exaggerated undercamber, it didn't provide much stability and found that the autopilot was working overtime to keep it straight.
I have high hopes for this skywalker model, and by the looks of it, Steve will be flying his before I get to fly mine....
So I eagerly await your results mate :)
Oh, and now you've got more real estate for a bigger prop, I'd see how it goes with your current setup... but I reckon you should price up a lower kv motor and a larger prop. I've got a 920kv sunnysky and 12" prop (skyhunter recommended setup) on mine with plenty of room at the boom ;)
Quote from: BlueFlyer on May 08, 2016, 12:59:12 AM
looking good there steve mate, I still havent maidened mine due to work commitments and a brief FPV ban lol
What do you mean when you say the plastic pins wore the foam away? did you glue in both plastic parts?
That's why then - I'm missing the plastic part for the canopy. I thought it was a bit pants! I'll try and make something :D
Looking good steve
Quote from: BlueFlyer on May 08, 2016, 01:12:43 AM
Oh, and now you've got more real estate for a bigger prop, I'd see how it goes with your current setup... but I reckon you should price up a lower kv motor and a larger prop. I've got a 920kv sunnysky and 12" prop (skyhunter recommended setup) on mine with plenty of room at the boom ;)
I have quite a few 10" props so I think I'll stick with this current motor and on 4s run the 9x6" (which works well, loads of power) and put a 10x6 on 3s which should make up the difference. On 4s I'll be carrying 10A, 3s will be 5A so less weight penalty too.
Looks nice in orange and black, a colour scheme I used a lot years ago......Are you sure about having your receiver dipoles so close to those motor magnets?
Look forward to seeing some footage...Im still building my 1900 SW...
:vulture:
Well I'm distinctly unimpressed with the attachment mechanism for the tailboom (the orange clamp stored within the fuselage).
The clamp itself works wellenough with the 3 clamping screws tightened down, but the way it is mounted and held in place by the foam cutouts inside the fuselage is just going to get worse and worse as time goes on - there's already some flex which allows the tail to twist around slightly. I mean it's only 1mm or so but it has a pronounced effect by the time it reaches the tail. I've put a dab of hotglue on the orange piece that shows outside the back of the fuselage to hopefully keep it in place but ... meh!
Will I ever find a straight airframe that will simply last? Knew I should have bought a SkyHunter!
Well that's another odd one, mine is very snug and won't move
That's a shame Steve looks the biz other than that.
dizzy
Is the orange clamp supposed to be glued on the outside to the inside foam of both halves of the tail ?
Quote from: BlueFlyer on May 12, 2016, 05:34:34 PM
Well that's another odd one, mine is very snug and won't move
That's nice :laugh:
It's clamped in tight - there must be a tiny amount of play in the foam cut outs where the ridges go :(
As for gluing it in - possibly :laugh: But there were no instructions and it felt tight enough without doing so once the fuselage was pulled together.
Ah, that's why then. I uhu por'd my orange parts into the foam
Nice Steve
After my maiden friday i was well impressed with the glide with the wings
I had 5800 4cell so pretty light, on a 12 inch prop, was going well till I ploughed my fingers into the prop
Its a keeper though on the 1 flight I had
Cheers
Sod it - maiden time! LoS only though, goggles aren't charged :(
5000mAh 3s but I have a GoPro etc so it'll be heavy enough at the front.
Will report back.
ah, you'll have beaten me to it
Well it's done,maidened and .. I need more power. I think my 5000mAh 3s pack is hosed because it just didn't seem to have enough oomph to really do the plane justice.
It flew really nicely actually, but I have wayyy too much pitch authority. I managed to stall it on the third flight while attempting a go-around (shitty LoS flying :( ) and she tipstalled into the deck from about 10 feet up. Bit depressing as the battery came forward and punctured a hole in the nose cone but hey ho, it doesn't look as if there's any damage when it's pushed back in, and everything else was fine.
Considering the winds were apparently 15G20 it did pretty good - wish I'd maidened it on a calmer day though :laugh:
I also tried my landing gear on it but with the reduced power the extra weight and drag made it a little less fun to fly so I took them back off.
All in all pretty happy with it - flew as expected. I think possibly my CoG might be wrong, the tipstall was really quite violent :laugh:
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lED-UiLbxg#)
PLOP :)
Also need to do something about the camera shaking,it's not prop related, it's the servo mount.
OOOFF!
Yeah, I know that feeling of just wanting to get the damn thing in the air... then looking back with regret wishing I'd waited for a nicer day lol
So you reckon you'll ditch the landing gear and just put up with hand launching, placing into loiter, then taking a seat and putting your gogz on?
Also, a bit unnerving that tip stall... you say you only had a 5000mah 3S in it, so it must have been much lighter than what mine will be (8000mah 4S, eventually 10000mah 4S), I'll have to keep an eye on my airspeed.
Yea that's all I had in but that may have made it a bit tail heavy, hence the violent stall. Like I say I had LOADS of pitch authority as well to go along with that theory.
Bit difficult to tell really as it was being punished by the wind most of the flight. I'll load her up with 4s 10A next time.
Thankfully I got away with it this time with just a little flesh wound heh.
I'm also going to stop flying LoS, half of my problems come from that. Serious story.
Quote from: Steve W on May 12, 2016, 10:09:27 PM
I'm also going to stop flying LoS, half of my problems come from that. Serious story.
haha, LOS is a bit tricky when I'm so used to FPV lol
I always overcorrect my inputs when flying LoS. I used to be "not bad" at it, but now I just don't seem to have the skills.
I know what you mean. I don't get enough flying time as it is... when I do manage to get out, I want to make the most of that time and do what I really want to do... fly FPV.
That went in pretty well, cutting the throttle was the wrong choice there :)
Was it undamaged ?
The only damage was the lipo coming forward and putting a corner of it through the nose cone- pushed it back in and there's a small crack but nothing major, nothing that wouldn't have been there within a few weeks anyway :laugh:
So not time for tape just yet Steve?
EEEK! That really does look like torque related, but in the wrong direction....
You're not using a LH prop are you?
I know, I know, sorry, sucking eggs etc...
Good luck !
;)
nah same prop + motor as I had on my 1900
How did you sort the detached servo plug "mid-boom"?
I took the tail off and fed it all back through again. With some glue on the connectors :laugh:
SHe's good to go now.
cool, by the sound's of you last night on shout I was half expecting another bonfire video lol
Oh, you mentioned it might have been tail heavy?
When I was reading up about the revolution, it appears many people have their CG at the rear edge of the spar cover, or 10cm back from the leading edge... however you want to measure it.
Where had you set your CG for that first flight?
It was about 7cm from the leading edge.
Now I have it set to 9cm, hopefully that will make a difference.
Well. Flew her again tonight and what a difference it makes having some weight in the nose.
(http://s32.postimg.org/lmqdtqfyp/WP_20160516_20_18_53_Pro.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/lmqdtqfyp/)
(http://s32.postimg.org/5xofl0dap/WP_20160516_20_18_58_Pro.jpg) (http://postimg.org/image/5xofl0dap/)
I wanted to test how she flew on both 3s and 4s, with and without landing gear. To make the landing gear easily swappable I simply duplicated the bottom plate with a piece of ply and attached the wheels to it. Then I added some smooth velcro to the fuselage plate, and some"grabby" velcro to the landing gear plate ... 2 second conversion from landing gear to "chuckable". Perfect. It really helps that the bottom of the fuselage in this version of the Skywalker is broad, and FLAT .. keeps the airframe steady on the landing gear mount.
I took the 4s battery out for the 3s tests, but when I flew 4s I left the 3s battery in to keep the weight (I just pushed it back a bit to keep the CoG correct).
1000mAh battery is being used for my video gear.
3s with landing gear (Total onboard: 3s 5000mAh, 3s 1000mAh)
Slow, distinct lack of climb power, nose dropped in turns probably due to the drag of the wheels
3s without landing gear (Total onboard: 3s 5000mAh, 3s 1000mAh)
Flew well but slowly, very easy to land
4s with landing gear (Total onboard: 4s 2250mAh, 3s 5000mAh, 3s 1000mAh)
Good climb rate, fairly slow cruise and once the plane slowed down the nose dropped - meant I had to come in a little hotter for landing
4s without landing gear (Total onboard: 4s 2250mAh, 3s 5000mAh, 3s 1000mAh)
Good climb rate, decent cruise rate and floaty landings due to there being no drag underneath the plane.
So - 4s without the landing gear is the best, and I really think this plane needs 4s .. 3s just feels like it's lumbering along,although you can keep it very light which means you can cruise around for ages. Me, I like a little punch in order to climb before cruising.
I do like the landing gear but again 4s required and it needs a faster landing or else it just "plops" down once the airspeed drops.
All tests with 9x6APC 36/28 Turnigy Aerodrive 1250kv motor.
One thing is does need is the canopy secured down - it's not coming off, but it rattles a bit - my GoPro footage is pants, it's not prop related because I noticed the same thing happening when I was putting it into position for takeoff on the road. Vibration sucks!
I noticed the same thing regarding the GoPro footage. There's a constant shakiness to it, it's not jello... just shakiness.
But I also notice it on the FPV cam whilst flying in the goggles, so I think the canopy is just rattling or something.
I'm going to take a look at a different way of securing mine, most likely a few strips of "hook" velcro on either side of the fuselage by the canopy deck with a "loop" velcro strap over the canopy from left to right, secured on the opposing hook strips
Yep that's my plan as well, to be honest it's an extra security measure - right now just a little plastic clip securing my GoPro + flight camera to the aircraft, not much when you think about it lol.
No surprise 4S and no landing gear would give you the best results. It should stay up for ages (owww err.)
Plenty of potential now :)
Lands nice in manual mode even in the wind :)
https://youtu.be/liRNVHoRRK4
Nice landing Steve.
I always tape down the canopy on mine with electrical tape to hold it secure or when I use my pan-tilt I replaced the stock screw with a m8 captive nut and nylon screw. Holds it down very tight.
Very nice Steve. I watched it last night at home and thought there may be a slight focus issue with it.
Probably is - I've got one of those protective lens cover things on it which are most likely throwing the optics off.
I think the Revolution is draggier than the 1900 - might be the fatter fuselage but it feels more sedate.
Hi Steve,
She flies nice in calm conditions, they all do though......I like the Orange and Black colour trim, I need to do something similar with mine, acres of white look awful...
I hope to use 10amp 4S in mine with a 9 x 5 prop, but there is room to use a 10 inch prop if I need to......A 9 inch prop on a 2 mtr plane is a bit small if you ask me.
Am I right in thinking you used Velcro on your Aluminium sheet undercarriage..?
:vulture:
There's room for a 12" prop lol.... that's what's on mine :)
8Ah or 10Ah 4S LiPo with a big 900kv motor and 12" graupner CAMCarbon power prop
I'm running a 9x6 on a 1250kv motor on 4s, I only have a 40A ESC onboard heh...