I've been busying away with my skywalker build 1900mm
Now I've done some Mods and who hasn't!
My main ones so far are the Ailerons adding in proper wing hinges 2 on each Aileron
I cut slots in the foam and super glued them in then added some fibre tape on top as a just in case. Then the main Aileron control hinge is no longer push into the wing and hope it doesn't pull out. A layer of fibre tape then 2 screws through the horn to a plastic stop the other side and the same for the rudder and elevator.
Main hatch for access to internals cut on both sides.
Magnets now hold the canopy in place.
The wing is now one piece glued together, no way could you leave it a 2 piece wing, you couldn't trust it.
(http://s13.postimage.org/po25y4kar/IMG_1121.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/po25y4kar/)
Hi Mark,
Looking forward to your build thread. My build so far seems pretty much the same as yours - magnets on canopy, one piece wing etc. Really must finish my thread even though I have flown it many times now :-[
N.B. I had to pack up on one side of the fin to make sure that the tailplane was level with the wing! Also added reinforced tape to the underside to protect on landing.
that's farther than me guys, I took my won out of the box, and looked at it for ages.
;) G
Well if I push on with it may make a maiden for sunday...
needs rudder sorting and elevator next and its defiantly getting some fibre tape on the underside to help protect it!
Elevator looks like it could do with proper hinges but the carbon rod gets in the way... not sure what i'll do to it yet...
I left my elevator as standard, but just put a 1" wide strip of fibre reinforced tape along the hinge line on the top side. Been fine so far
Thanks :D
Looking good Mark, is your tail straigh, ive never had a straight one yet ? :)
Quote from: Coyote on March 17, 2012, 12:34:46 PM
Looking good Mark, is your tail straight, ive never had a straight one yet ? :)
it is as bent a 2 bob note :)
Lol, you think they`d get it right after 5 versions lol
Test flown today....
can turn left okay but not right...
flys okay on rudder though....
These are my new and improved control links :)
Hopefully these will solve any issues :)
Another test fly today, better but still won't turn left/right correctly...
Fixed it with a 20% Rudder mix with the ailerons
Now turns as it bloody well should do!
I just use my thumbs, good piloting discipline to do it yourself :)
Good to see you change the crap linkage hardware, the stock gears terrible. How about some videos ? :)
Quote from: Coyote on March 23, 2012, 06:31:31 PM
I just use my thumbs, good piloting discipline to do it yourself :)
Good to see you change the crap linkage hardware, the stock gears terrible. How about some videos ? :)
I could do it myself but cannot be arsed, the tranny can do it so let it :D :D
Needs final tests any FPV system tests tonight and then battery charge for maybe just maybe a flight Saturday/Sunday....
Depends though work work work :(
I do all my rudder aileron mixes manually because when I learnt to fly it was on a radio that couldn't do mixing lol good luck with getting a flight this weekend, I'm aiming to get airborne also with the skywalker
From having Thermal Gliders to get a flatish turn I used the mixs...
of course I can switch off all mixing, but the plane does a nicer flatter turn with it working and that should mean the antennas stay pointing upright better = better video signal through turns...
Don't get me wrong I can fly it without the mixing but for FPV I figure I'll make the flying easier and then I can enjoy the views more :)
marklincs i certainly agree with you there i like to fly hands on and don,t particularly like, something taking that pleasure away, but, there comes a point where a AP or anything that helps, ie mixes to work to help flatten your turns at a distance is going to make your life easier and enable you to enjoy the view even more, and keep that vital antenna pointing the right way lol :)
I also agree with coyote its fun to do it yourself but imo enjoying the view is also important too :D
dizzy
Keeping antennas upright.... you guys not using circularly polarised antennas? I honestly dont even think about it when mixing the sticks, just second nature so I still get to enjoy the views as my fingers just do what needs doing themselves :)
Well 2 more test flights without FPV gear and man o man the skywalker is insane at 1 meter or less off the deck :)
I was just having silly fun and when you take it high the glide on it is unreal... This will thermal for sure on a nice day...
I've had a Glider at 1250 meters and I can see this reaching it if the video signal holds out....
other wise base antenna will require an upgrade...
I might program in a stall option on a switch so if I loose signal at height to force it down as a precaution....
Love flying this now in FPV its rather fun and able to daftish things like low lazy 8s :) Dodging trees :)
Well...
new skywalker so had its 1st flights today and well I'm sure it was level when I built it....
Skywalker Tail is oh so good....
But it flys although triming it to fly straight a pain and still needs some wor doing but she flew oh so well. Plus moving the VTX to the tail has cleared up all my Video Issues but created a c/g issue now. I could do with more nose weight.... having to fly faster than i'd like to be honest because its sat back and not siting level in flight so a few bugs to bust out of it yet but very happy with this one :)
I've had to break the tail and add some small slithers of wood to one side on the tail to make it level.
Also had to move the vtx back to its old spot... It was just causing way to many issues on the tail but the picture was stuning.
Will fly today and test it out again.
The tail I don`t think they will ever get right without moving the horizontal stab down or making new " straight " moulds.
Good luck :)
Well it flys 10 times better ;-)
Sorted out the build issue
No longer wonky tail ;-)
Maybe you could sort the tail on my Easy Fly Glider, at full throttle it wiggles like crazy ... not very confidence inspiring :laugh:
Well I had enough of the Skywalkers tail so I stiffened it up....
I've seen similar mods so I went for it ;D ;D
carbon rod from the body of the dead skywalker recycling in action :)
I'm having the same problem with my SW. The tail was not "straight" when it came out of the box and is not much better now the halves have been glued together. I am contemplating either cutting a thin 2mm slither and re-aligning or stiffening with a brace as shown above.
[However, this is currently 2nd on the "to-do" list, since the motor came unstuck at the weekend resulted in the motor & prop going AWOL cutting through most of the tail boom - narrowly missing the control wires. Safely landed on the glide, but there is now a gaping hole where the boom/fuselage joint used to be. Pics to follow].
As promised, this is what happens when the motor comes away from your SkyWalker mid-flight.
I was able to glide to land safely, but the prop had made an awful mess of the boom - narrowly missing the controls to the tail and luckily not severing the tail completely!
(http://s10.postimage.org/psz63ntit/DSCF3004a.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/psz63ntit/)
(http://s15.postimage.org/oi60y1urb/DSCF3005a.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/oi60y1urb/)
Tidied up:
(http://s11.postimage.org/pdh081kyn/DSCF3006a.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/pdh081kyn/)
Too big for filler and too irregular for a pre-cut foam insert, so a quick squirt of expanding foam. Wait a day to fully expand. Cut off the excess and then sand down the remainder:
(http://s9.postimage.org/ukjwfgohn/Image014a.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/ukjwfgohn/)
Redrill air-flow outlet-hole from fuselage:
(http://s11.postimage.org/78dp4uh5r/Image015a.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/78dp4uh5r/)
(Fill in any small air-bubbles in the expanding foam - not shown)
A quick lick of paint and she's good to go (pending a new ESC!)
(http://s10.postimage.org/as6ix96id/Image024a.jpg) (http://postimage.org/image/as6ix96id/)
Did you paint the whole fuz blue before sticking the motor mount on by any chance? :-X
Yep. But made sure to cover the motor contact area beforehand to allow epoxy to bond wood ply to EPO. (Ply was also pre-painted on the outside only before fixing to motor and SW)
Also extended the 4 motor attachment bolts about 30mm into the EPO housing (into epoxy) to give a better grip and stop torque ripping it off again.
That sounds a lot better, especially with the deeper screws epoxied in
how you like those emax servos Mark ??
Quote from: marcin on October 23, 2012, 01:39:27 PM
how you like those emax servos Mark ??
well they do the job if a bit noisy
Now I do not think the VTX behind the motor does a great job li-po and motor and ESC in the way basically and I've even had to fly diagonally home, never straight at myself otherwise fuzzy screen time!
So time for some abuse of my Skywalker...
I'm putting the VTX out on my wing and I will counter it with Lead on the other side and I have had to Avoid the ESC and motor with the video lead so it all goes out side now... You can see the plugs for everything in the photos. :)
hopefully it will give me better overall performance although I'll have to watch dodging between the trees I expect or loose my antenna :o :o :o
I have also made the camera leads more stable on not so likely to vibrate and loose signal (oh it has happened) although I do not think I can make this skywalker Vibration free the motor shaft/prop adaptor does not look to be 100% straight... :)