Coyote`s Skyfun

[FPVSteve]

Just watched your latest vid on Vimeo mate, very nice although it did get chucked around a bit.

I think I'm gonna grab one of these and copy your build - it'll make for some fantastic calm summer night videos blatting around the field.

[Coyote]

Cheers Steve, again was running late this morning so didn't have time to pop it in here, I do now though :http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcm08bVZIgE

Yeah it was getting buffered about a fair bit, I think the Mobius needs pointing down more as well tbh.

These foam elevons have to go though, terrible they are, I have to retrim every single flight due to themgetting distorted while being stood.

[pk-surfing]

The elevons are a bit twisty on their own, I glued a thin (same thicknes as the TE) carbon fibre strip down the trailing edge and it keeps them nice and rigid, also the control horns are fixed through to a thin ply insert on the other side thats wider than the horn to spread the loads.



PK

[micarus]

Great video Ian, you must like the windy days M8lol!

       Good move by P.K. as I did with my Phantom a couple of strips of Carbon works wonders.

It does go well though , but not through fences ,Ha Ha!

            Cheers  MIKE.

P.S my smilies still won't work.

[mark1975]

Enjoyed that ian  good video like the blasting down above that road sure I could see a speed camera flash lol

[electricmick]

Great flight. Maybe its the floppy elevons but most of the "being knocked about" was in yaw, the camera on the front might be decreasing yaw stability so extending the two fins by 10-20mm to the rear might help this. Easy to do with some stiff clear plastic slotted and glued into them.

Mick

[Coyote]

Cheers guys :)

Mick, that's a point about the camera, it did though before fitting the Mobius do the wobble in the yaw, but only at 80%+ throttle. O had not addressed that, mainly because I wasn't sure what it was. I will be beefing up the elevons or replacing them with balsa ones this weekend. If it is the Mobius causing it then I'll extend the fins as suggested because it needs sorting.

In the quest for more speed once I fix the stabability issue I'll be fitting a NTM 3000kv motor with either a 4.5 x 4.5 or 5x5 prop which will increase the speed quite a bit more than it is currently.

[Coyote]

Progress time :)

First modification was to swap out the foam flexible elevons for balsa strong versions. A quick trim to Keith's, some over sized ailerons and a bit of cutting and shaping and they are now on. A few layers of varnish to harden them, then they will be taped white, then taped again with clear for more strength



Next I moved the motor to the rear of the mount to get the CG further back



I then fitted the MyFlyDream Telefly OSD for antenna tracking. I`m not going to use it because I`m flying off the goggles, but I put it in to see if my tracker is now working again.



I forgot to put a shot up of the Mobius on the front now replacing the WDR 650

[Coyote]

OK so yesterday didn't go well :)

I had moved the motor backwards, but it seems that even though the motor mount hadn`t been moved it was way way out !

The launch was loud and some what brief lol Paul chucked it, it started to dive instantly, I gave it full back and nothing, bump ! An ejected canopy plastic and a bust canopy later it could have flown, right until Ian bear claws thought I`ll just see if I can bend the mount up, just a little bit :) :)

Crack ! Motor mount alloy snapped :(



Of course Hobbyking UK don`t stock a replacement, the UK store that does carry one ( only the alloy part ) wanted £13 for it ......... The whole kits only £40 delivered to your door !!!

Anyway, Paul has a Jamara Roo jet, its probably the original of the SKyfun before it got ripped off and copied, every exact mm by mm :) So Paul kindly took the measurements from his motor mount and dropped in this afternoon a 3D printed motor mount :)



Awesome :)

I drilled the holes, found some nylock nuts and on its gone, in white too to match the plane, me likey :)



He has kindly printed off a spare for me next round arsed in field modifications

[pk-surfing]

Nice one Ian, glad to put the printer to a good use.

[Brucey]

I was going to say I have a spare motor mount, but the replacement you have looks better!

[Coyote]

Cheers Brucey :)

I decided to put a TeleflyOSD in it to find out if my trackers back in action. Then I found the V5 sends telem down the video as well as audio if you used the TelefyPro OSD. I ordered one and today it came :)

It was slightly larger than I first thought ! Massive lol But in it went



Current sensor and Ublox GPS as well

Balances fine, ready to give it a whirl

[darlofranco]

Great video, brought back old memories, managed to spot the house I was brought up in :o

[Coyote]

Had a fairly decent crash last weekend with it, lipo got disconnected then burst into flames :) Wing was very damaged, canopy bust, motor mount was some where but couldn't be found, ESC wires damaged etc so I decided a retro fit was needed

And so begins Experimental Airlines Mk 32 test bed :)

Gorilla glued in a ply plate doubled up and sunk into the main fuse :



Gave in and fitted an AP for RTH function which might save me a few repairs in the future, how it will cope with the vibrations is anyone`s guess  :



I had no FY31AP GPS sensor so used a Ublox GPS instead, a quick swap of the Tx and Rx wires and it works fine getting lock in seconds. You can also see the filler on the rebuilt wing, needs a sand and some more to get the full shape back :



This was positioned towards the back out on the wing to shift the CG further back, I have done the same with the Vtx as well :



The idea being I could then get the AP behind the lipo and get rid of some lead as well as open the option up for a 3000 mah size lipo for longer flights.

I also didn't like the intrusive look of the Mobius and wanted that further back as well to aid the CG. So I took the lens out and used an extension to get a nose back and shift the mass to the rear. I cut some spare foam up to fill in the empty space : 



Then I added lightweight filler to regain the nose shape, its just gone on so needs to set before sanding, but its getting there :

[Coyote]

So the Skyfun has been good fun, got well battered over time and it was either retire it or grace it with a fresh new body.

Fresh new body it is to be then :)

A few changes to be made :

Going back to the 2700 NTM motor and a 6x4 prop for longer flight times.
MyFlyDream AP going in for some stabilization
1.3Ghz video this time around
EZUHF going in over the 2.4 Frsky
4000mah 4S over the 3000mah 4S
Laminating the Skyfun this time so the dirt doesn't get in making it look nasty straight away like tape alone has done.

Again a 4" extension was used on the Mobius to get the front more streamlined and the body weight of the camera further back to aid CG. I lightweight filled the camera lens in so I could laminate easily around it :



The body then sits inside the canopy :




I treat myself to a Hobbyking laminating iron after my limited success with a household iron on the Ritewing Z3. The finish on the Z3 left me with not much hope of a great finish on the Skyfun. This turned out to be misplaced.

Here is the main body with the Vtx and UHF fitted that has been laminated. Both wings, horizontal stabilizers are laminated. Only the nose to do once the filler has set.




The laminate went on perfectly, no air bubbles, no lifted patches, I`m very happy with the result so I will be doing exactly the same with the Solius and Twinstar.