Mini Skywalker build coming up

[g.collins]

I think I will just use a heatsink and make sure its in the airflow. I think it can run on 5v as well if its the same model as available elsewhere.

Yeh its the mini skywalker I've ordered from hobbyking so should be here in a week and a bit, I need to decide on a camera to use that probably under £25 but still reasonably light and good quality.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Brett

Hay Brett
I was wondering how you was getting on with your Skywalker.
:) G

[ghost2212]

Well all the bits arrived from hobbyking today ;D

I havent ordered a camera or video TX yet,

I am trying to source the 200mw video transmitter from china because the one from range video is the wrong channels I believe.

Hope to get on with it soon :)

[ghost2212]

Well almost 3 months later I got flying :D

Mini Skywalker Remaiden Onboard

Should be getting the FPV gear for it soon, It seems to have plenty of power on a 1300mah 3s lipo though not sure about the CofG, Did anyone else find that it doesnt bank into the turns properly? I'm going to try mixing in some rudder with the ailerons to see if that helps.

[g.collins]

im only using a 900ma battery with my one, Im afraid I have limited Internet at the moment, so I cant watch yore video, I should be up and running by the end of next week.
:) G

[turdsurfer]

I'm still waiting for some parts for mine, but I want to build it light using a 400 to 800mah 2S battery, however I'm afraid it may turn out tail heavy that way and in that case I may build it as a twin engined puller. Is anybody using such small batteries in it?

[g.collins]

Hi turdsurfer
I'm sure it will be OK with a smaller battery, it will all probably bounce out when you put your camera and VTX on the front.
:) G

[cxlabs]

Hi everybody
and special thanks to g.collins that
helped me so much with his photos.

I'd like to post some photo of my nearly-finished mini skywalker
to see if you notice something wrong.

This is my first plane built, so don't be too heavy  :)

One big doubt is the soldering to extend aileron servos wire:
wings bends during fly and soldering tends to broke
after some time...

Thanks for comments

[g.collins]

Well don Cxlabs
your most welcome mate.
you have don a lovely clean build so far, what I do when extending the wires is stagger the joins, so the positive is slightly longer than the negative, which is slightly longer than the signal wire, it keeps them apart and when you put shrink rap around the join, its thinner, stronger and you don't need 3 separate bits of shrink rap.
if you ever need to discus any ideas, just give me a call.
I have nearly finished the mark 2, I'm trying to cram an FY21 and a AP117 in this one, its a tight fit, but if I manage it, it will have autopilot and return to home.
;) G

[g.collins]

Just when you thought it couldn't be don, I did it.  :laugh:
this is the maiden flight of the mini Skywalker 2.
i'm afraid I was in a bit of a rush and didn't give much thought to the ground antenna, it was on its side and pointing to the plane, so it was fliying in its lol, but it was all line of sight, so I didn't realise, now I now its all good, I will probably put a better camera on it, its only a £12 one.
the FY21 and the AP117 was a bit of a squeeze, but still easier to fit to this, than in my Easy star setup.
as you can see in the picks, I removed the case of the FY21, this allows it to be suspended on the foam mounts, without touching anything.
I was rely surprised that it didn't need any trimming, and when I switched it to auto level, it flow strait and level.
I tried to run the setup with one battery, but could not get it without interference to the video, I guess its all to tightly packed, so in the end I used separate batteries, a 360mah for video and 900mah for motor.
I now the screen is cluttered, but I left it on full OSD, just so I could see it all working.






its the same layout, but I disconnected the extra power wire, from the current sensor, and ran it from a separate battery.








Mini Skywalker with FY21.mp4

:) G

[cxlabs]

Nice job, mate  :)
Video is good, don't care about cheap camera.. it let you fly, do you ?  ;D
Thank you for wire-cut suggestions, simply and useful.
I nearly finish my mini skywalker,and i want to enforce tail with a carbon rod.
It seems very fragile...

[skooter]

Very impressed with this thread and the MiniS builds!

I am just wondering one thing: what kind of flying weight are you achieving?  Looking at your latest iteration with the FY unit and board camera ... seems this plane can handle quite a bit.

I started into my MiniS build this week.  I put on CE OSD1.5, a 1000mah 3S battery, a 3 gram camera and an Orange Rx+satellite.  The video is a Foxtech 200mW unit with a TrueRC pinwheel antenna.  I am at 450grams before I finish the build with servos and such!  Seems real heavy for a plane advertised at 250 grams.  I think the power is there on my build to fly it, but is it going to be a flying brick at 450gm+, and be pushing the wing spar to the limit?  I realize I can save 50 grams on the battery if I go for a smaller one.  Whaddya think?

cheers

[g.collins]

Very impressed with this thread and the MiniS builds!

I am just wondering one thing: what kind of flying weight are you achieving?  Looking at your latest iteration with the FY unit and board camera ... seems this plane can handle quite a bit.

I started into my MiniS build this week.  I put on CE OSD1.5, a 1000mah 3S battery, a 3 gram camera and an Orange Rx+satellite.  The video is a Foxtech 200mW unit with a TrueRC pinwheel antenna.  I am at 450grams before I finish the build with servos and such!  Seems real heavy for a plane advertised at 250 grams.  I think the power is there on my build to fly it, but is it going to be a flying brick at 450gm+, and be pushing the wing spar to the limit?  I realize I can save 50 grams on the battery if I go for a smaller one.  Whaddya think?

cheers

Thanks Skooter
the all up flying wight for the one with the CE OSD 1.5 is 407g up and fliying, when I place the HK wing cam on it takes the weight up to 437g and flies great, it is a lot heavier than the suggested weight, but still cruses at half throttle, the one with the FY kit in it, is the same weight ish, but I use a separate 30g lipo for the FPV gear.
I love my mini Skywalker and prefer to fly it, rather than my EasyStare.
:) G

[dogzilla]

Well I love this little bird, I managed to get a flight in today, I went to my local park its a familiar place

At 1:19 just as the interference clears up... I can see my flat :)

Great looking plane, surprising how well it flys for the size.

[fpsazerbaijan]

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the great thread- I've just clicked the order button for a complete setup from HobbyKing- only 9 left! So that panicked me into buying one...

Looks like a great wee plane that is 'sort of' portable compared to my Bixler :D

Will keep you updated!

Cheers!
-Al :D

[g.collins]

good luck fpsazerbaijan,
its a great little plane, I have 2 of them.

ha dogzilla,
I didn't realize you lived so close, we should meet up some time.
:) G