Skywalker 1900

[FPVSteve]

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:



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:



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!

[FPVSteve]

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...



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.


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:


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 :)

[FPVSteve]

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:







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.

[FPVSteve]

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....



I then tunnelled through my beautiful new wings with the wife's knitting needle having first marked where the holes would go.



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.

[FPVSteve]

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 ..



I bought a Turnigy T1000FC 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:

[Coyote]

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 :)

[Billy_boy_2010]

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.

[CurryKitten]

Wing looks great Steve - looking forward to your maiden

[seebuyfly]

Will be keeping an eye on this, it's coming on a lot faster than mine!

[AdamG]

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

[MarkLincs]

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 ;)

[Loopdreams]

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.

[FPVSteve]

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.

[iPeel]

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?

[bignose13]

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