Skywalker Revolution

[FPVSteve]

Well after my powerline shenanigans 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







Edit:
Oh yea - need two more screws for the motor mount before anyone says anything :laugh:

[Coyote]

That really does look nice Steve, love the paint scheme :)

[FPVSteve]

Tape scheme :P

[Dizzy]

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 ;)

[FPVSteve]

The wings are 1720mm instead of 1900mm but they have extra chord so who knows... looking forward to chucking her up :)

[BlueFlyer]

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:


and the opposing plastic part with the holes on glues onto the front of the canopy itself here:

[BlueFlyer]

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 :)

[BlueFlyer]

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 ;)

[FPVSteve]

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

[beesleyboy]

Looking good steve

[FPVSteve]

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.

[English Turbines]

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:

[FPVSteve]

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!

[BlueFlyer]

Well that's another odd one, mine is very snug and won't move

[Dizzy]

That's a shame Steve looks the biz other than that.

dizzy