Skywalker build

[MarkLincs]

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 :)

[Dizzy]

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

[papa_lazerous]

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 :)

[MarkLincs]

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....

[MarkLincs]

Love flying this now in FPV its rather fun and able to daftish things like low lazy 8s :)  Dodging trees :)

[MarkLincs]

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 :)

[MarkLincs]

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.

[Coyote]

The tail I don`t think they will ever get right without moving the horizontal stab down or making new " straight " moulds.

Good luck :)

[MarkLincs]

Well it flys 10 times better ;-)

Sorted out the build issue

No longer wonky tail ;-)

[FPVSteve]

Maybe you could sort the tail on my Easy Fly Glider, at full throttle it wiggles like crazy ... not very confidence inspiring :laugh:

[MarkLincs]

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 :)

[ffinybryn]

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].

[ffinybryn]

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!





Tidied up:


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:


Redrill air-flow outlet-hole from fuselage:


(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!)

[tdmodels]

Did you paint the whole fuz blue before sticking the motor mount on by any chance?   :-X

[ffinybryn]

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.