Hey guys I just wanted to show you my Skywalker Build and some finished pictures.

I made a USB plug to attach to the side of the plane so I can easily get the OSD data off the plane.

I use a dragon link UHF system so I mounted the antenna in the tail you can see the last 3 inches that is exposed at the top of the tail.

I installed 2 8mm x 1mm carbon strips in each wing.

I strengthened the tail with some fiberglass tube in the V shape, I used fiberglass because its transparent to RF and thats important near the antenna.

I made the nose camera platform out of 1/32 ply I laminated and shaped to fit.

AUW came out to be 55 oz ready to fly not to shabby, I was thinking it would be closer to 60 oz.

Still need to make a battery hold down of some kind, what do you guys use?

I was thinking of making a foam slot for the battery out of depron, I don't use Velcro.


Link to matching ground station-

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showt...127491&page=48

-Anson

Alpina540 that is a sweet looking bird you have there !

Originally Posted by saucisse

Alpina540 that is a sweet looking bird you have there !

+1 very nice!

Originally Posted by rclab1

daemon
The 4 rubber bands have held up to everything I've thrown at em.
Loops, rolls, hard landings. The idea is you want them to hold with flight loads
and pop off if you crash, instead of breaking the wing. They do both just as they are.


I just noticed that when I hold the underbelly and wiggle side to side, and I look at where the wings sit on the fuselage shoulder...the rocking back and forth causes the wings to separate from the fuselage just a bit..... I'll be more confident if I had 2 extra rubber bands, and still functions as "breaking off" during a crash.

also, where would I find these exact/or better Rubbers bands to hold our wings down?
I may loose some on the way to the field and having extras' to be safe :-)

I used 4 rubber bands, too tight

Looks more like the weight of the motor continuing on forward, ripped the back of the
wing mount off. That'll happen when it piles straight into the ground nose first.
Have seen that on several EZ*'s. One way to help avoid is to run a strip of
Kevlar cloth from the sides of the fuse, up over the top of that area, and CA it on
(use a spritz of Super77th on the cloth to make it tacky, lay it on, smooth it out, and then
hit it with super thin CA. Light and very strong).

There'll always been types of crashes that the rubber bands can't help with.
They're generally for the classic "tumble" where you come in and catch a wing tip and
the plane cartwheels. That should twist the wing relative to the fuse and pop
the bands off, although it might still crack the mount area. Easy fixes though.

ian

...

Yeah thats a tough sell as a work bench to the lady of the house...

It has been the work bench for finishing it off.

O and sorry about the blurry pics, cell phone camera was all I had.

-Anson

Anson
One of the cleanest I've seen!

What is the black "tape" on the leading edge of the wing and also the tail?

I have used EPE (expanded poly-ethylene) to make battery and other component mounts.

Its just black monocote trim sheet stuff, that I cut.

Thanks for the compliments!

-Anson

Originally Posted by wac

Hey Guys,

Sorry to ask such a knob question, but do i need to use a pusher prop on my skywalker?

Thank you
Bill

No pusher prop needed. Just make sure the prop is on correctly, and that is is spinning the right direction.




Sweet Skywalker! that is an amazing build.

Alpine, in the electronics bay, you might want to put some heatshrink over those Dean connectors. Looks like an accident waiting to happen. -Tyler

Originally Posted by flyboy321

Alpine, in the electronics bay, you might want to put some heatshrink over those Dean connectors. Looks like an accident waiting to happen. -Tyler

I was just about to say the same thing, but instead of heatshrink use liquid electrical tape. That way you won't have to unsolder/resolder. I absolutely love liquid electrical tape and am never going back to heatshrink.

Originally Posted by Blueshy

I was just about to say the same thing, but instead of heatshrink use liquid electrical tape. That way you won't have to unsolder/resolder. I absolutely love liquid electrical tape and am never going back to heatshrink.

thats interesting, is this the same as liquid rubber they dip tools for coating?

...

Originally Posted by nakelp86

thats interesting, is this the same as liquid rubber they dip tools for coating?

Pretty much, cept it's a little less....rubbery when it dries. I recommend you try it out. I love not having to remember to put heatshrink on up the wire before soldering anymore. I can just solder and when I need it covered I just apply the liquid tape and let it dry. It covers anything you apply it to, forming a watertight bond but yet is still as easy to cut away with an exacto knife as regular heatshrink. Also has the same flex, if not a little more than normal heatshrink.

Originally Posted by scrape

You guys think the foam will short it out.

If you think I err on the side of caution by not having positive and negative charged elements exposed to each other and the environment then all you want.