So I was looking for a replacement airframe for my destroyed UM Stryker, preferably EPP and found the MS Composit Micro Swift.

It's a bit pricey for what you get (see picture) and the surface is a bit rougher than I'd like, nothing like the moulded frames we get from big manufacturers like Horizon or Silverlit.
But I'm told they fly well so decided to take the plunge.

This will be a three parter: first one to be completed in stock form, with guts from a Hobby King Mini Swift, that is to say two 3.7 g servos, 6A ESC and a non-descript outrunner capable of swinging a 5.1x3.1 prop (looks more like 4.5 pitch to me but whatever, I'm down proping it to 4540), along with a HK orange 6 ch Rx (without case) running on a Nano Tech 370 2S battery.
AUW= 80 grams which contrasts rather splendidly with the manufacturers recommended 150 grams!

The second part is where I Strykerize the Swift using the Stryker guts and add rudders. Projected AUW with 210 mA cells is 60 grams.

The third is a departure from the flying wing where I'll be using the latest AS3X equiped receiver from HH, it'll sport elevator and rudders on twin booms.
I expect exceptional pitch stablity and thus perfect for FPV.

So on with the building: it's really straight forward and the instructions (I hesitate to call it a manual..) are mostly useful for locating the CoG. It recommends foam safe CA with accelerator but I used UHU Por instead. Not that there's all that much to glue..
Marking out the the 100mm line from the nose I dry fit everything on the wings I had temporarily taped together and found a way to fit and balance everything. But there's not much margin: if say the balance lead from the battery is tucked away aft the plane is tail heavy; if I place it along the cell it's close to nose heavy!
I found that cutting out the battery and receiver bays before joining the wings made it very easy, and as for the servo pocked I simply removed a section, trimmed off the width of the servo and glued it back in.
This way I didn't have to carve out, dremel away or melt anything.
The leads I simply pushed down into shallow ruts I made with a sharp knife.
Another thing I did was fitting a Velcro band (the kind used to bundle leads) by looping it around the top: I cut two slits from the bay up to the upper surface and tread the band, it nows serves a second function of keeping the wing halves together!
The motor mount was a different story, I had to finagle a solution using what pieces I had and liberal lenght of my new best friend: glass fiber reinforced tape.
Moving on, I found the winglets to be a bit on the thick side so I sliced one in two and discovered there was a reason to their heft: the sliced pieces were really floppy. Bummer.
Finally I pondered how to smooth out the surface a bit and tried Solar film on a bit of scrap, ordinary iron set on low (Nylon). The result was nice save for one thing, shrinkage, which is undesirable when covering flexible material like EPP.
Packing tape simply wouldn't stick, but combining it with an iron worked well: minimal shrinkage, good adhesion and can be pulled off with no damage if needed and minimal weight gain!
And with packing tape on both sides the winglets are now stiff enough for use.

Edit: Maiden report in post #9

Getting started on the Stryker/Swift hybrid.

Since I'm putting working rudders inboard of the ailerons I had to decide what to do with the now winglet-less extremities. Leave as is (bad, bad aerodynamics!), a small winglet to act as fence or reshape them?
I opted for the third option and surprisingly little material had to be removed to produce nice looking wing tips.
Cut to shape using razor blade, grind away facets with wet nail file and finally using an iron set to moderate heat to remove fuzz (a piece of aluminium foil used in between to prevent iron and foam from sticking)

Pondered on where to cut the rudders, the Stryker rudders lean back quite a bit, don't know if there's a reason for this (desired pitch up tendency?) or just a design feature.
I'll probably cut my hinge line close to vertical and maybe get some proper yaw going (on the Stryker full rudder is just another name for rolling).

Taped everything together to gauge AUW and where to put equipment, it seems everything save the motor needs to be forward of CoG to balance!
I had hoped to bury the servo's in the thickest part of the wing.
I won't be using the supplied "motor mount", blocks too much area so I'm using a rod mount instead. That'll allow me to bring the motor a few mm's forward and a little breathing space CoG wise. Not too close to the TE though, don't want an unnecessarily noisy plane.

AUW so far is 56 grams.

reserved for part 3

ive both and while the wing doesnt have rudders, well, i prefer the stryker.
sure enough, the swift doesnt break, the stryker does. But the later just flies way better.

Originally Posted by CrashMeUp

ive both and while the wing doesnt have rudders, well, i prefer the stryker.
sure enough, the swift doesnt break, the stryker does. But the later just flies way better.

Gee thanks a lot Mr Buzzkill!

Just kidding, so what's your AUW on the Swift?
And have you tried the Radjet from HK? If so how does that compare to the Stryker?
Have the parts for one but they look awfully fragile.

my swift started at around 7-80gr, but, with the crashes, i added some more carbon and changed the motor mount. its around 110gr now I think. 200-300mah batts. I fly it heavier quite often tho, as I add fpv stuff on it (did the same on the stryker).

Have never tried the Radjet although I did eye it for a moment Its kinda big and heavy in comparison tho.

Don't worry about the micro Swift, it flies fine. Its just that the Stryker is an excellent flier.

As per previous post, I like how the swift wont break on crashes. So i just do crazy stuff with it, and well, if ever it does break, its easy to fix. When the stryker crashes bad, its hard to repair, impacts the flight quality quite a bit, or uhm, sometimes you can just buy a new airframe =P

Originally Posted by CrashMeUp

my swift started at around 7-80gr, but, with the crashes, i added some more carbon and changed the motor mount. its around 110gr now I think. 200-300mah batts. I fly it heavier quite often tho, as I add fpv stuff on it (did the same on the stryker).

Have never tried the Radjet although I did eye it for a moment Its kinda big and heavy in comparison tho.

Don't worry about the micro Swift, it flies fine. Its just that the Stryker is an excellent flier.

As per previous post, I like how the swift wont break on crashes. So i just do crazy stuff with it, and well, if ever it does break, its easy to fix. When the stryker crashes bad, its hard to repair, impacts the flight quality quite a bit, or uhm, sometimes you can just buy a new airframe =P

Re: the Radjet I'm thinking of the smaller 420.

Agree on the excellence of the Stryker, it really is outstanding, handles wind even better than the AS3X equiped ships!
Put the Beast 3D guts in a Sukhoi and it was fun in the wind, seeing it compensate like crazy, but the Stryker didn't even notice the 5 m/s!

oh yeah this one looks ok

talking of stryker this looks nice too http://www.horizonhobby.com/products...r-bnf-EFL10180 (its the huge version of the stryker basically)

I think i'd like to try a forward swept micro wing next.

Pretty uneventful as maidens go, frisbee toss to see if everything behaved normally, which it did so just opened up the throttle and away she went.

Three flights, first two with a coin taped to the nose to bring the CoG to the 95mm mark and needed a few clicks of up trim. Had to fiddle a bit with aileron trim until I realised the motor torque was the culprit, so I trimmed for neutral and compensated with the stick. I'll try a smaller 4040 prop next.

Third flight I removed the nose weight and needed quite a bit of down trim, eliminating any reflex the foil has but it behaved well nonetheless. A small tendency to dive at speed but nothing unmanageable.
Otherwise much more responsive and fun with the CoG on 100mm, climbs like crazy!

Daisy the DC-3 came by and made a high bank turn over us and I entertained the idea of fishing out my phone to snap a few pics with the Swift in frame, but alas not enough arms and nearly lost sight of it while ogling the DC-3.

Have to agree with CrashMeUp, it's no Stryker, not by a long shot, but it's a fun plane never the less.
It's also harder to see at a distance and nearly lost orientation a couple of times. Garish paint job should be the next priority.

Originally Posted by CrashMeUp

I think i'd like to try a forward swept micro wing next.

I say go for it! I just built one this past week and it flies every bit as good as the dozen or so "normal" rear swept wings I've built over the years. Just make sure to use a cg calculator that accepts negative sweep. Check out my blog for more information and photos. It's not a micro, but I have the gear necessary to build one once I find a suitable wing to use.

im flying my swift with a 5043, i felt the 4040 (i use that on the stryker) was too small. i use a diff motor tho.

Murman, your fsw wing looks very cool

Originally Posted by CrashMeUp

im flying my swift with a 5043, i felt the 4040 (i use that on the stryker) was too small. i use a diff motor tho.

I'll try a 5043, a 5030, a 4040 and the folding prop that came with the motor..
I suspect it's a pretty crap motor though, draws a lot of amps.

I meant to ask, when I dry fit the wings I get a small anhedral because of the way the wing roots are cut, did you get this on yours?

Anyhow I bought some Solar film and tried a new scheme, with mixed results, it certainly smooth things over and the colours really pop, but in order to really get it to stick I need heat and that means shrinkage, the wings now curve slightly.
I'll try light sanding, spraying an adhesive and using very low heat on the next one.

mine is perfectly straight, but, if ever there was anhedral when i glued it (i don't remember honestly, as cuts aren't always perfect from factory), i then pushed it until it'd be perfectly plane. if there was any it must have been small.

I would assume that anhedral affects the flight characteristics in a bad way.

I didn't cover mine, but if I were to, i'd use thin laminate like I do on bigger wings. It gives rigidity (unlike solar film & others). it also sticks well (some add some 3M spray to glue even better, but i never really need it). It may also curve the wing, so on has to be careful when applying either.

Also, it's ok to have some twist (tips of the wing more aligned with the ground than the center) as it brings more stability (some = 1-2 degrees, not more). Many wings actually have this twist from factory.

Originally Posted by Pouncer

I meant to ask, when I dry fit the wings I get a small anhedral because of the way the wing roots are cut, did you get this on yours?

.

Mine also has a down sweep to the two halfs. I had two and they are both like this. Weird.

The swifts all have anhedral. The wing is designed to fly with this and creates stability.

Mike F