OK, this isn't necessarily soley a skywalker question, but its for my skywalker Im finishing up....so hopefully this is an acceptable thread to ask. Figured someone might know in here, so I figured it'd be the best place to ask.

I am using a Futaba 9Cap Super Tx, with a Dragonlink, an Eagle Tree OSD/Logger to a Turnigy Plush 60A and a Turnigy 3536 motor.

After I got the DL binded, everything works perfectly, however my throttle is reversed. I thought, no biggie, I'll just reverse the throttle in the 9C, which works fine, however, if the Futaba is switched off, or loses signal, the throttle goes full blast On its own. I had my plane try to shoot off the bench, holy !

So, how can I:

A) Adjust one of the things so the throttle doesnt need to be revered (so it wont do this) (I looked at the ESC programming card and this doesnt seem to be an item I can adjust)

or

B) make it not go full throttle when Tx signal is lost?

Please help!

Look up how to set the failsafe for your DL system, and do it again with the throttle at zero position.

Guys, as out thread grows longer it is getting less and less practical to even try looking for an answer in older posts...
I am sure this question was addressed quite a few times before, but have to ask it again.

I finished my SW and I found that it is very very tail heavy.
Yes I added one carbon tube along the boom making it 2 (one stock with wires running inside it, and one additional 6mm; it fitted so well in the upper groove that I decided they were made for each other). Also, a 3 mm carbon tube running at an angle through holes drilled in both tubes along the front edge of the vertical fin to the top to reduce twisting.

I also laminated the plane nose to tail top to bottom including wings with laminating film used for badges and alike obtained from stationery shop.

However all that added tubes and film are not all that heavy and as I know there are people who install radios or video transmitters in the tail; the weight of my mods can't nearly compare to the weight of the radio equipment (plus the lever length is quite different).

My motor is a bit on the heavy side plus it sits on a self-made mount but the lever is short so it wouldn't add too much to this tail heaviness.

Now with a single 5000 mAh 4S battery, FY31AP+Hornet and all that ESC, BEC and wiring plus front landing gear (no tail wheel) the plane weighs about 2100 g (NO video battery and other video gear on board). Video battery and way camera and servos and alike will add about 300 g on the nose end (HD camera not counted yet) but it doesn't seem to be enough.

I always considered a possibility to use 2 paralleled 5000 mAh 4S batts, well, in this case the balance would probably be nearly perfect (CG on servo cable line) - but it'd be stupid to drag so much weight on every flight as I would love to reserve a chance to fly light on close range, with just one 4S and with no GoPro. Besides, whatever extra range I gain by putting in one more battery will probably be eaten up by increased amperage due to overweight. Winning 5% extra distance by adding 25% extra weight doesn't sound smart solution.

Now the CG is about 5 to 6 cm behind the servo line. Too bad, too bad. Suggestions? How do you cope with it?

Originally Posted by Cathay Stray

Guys, as out thread grows longer it is getting less and less practical to even try looking for an answer in older posts...
I am sure this question was addressed quite a few times before, but have to ask it again.

I finished my SW and I found that it is very very tail heavy.
Yes I added one carbon tube along the boom making it 2 (one stock with wires running inside it, and one additional 6mm; it fitted so well in the upper groove that I decided they were made for each other). Also, a 3 mm carbon tube running at an angle through holes drilled in both tubes along the front edge of the vertical fin to the top to reduce twisting.

I also laminated the plane nose to tail top to bottom including wings with laminating film used for badges and alike obtained from stationery shop.

However all that added tubes and film are not all that heavy and as I know there are people who install radios or video transmitters in the tail; the weight of my mods can't nearly compare to the weight of the radio equipment (plus the lever length is quite different).

My motor is a bit on the heavy side plus it sits on a self-made mount but the lever is short so it wouldn't add too much to this tail heaviness.

Now with a single 5000 mAh 4S battery, FY31AP+Hornet and all that ESC, BEC and wiring plus front landing gear (no tail wheel) the plane weighs about 2100 g (NO video battery and other video gear on board). Video battery and way camera and servos and alike will add about 300 g on the nose end (HD camera not counted yet) but it doesn't seem to be enough.

I always considered a possibility to use 2 paralleled 5000 mAh 4S batts, well, in this case the balance would probably be nearly perfect (CG on servo cable line) - but it'd be stupid to drag so much weight on every flight as I would love to reserve a chance to fly light on close range, with just one 4S and with no GoPro. Besides, whatever extra range I gain by putting in one more battery will probably be eaten up by increased amperage due to overweight. Winning 5% extra distance by adding 25% extra weight doesn't sound smart solution.

Now the CG is about 5 to 6 cm behind the servo line. Too bad, too bad. Suggestions? How do you cope with it?

Okay so I'm not going to be able to help you out but I want you to consider one more thing as you're looking for a solution. You mentioned that you are thinking of adding 2 x 5000mah batteries on top of everything else just to balance the plane. You have to take into account the stress it puts on the wings with all that extra weight. As well, it will take MUCH more throttle time to keep the plane in the air. I would consider removing some weight where you can from behind the CG, rather than thinking about adding more in front. As well, one thing I would seriously consider is creating a custom motor mount that will allow you to keep the same thrust angle but allow you to move motor forward more. The key is weight shift... not to continuously add weight. hth.

Originally Posted by ashdec87

Sorry to hear that. Were you recording? Contact number on the plane?

I wasn't recording, however I don't think it would have done me a whole lot of good anyway... I was at about 800 ft, about 4,500ft out, and I lost video...

I tried banking to regain video, however after a few seconds, I gave up and switched off my TX to activate RTH on the RVOSD5, but she never made it back... It was very windy today, and I was having a hard enough time flying her manually... I know roughly where the plane was when I lost video, but since it had RTH, I have no idea where the plane managed to fly itself before it finally crashed...

I'm going to print a bunch of REWARD fliers promising a cash reward tomorrow, and leave them on all the mailboxes in the vicinity of where it went missing. Its mostly just farmland, so hopefully someone will find it on their farm, and see one of my fliers... I'm pretty bummed, considering I spent over a year building this Skywalker, but at this point, I'll just settle for getting the wreckage back so I can recycle the electronics...

Awesome, thanks!

Originally Posted by Daemon

Look up how to set the failsafe for your DL system, and do it again with the throttle at zero position.

Anyone...???

Originally Posted by williamjames

Hi guy's, just wondering... what is the consensus on best method of gluing the wings together... especially with respect to the below 2 factors:

1) type of glue?

2) how to ensure perfect alignment?


Thanks

Originally Posted by Cathay Stray

I finished my SW and I found that it is very very tail heavy.
Yes I added one carbon tube along the boom making it 2 (one stock with wires running inside it, and one additional 6mm; it fitted so well in the upper groove that I decided they were made for each other). Also, a 3 mm carbon tube running at an angle through holes drilled in both tubes along the front edge of the vertical fin to the top to reduce twisting.
I also laminated the plane nose to tail top to bottom including wings with laminating film used for badges and alike obtained from stationery shop.

However all that added tubes and film are not all that heavy

Well, your experience has proven otherwise. Almost all that stuff you added was behind
the CG and much of it on a long lever arm. It doesn't need to be all that heavy to
make it hopelessly tail heavy. The SW is not tail heavy. It can be built that way though.
The laminating film is likely the largest contributor, particularly on the tail vertical.

Now the CG is about 5 to 6 cm behind the servo line. Too bad, too bad. Suggestions? How do you cope with it?

The good news is, you only need to get it back to 3cm behind the servo wires.
The bad news is, you're still going to have to do something else to get there, and
you're going to have to decide for yourself what that is.

ian

Originally Posted by williamjames

Okay so I'm not going to be able to help you out

then why bother, really

Originally Posted by Daemon

you're going to have to decide for yourself what that is.

Yeah... looks like that. Film is still a good thing I believe (tailboom becomes far, far, far more rigid when laminated!) but next time I will probably look for thinner film if there is any.
Well, having to go 3 cm ahead is not as bad as having to go 6, but really few things come to my mind besides pumping helium into the tail cavity.
I will surely get some solution but it is a lesson to learn.

One more question Ian, you say 3 cm behind is OK, some say servo line and not a micron farther to the back - what is that 3 cm limit about? Is it a more or less typical line for CG or it is a ultimate dead limit that can only be accepted when no other hope is left?

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Cathay Stray

then why bother, really

And this is why some of us couldn't be bothered.

nice attitude , not!

He gave you some good advice in there and you where just rude to him...............

Originally Posted by Cathay Stray

One more question Ian, you say 3 cm behind is OK, some say servo line and not a micron farther to the back

Nobody has every actually said servo line, and not a micron further..
Some say they still use that factory recommended CG and it works for them, but those who
prefer not to fly an inefficient nose heavy pig, and take the time to work the CG back
until the plane flies well, usually find that somewhere around 30mm behind the servo
wires works quite well. Some of us even fly behind that, but 30mm will work
ok for most anyone who also dials in some down elevator trim and they may also need to
reduce elevator rates a bit (becomes more sensitive as CG moves back).
Fact is *a lot* of people fly with the CG there, so it's certainly a goal to shoot for
if you're coming from behind that.

ian

HIHI my SW in action

Skywalker abuse continue ! (1 min 6 sec)

SKYWALKER MAIDEN ABUSE (2 min 30 sec)

Originally Posted by Cathay Stray

then why bother, really

"Why bother?" -- Read what I wrote in that paragraph. The paragraph is actually more helpful than you know. It discusses relevant issues that you may encounter if you continue your build the way your proposing.

Regardless though, this is exactly why some people become hesitant to help others... the lack of appreciation.

You know.... maybe you should ignore my whole post from earlier all together and continue the build the way you had suggested. Maybe after you've built the plane.... you'll have a better understanding of why I "bothered".

Okay so I'm not going to be able to help you out but

I think that's the phrase that got him to answer like that. Despite that phrase, you did help him out.