FPV is a side of the hobby that really gets people excited. To do it successfully, you need a reliable FPV platform - here's one that seems to fit the bill.
I was recently sent a parcel by rcmoment.com. It contained a 1238mm wingspan pusher RC airplane with a ton of empty space under the hood. Much like larger Skyhunters, Skywalkers and FT Explorers, this Sonicmodell Mini Skyhunter can hold an armload of battery capacity for medium-range FPV missions. The aircraft looks great on paper, but how does this $89 model go together?
Specs
Before jumping into the build, to provide you with more of an overall impression of the Mini Skyhunter, here's a quick rundown of the numbers.
- Wingspan: 1238mm
- Length: 855mm
- Wing area: 19.5dm2
- Motor: 2212 1400kv outrunner
- ESC: 30A w/BEC
- Propeller: 8 x 4
- Weight: 830g
The Build
The Skyhunter comes as an Almost Ready to Fly (ARTF) kit. This means that you have to supply all of your own electronics including the motor, ESC, servos and radio gear. You also have to supply your own FPV gear. When unboxing the model, you're met with an array of EPO moulded wings and fuselage halves along with many other packages all wrapped in protective bubble wrap.
There are some nice laser cut parts such as the wooden fuselage shelves. These have cutouts which allow cable ties and velcro straps to hold your gear in place whilst in flight. It's always nice to have these sorts of creature comforts instead of just cramming your wires into an unorganised jumble. Organising your wires not only provides organisation, it helps avoid radio interference.
The fuselage itself is comprised of two moulded halves. You have to remember to fit the laser cut shelves and plywood motor mount before glueing it to its other half.
Also inside the box is a bunch of hardware for assembling the airframe. Notably, there's plastic 'wedges' (top of image) that are used to attach the tail surfaces to the booms.
The first step of the build was fairly simple. Following the construction booklet the best I could, I slid the carbon fibre booms into their wedges. Then, carefully, bolts were inserted to mount the verticle and horizontal stabilisers.
Through the boom, a servo lead was passed to supply power directly to a yet to be installed elevator servo.
Turning attention to the main wing mounts for the booms, another two wedges were slid into the wing and secured. The carbon booms were then installed. These are tightened using a bolt. This is pretty useful as you have some scope to adjust the length of the tail to your liking.
To keep everything nice and streamlined, a moulded foam bulge was then glued over top of the wedge.
One issue I ran into early on was in regard to the servo wires. Although it was necessary to fit two wires next to each other in a slot cut into the main wing, there simply wasn't enough space for both. On top of this, the servo extension wire provided in the kit simply wasn't long enough to go all the way from the tail servo, through the boom, along the wing and into the fuselage. This meant that another lead had to be attached midway along the wing. To get all of these electronics to fit, I had to resort to a craft knife vs. foam solution.
Putting the fuselage together, in contrast, was a doddle. It was a simple case of lining up the wooden shelves, remembering to fit the motor mount and hot glueing the two sides together. You could use many different types of glue to assemble this kit, but I wanted to see if hot glue had what it takes (it had).
The kit comes with a two-part canopy that works as a frontal battery hatch. This is really well moulded and gives the aircraft a pretty sleek looking appearance. Included in the kit are four magnets that allow this hatch to snap together with a reassuring clunk. If you were to want to run this in FPV mode, the kit also provides yet another laser cut wooden component that can be fitted to the hatch instead. This provides a nice sturdy base for you to mount your favourite FPV gear and HD cameras.
After around two hours, it looks like an airplane!
In all, this build was a fairly straightforward and uneventful process. As mentioned, it didn't take an excessively long time, but without the wiring problems it may have been much quicker. The hardware all seems to fit well; for an inexpensive kit, the components like the carbon fibre booms and wing supports are of a surprisingly good quality.
In terms of the design, this RC aircraft seems sturdy enough. The tail was rather prone to warping before carbon supports were installed on the underside of the main wing, but now the whole airframe is tight and rigid. The Skyhunter appears to be a well made and thoughtfully designed kit ready and willing to take on the challenges of FPV.
Rating
To sum up the build of this kit, here's a simple rating based on three main factors:
Build Experience - 73% - Some of the parts were quite difficult to fit together. There was also an issue with the servo wires not fitting into the wing.
Instructions - 45% - The instructions, although followable, were incomplete and didn't cover certain aspects of the build.
Quality - 85% - Most of the components are of high quality and seem well designed to do the job.
Next time, I'll be taking the Skyhunter out for a spin to see how well it takes to the sky. Make sure you check back here on flitetest.com for my experience of these in-depth test flights!
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Article by James Whomsley
Editor of FliteTest.com
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