Skywalker build and maiden

In this article, I will show you all the mods and how I put the plane together. I haven´t used the Manuel, because its pretty strait forward :) I will also have a parts list with links at the end of the article.

Extreme motor mount. Cause let face it, that little circle that you glue flat on to the foam, isn't going to hold forever. It wasn't wide enough for my motor anyway.

Starting by outlining the original motor mount on a piece of 3mm plywood, and making a square around it.

The first thing to do, is cutting out the center hole. "Do this before you cut it out. It gives you a better grab, and makes it much easier" Then I rounded the edges and cut it out.

Then i drilled out the holes for holes for my barbecue skewers to go through, and my motor mount.

Then, I added the barbecue skewers. I glued them in place using CA. It makes for a pretty destructive look to it.

Then I added the motor and it is ready to be mounted.

Now that's don, I will be modifying the original front canopy to house my DIY Gopro Gimbal witch can be found here: http://flitetest.com/articles/diy-gopro-gimbal-for-airplane It really simple, the best to use would be a Hot wire for foam cutting, but I simply used a exacto knife. I cut about on inch in from the edge.

 And then i lifted it up and this was the result.

And then i cut a flat piece of foam (foam board or depron will work fine) to fit the opening in the middle.

Now i will fit my Gopro gimbal on it, and paint it black to remove the sharp contrast.

Looks great! not really, but it gets the job done ;)  Now to make the modified front canopy easily removable, I soldered all the wires onto one plug, it is a MPX 6 pin plug. it makes it very easy 

It makes it easy as pie to get in and out. If you want to do the same, I have made this diagram showing how to wire it up. 

Now, my FPV setup. I have made a wire extender with MPX plugs going from my tail to the receiver area. I made it this way, because i am going to change from 5.8 to 1.2 ghz video transmitter.

here's a picture of the motor as well. It is solid as a brick.

I made the Tail spilt elevator. when i get my long range system in this, i don't want to crash because of a servo malfunction. Safety all the way

One very important thing is to strengthen the tail, I learnt this the hard way. I was flying minding my own business, then suddenly the Skywalker did a loop and i lost all control and flew into a tree, so remember strengthen it.

The last thing i will show you is the wiring inside the airplane.

The wire poking out is the Video cable. I am using a switching UBEC for the receiver and servos, and i have it all the way in the front of the airplane.

I am using to batteries, one 3 cell 1600 mah for the video transmitter and UBEC. The motor battery is a 5000 mah 4 cell. keeps it flying for a good 45 minutes :D

The wing is pretty strait forward, except for the stickers. They are a must ;)

My opinion on the skywalker, it is just amazing. I get min. 40 minutes on it, it flies very stable, it has allot of space for stuff, and it looks good.

Comparing the skywalker with the EPP FPV:

Okay, the EPP FPV is durable as ever. It does not break, the wings do not flex, and because of its big size and weight, it flies very stable in high winds. But then again, it has allot of drag. the stock tail is to small, and i am lucky to get 15 minutes using a 4400 mah 3 cell battery. And the inside of the canopy is really small, you cant get anything to fit properly without really doing allot of work. 

The Skywalker on the other hand gets allot of flight time, due to its smaller size, and lower drag. it has allot of space for electronics and batteries, and the finish is so much smoother. But, is is not a very strong airplane. if you try to do a loop, or pull op hard, the wings will flex like crazy. it basically makes the wings U shaped, and it spins like crazy. luckily the wings did not break.

I really prefer the skywalker, but because of the soft wings, you have to be careful not to overstress it, and if you crash, it breaks. so for a beginner, go with the EPP FPV.

By the way, I have been thinking about getting a camera, and making the builds and tips videos. it might be more interesting. Tell me what you think in the comments.  

Here is the maiden flight. And below that the parts list.

Skywalker 1680 V6 FPV Platform EPO Kit (NL warehouse)

ZIPPY Flightmax 5000mAh 4S1P 20C (NL Warehouse)

ZIPPY Flightmax 1600mAh 3S1P 20C (NL Warehouse)

Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 - 3536-1200kv Brushless Outrunner Motor (NL Warehouse)

TURNIGY 8-15A UBEC for Lipoly (NL Warehouse)

TURNIGY Plush 60amp Speed Controller (DE Warehouse)

Turnigy TGY-9018MG Metal Gear Servo 2.5kg/13g/0.10 (NL warehouse)