Brittany RC field, FPV

Skywalker FPV checkout flight

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Had a successful checkout flight of the on-board FPV equipment:

1)  2014 1.9m Skywalker (very much already a crash veteran even at a tender age of 2 months)
2) ImmersionRC EzUHF with diversity for the R/C
3) 700TVL sony ccd camera
4) 2w VTX mounted on the tail boom just before the tail assembly
5) APM2.6 (with 2.78b firmware) and minimOSD for the auto-pilot and OSD respectively
6) 80A Hobbywing ESC (previous 60A ESC was damaged after a crash)
7) 4S 5000mah battery

A week before, during a first test, I had an issue with the GPS and experienced TBE’s during loiter and auto modes.. turns out the external GPS was being affected by the APM power supply.. moved the UBlox GPS and APM to another location (in the compartment under the wing)  and the problem just disappeared.

The day before this test, I upgraded to the APM 2.78 firmware which unfortunately had a bug rendering one of the servos params to be uneditable..a big problem for me since my Ailerons needs to be reversed with the auto-pilot is engaged. Fortunately 24 hours after releasing the software, the developers released a patch 2.78b which solved the problem.

The auto mode in particular is pretty good, as there was a 23kph crosswind.  The APM was able to compensate for the wind and made automatic adjustments in the final approach landing the plane a few meters from the target.  Though in the future, when setting waypoints, one has to give allowance for the typical crosswind direction of a known field and set the waypoints several meters opposite the wind direction.

 

 

Brittany RC field, Projects, Scratch-built

Project SBSW (Update 12) Flight tests

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Here’s a video* of the Scratch-built skywalker in a couple of flight tests in Brittany R/C field over the weekend.   I had to make a couple of changes in the motor thrust angle as the plane had a tendency to pitch down when the throttle is applied.  It was a tad too windy for a flight test, but I was able to fly the plane in previous tests in a similar condition…  I wont certainly fly in this condition if it were a maiden flight.

I recently bought the real thing, a 1.9m 2014 Skywalker.  I’ll post some build images and the maiden soon.

 * courtesy of the wife =)
Fun Flying, T3 RC Field

Flying over T3 (Tumana Tamarind Tree) in Marikina

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I was finally able to fly in T3 at the banks of the Tumana River in Marikina a couple of weeks ago.   There are two flying fields, the smaller one is an abandoned subdivision which is adequate for quads, choppers and park flyers. A bigger one is available for larger scale planes, nitros etc and the occasional maiden flights.  This site is being set up as a vehicle impounding area by the MMDA, its quite new and while its not being used yet for its purpose.. RC enthusiasts are allowed to use it.  The flying zone is quite big extending about  1.5km to the north, all farm land and the banks of the river.  It can be windy and tracking on the downwind leg can get really dicey.

Update 2013-12-02: heard that the larger “upper” field will be off-limits soon to non-MMDA personnel =( So this could be one of the last videos of the field being ’empty’.

Update 2013-12-05: It looks like MMDA is now using the ‘upper’ field  24/7.  Well it was good while it lasted.

 

Fun Flying

Flying over Panglao, Bohol

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Had the opportunity to visit  Panglao over the weekend.  After the 7.1 earthquake the resilient Boholanos did all they could to immediately get back on their feet and just over a week later almost all the tourist spots were reopened. Even the Hinagdanan Cave in Panglao was already open.   Unlike the western side of Bohol, Tagbilaran City (the capital of Bohol) and Panglao to the south, did not suffer any major damage (though the two bridges connecting Bohol and Panglao was raised by more than a foot by the quake).

Here’ a video of Panglao from the air.. using the Hitec Skyscout, Gopro and Lemon DSM RX (erstwhile known as Orange RX).  At under $10 the Lemon is a very very capable alternative receiver and is more than enough for short, fun flights.. a Lemon it is not.

Here’s the vid:

 

Brittany RC field, FPV, FPV Components, FPV Howto, Projects, Scratch-built

Project SBSW (update 11) Take off!

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The new wings I’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks was well worth it.

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Here it is last night, with the skin on:

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And finally, this morning ater a successful flight:

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And:

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The 1.4kv turnigy aerodrive motor, 10×6 prop and 5000mah battery gives ample thrust.. the plane can fly really fast.

Stall speed is low.. even lower (it seems) than my 1.4m hitec skyscout. No doubt the airfoil (as close to NACA 4412 in case you’re interested) made a huge difference.

However throttling up causes the plane to pitch down negating the lift.. nothing which some up elevator cant fix though. It looks like I need to put in some more down angle to the motor now that the CG is known.

The elevator also needs to be secured more firmly to prevent it from rolling (wagging really) which affects the flight characteristics somewhat specially when banking.

Will post a video soon!

FPV, Projects, Scratch-built

Project SBSW (update 7) installation of fuselage

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Did some work on the plane tonight and was able to finish installing the main fuselage section with the wing base on top and added some “strengthening” PVC at the  back and front.

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At another angle:

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Update: a few hours later..more panels..

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I have 4 more days to finish this for the maiden. I reckon I can finish the fuselage tomorrow.. the wing attachments on wed, the electronics and servos on thursday and friday.

Crossing my fingers!

Projects, Scratch-built

Project SBSW (update 6) motor mount, wing mount and partial fuselage

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Today I finished some important parts of the project. The motor is screwed to a couple of pieces of high density boards which sandwiches a PVC strip(from an electrical conduit). This is installed(ie glued), at an angle, to the base of the plane like so:

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The angle (the motor slightly pointing down about 5°) is done to offset the forward and down effect of a higher mounted motor. Doing this angle offset will cause the back of the main wing to have a slight down push forcing the leading edge of the wing to pitch up.

Once the motor mounting is done.. the section where the main wing is attached to the fuselage needs to be made.

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The image above is upside down and shows the CF rods that’s used as the scaffolding for the wing base as well as the CF rods where the rubber-bands will be attached. I sure hope its sturdy enough!

Finally, I began making the rest of the fuselage. The space inside is big!

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A deeper look at the cave..

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Its beginning to look like a real Skywalker:

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So far i’ve added about 50g at this point.