[patrizio_g]

Wow that plane is turning out really nice very impressive
Love how you came up with the fuselage

[bcsaltchucker]

60 inch under 600g airframe

uh wow!

That kind of wing load should make it a delight to fly, maybe better than the moulded EPO Skyhunter

[Red Leader]

Hey guys!! I'm back with some great progress!!!

I have been away from the project for awhile and now I'm back at it. All the electronics are here and they have been mounted.

Motor is a 2836-8 1100KV Turnigy that is swinging a 10x6 master Airscrew pusher prop. I have seen this combination on YouTube putout around 1200 grams of thrust on a static setup. It should prove to be more than enough. The ESC is a E-Flite 60amp Pro Ver 1 with a built in BEC. Very large heat sink on these ESC's and they run 2-6 cell (4cell option could be possible later if required). Over all very happy with this ESC as it has lots of options for programming as well. Batteries are 3x 3cell turnigy 2200mha 20-30C batteries run in parallel for at total of 6600mha, which should run the motor prop setup for a long time. I will try to do a total flight time and run the batteries down to around 3.7volts per cell.

Control setup is elevator and ailerons only at this time. I have locked the rudders in place and may use them in time. This allows me to use the rudder channel to pan my camera left and right during flight without turning the A/C. I will most likely use the rudder however not for the first few flights, my field is very protected against crosswinds anyhow. I really like it for camera panning purposes. Also I have flaperons setup on the A/C and hope that they serve me well in the hand launch take offs, never used them before but I'm sure they will be fine.

My dual rates are setup as well for generous flight control movement at slow speed (takeoff/landing) then turn them down after my air speed comes up. I'm thinking that this will keep the plane docile during flights so as to give better filming qualities also.

Weight and Balance: The dry weight of just the Airframes was 539grams and I'm very happy with that as well. The batteries were 188grams each so that's 564grams in batts alone. Plus all the servos, ESC, motor and prop as well. I have yet to weigh the entire plane (sorry) however with the motor running at full thrust vertically it is extremely close to that "floating feeling", meaning I would be very surprised to see it over 1500grams. Even at 1500 grams it should fly quite well with a 65" wing span. As for the CoG of the plane, it is setup now at 27% of the wing cord (2.75 inch from Leading edge). 25-30% of the wing cord is, from what I have read a good place to start.

Please feel free to through in your CoG placement for those of you that have a skyhunter model. I'm all ears on this topic.

Landing gear: I'm considering this as the prop is a 10x6. The prop "should" roll as it lands with no power however I'm still wondering if I should just put on some tricycle gear and be done with it.... I again will take recommendations on the matter. Consider that the EPO SkyHunter does not come with landing gear.

Only after it flys will I paint it. It must "earn" its colours

YouTube walkaround video to follow

Cheers.

[Red Leader]

Here is the walk around video.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSo5...ature=youtu.be

[patrizio_g]

I can't see it

[buffythesaint]

Received your PM Dave. The SH CG is 95mm from the LE. The chord is 24cm. Hope this helps. the 95mm is back from the suggested CG. It flies better at this CG and straight out launch.

[Max]

Originally Posted by Red Leader

Landing gear: I'm considering this as the prop is a 10x6. The prop "should" roll as it lands with no power however I'm still wondering if I should just put on some tricycle gear and be done with it.... I again will take recommendations on the matter. Consider that the EPO SkyHunter does not come with landing gear.

Prop should not be a problem on landing. I have flown a couple of FPV Pusher wings now with no folding prop, and I haven't broken a single prop yet.

The Landing gear is a nice touch if you are landing on short grass or dirt/pavement. Anything longer than short grass will just rip the gear off, making a mess of things. Sometimes it is better to not have any gear and just hand launch and land wherever you feel like.

Keep up the good work. I am following along

[bcsaltchucker]

Pusher props for me are not a problem at all on landing. But they are a real problem on takeoff! I usually run off a gravel runway. I put on tricycle gear on a 36 inch wing and both attempts resulted in busted props before it even left the ground. Wheels kicked up stones into the prop. I have seen this work fine for paved surface though.

[Red Leader]

Love the feed back guys!

Thanks for the input on the CoG Buffy, thats a big help!! I will see where abouts that puts me on my build. I will most likly just set the CoG and hand launch this bird.... So close!! can't wait!!

Sorry to here that Patrizio....Here is another link to the video, Is anyone else having problems with it?? It seems to work fine for me??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSo5...ature=youtu.be

Anyhow here it is again.

[Red Leader]

SHE FLIES!!!!


Well as the anticipation (Fear) of the maiden come to a close today with her first flight. After a lot of calculations on the CoG and some research I was confident that my Sky Hunter was ready to go. Here is the link http://adamone.rchomepage.com/cg_calc.htm I had to add very little weight to the nose (see pics $0.13) and only ten cents to the right wing tip. Over all weight and balance costs was $0.23!! My CoG worked out to be 2.25" from the leading edge, around 1/8" away from the spar.

I waited until later in the afternoon hoping that the wind would die down slightly. My patience paid off and the wind was very light from the north at my field. So in the van and quickly over I went. I brought my darling wife to run the camera..... The video did not turn out that well. However I have some still shots of it flying and I will send some more pics soon.

Once there I range checked her ( multi directions) and final inspection of hardware, control lines etc etc... I set the flaps and got a good grip from the underside of the fuselage. I wanted to be sure my hand would clear the prop. I faced her into the wind and she popped right into the air and gained altitude with no drastic pitch or roll at all. It gained alt SO fast and once up I got the flaps up and she started to speed up very quickly. I of course had to trim slightly but overall I was happy. The ailerons were fairly docile ( I increased my throw another few degrees and now its perfect) I would say I flew around 50%-55% throttle (plenty fast) for ten minutes. After the ten minute alarm I landed with flaps around 50% of their entire throw. It floated to the ground and I was instantly relieved and very happy.

I made the control throw adjustments and got her ready for her next flight. I flew one more time again for 10mins (alarm set for accuracy) On her second landing the prop was still spinning slightly and upon landing the motor mount was .... uninstalled  casing no real damage to the airframe. Again I was still very impressed by her flight characteristics.

3x2200 mha batts all charged to 4.20 volts per cell.
Flight 1- 10mins (maiden)
Flight 2 - 10mins

After 20mins of flying I checked the volts per cell in all 3 batteries. They were all at 3.86 - 3.87 per cell. So I used around 68% of the batteries by my calculations... So I could fly for another 6.5 mins until all cells reached 3.7v. I'm sure a 26min flight could be possible however I will still have to do some testing. There has to be more to it than just this i.e volt discharge curves etc.. All for later I'm thinking.

I don't want to get to long winded in my maiden post ( to late ) so I will finish with these pics. More video to follow. My on board cam was vibrating so I will try again with the videos. Also I need a better camera.
Cheers all!