T E A M
Hi gents,
Been flying this great plane for a while now, crashed umpteen times, broken several parts (but in big chunks), glued back with UHU por glue and up it went as good as new. Must say, my first plane is also the best and fun plane. I just flew it last weekend for the final last time, intending to decommission it very soon after my skywalker 1900 arrives next week. Against the backdrop of the blue blue sky, it flew leisurely around the large field around 5 stories high, with a huge eagle chasing it playfully. Purely amazing and magical. You gotta see to believe.
I'm compartmentalising the below sections into several parts, each with my own observations and learning, for easy reference and editing.
Battery:
I've tried both 3s and 4s (The stock ESC can take up to 4s) lipos. Lipo includes turnigy 2200mah 3s, blackmagic 2700mah 3s, and turnigy 2200mah 4s. All works and fits well in the fuselage. My experience is for more acrobatic manoeuvres, using a 4s lipo. Ensure the battery is held securely - you'll never know it will fall out of the sky as you turn the plane over (happened to me once). 4s gives more weight to the plane and I feel more control for landing.
CG:
Use the recommended CG location as provided by the manual, probably around 1/3 from the leading edge. It works very well for me, and the plane could handle a slight tail heavy setup, which i experienced before but was never my intention. At least it didn't flew just once..
Throttle management and taking off:
I do not have the luxury of taking it off from my flying field. Since day 1, I had the landing gear removed, therefore saving some weight on the plane. (by the way this caused it to be tail heavy as well).
For 3s, all I did was aim it at the wind, give it a 70% throttle, and gently toss it about 20 degree upwards. The stock motor and prop have enough power to lift it up almost immediately. Once stabalised (for me about 2-4 seconds later), i usually reduce the throttle to about 40%. I seldom exceed 50% for this plane since my purpose was to have stress-free flight time.
For 4s, I gave it a 40% throttle before tossing it into the wind. I do recommend tossing it slightly higher with more throttle if using 4s due to the additional weight of the plane, which will give the plane more room to head downwards picking up enough speed to cruise. I like to keep a slight up trim (elevator up) if using 4s, and adjust accordingly when needed while cruising.
Air brake:
I added 2 servos for flaps. Flaps works great against strong winds, and in fact, a few times the plane behaved like a heli during slightly strong wind, hovering in the air with throttle completely off. This also means the plane can be very affected by strong winds, being tossed around easily like a rag doll because it's relatively light weight. Anyway, my mod was for ailerons to be in different channels, such that they can behaved as flaperons. As the plane is coming in too hot to land, a flick of the switch will bring down the flaps (pointing downwards), and both ailerons up (pointing upwards). This caused heavy drags on the wings, cancelling each up and down directions out, and increased fiction on the wind, causing to slow down very drastically (depending on your angle of attack). For mine, a mere 2 seconds of airbrake will cause the plane to almost stall.. Depending on the behaviour, you may wish to mix in elevator inputs.
Landing:
Approaching landing is the most tricky part of this plane, but also the most fun part. I enjoyed the most while practising how to land the plane with longest skid along the grass. The longer it is, the less impact against the under fuselage. But because this plane is so light, usually the skidding won't exceed 3 meter under normal landing circumstances. Always determine where the wind direction is, and land it against the wind. As with most planes, I usually do a big turn, about 50m before making a final turn towards landing ground. Just right before this last turn, I will reduce throttle to 0% - 10%, depending on speed. The height I like is usually around 8m before throttle is off.
If the speed is too slow, I will first do a slight pitch down to increase the speed by gravity. This actually gives me more control on the landing speed. I need the speed to either maintain or reduce slowly. There are many instances where even though there's strong cross wind, by pitching down the plane gives good and stable landing. Pitch I like is usually about 10 degree, and the elevator is moving down, neutral, down, neutral etc for adjustments.
Let me think of something else to share once inspirations arrive.
Cheers
Been flying this great plane for a while now, crashed umpteen times, broken several parts (but in big chunks), glued back with UHU por glue and up it went as good as new. Must say, my first plane is also the best and fun plane. I just flew it last weekend for the final last time, intending to decommission it very soon after my skywalker 1900 arrives next week. Against the backdrop of the blue blue sky, it flew leisurely around the large field around 5 stories high, with a huge eagle chasing it playfully. Purely amazing and magical. You gotta see to believe.
I'm compartmentalising the below sections into several parts, each with my own observations and learning, for easy reference and editing.
Battery:
I've tried both 3s and 4s (The stock ESC can take up to 4s) lipos. Lipo includes turnigy 2200mah 3s, blackmagic 2700mah 3s, and turnigy 2200mah 4s. All works and fits well in the fuselage. My experience is for more acrobatic manoeuvres, using a 4s lipo. Ensure the battery is held securely - you'll never know it will fall out of the sky as you turn the plane over (happened to me once). 4s gives more weight to the plane and I feel more control for landing.
CG:
Use the recommended CG location as provided by the manual, probably around 1/3 from the leading edge. It works very well for me, and the plane could handle a slight tail heavy setup, which i experienced before but was never my intention. At least it didn't flew just once..
Throttle management and taking off:
I do not have the luxury of taking it off from my flying field. Since day 1, I had the landing gear removed, therefore saving some weight on the plane. (by the way this caused it to be tail heavy as well).
For 3s, all I did was aim it at the wind, give it a 70% throttle, and gently toss it about 20 degree upwards. The stock motor and prop have enough power to lift it up almost immediately. Once stabalised (for me about 2-4 seconds later), i usually reduce the throttle to about 40%. I seldom exceed 50% for this plane since my purpose was to have stress-free flight time.
For 4s, I gave it a 40% throttle before tossing it into the wind. I do recommend tossing it slightly higher with more throttle if using 4s due to the additional weight of the plane, which will give the plane more room to head downwards picking up enough speed to cruise. I like to keep a slight up trim (elevator up) if using 4s, and adjust accordingly when needed while cruising.
Air brake:
I added 2 servos for flaps. Flaps works great against strong winds, and in fact, a few times the plane behaved like a heli during slightly strong wind, hovering in the air with throttle completely off. This also means the plane can be very affected by strong winds, being tossed around easily like a rag doll because it's relatively light weight. Anyway, my mod was for ailerons to be in different channels, such that they can behaved as flaperons. As the plane is coming in too hot to land, a flick of the switch will bring down the flaps (pointing downwards), and both ailerons up (pointing upwards). This caused heavy drags on the wings, cancelling each up and down directions out, and increased fiction on the wind, causing to slow down very drastically (depending on your angle of attack). For mine, a mere 2 seconds of airbrake will cause the plane to almost stall.. Depending on the behaviour, you may wish to mix in elevator inputs.
Landing:
Approaching landing is the most tricky part of this plane, but also the most fun part. I enjoyed the most while practising how to land the plane with longest skid along the grass. The longer it is, the less impact against the under fuselage. But because this plane is so light, usually the skidding won't exceed 3 meter under normal landing circumstances. Always determine where the wind direction is, and land it against the wind. As with most planes, I usually do a big turn, about 50m before making a final turn towards landing ground. Just right before this last turn, I will reduce throttle to 0% - 10%, depending on speed. The height I like is usually around 8m before throttle is off.
If the speed is too slow, I will first do a slight pitch down to increase the speed by gravity. This actually gives me more control on the landing speed. I need the speed to either maintain or reduce slowly. There are many instances where even though there's strong cross wind, by pitching down the plane gives good and stable landing. Pitch I like is usually about 10 degree, and the elevator is moving down, neutral, down, neutral etc for adjustments.
Let me think of something else to share once inspirations arrive.
Cheers
Comment