Taking the plunge with a SkyWing Edge 540 74"

[Adrian Smith 1]

 

I have been looking at SKYWING aerobatic aircraft for a while with a view to owning one. My impression is they are mid-range between Extreme Flight at the top but above Pilot RC by some margin. Just a view though although I am prepared to be corrected on that one! I have just not seen any reports or reviews on the forums about them.

 

 

https://www.probuild-uk.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=1485_1850_1489&product_id=6425

 

Anybody had experience of them?

[Adrian Smith 1]

Anyway I pressed on and ordered the Edge from Probuild on Friday and those good people from DHL delivered it to me yesterday (Monday). Good all round.

First impressions on opening the box is the quality is very good with covering and fixtures and fittings fit for purpose.

Attention to detail is impressive as the elevator extension servo wires come pre-threaded and with and extension lead for the rudder (pull/pull) servo in situ within the fuselage.

 

 

Furthermore, the cockpit comes fully fitted out with a pilot in the office!

Edited March 29, 2022 by Adrian Smith 1

[Adrian Smith 1]

I have read one quite long thread on the build on RC Groups to see what I need to know or any tips. Firstly, the throws don't need to be particularly wide for the plane to be flown like a hooligan. Probably a contributing factor is that the elevators and aileron come pre-glued and with all gaps sealed. Nice touches. One observation made is the CoG is marked as on the wing spar but that was felt to be too tail heavy and slightly further forward was recommended.

While a DLE 35 is a recommended gasser, the plane is designed and fitted for use as electric. The motor that is recommended on the Probuild website is the Xpwr 35cc. I am sure I can find something cheaper that does the job just as well. I will need a 100A-130A ESC though to be safe. There is an included C/F spinner which is a nice touch.

 

If there is an appetite for it here I will post the build here at certain times pointing out pitfalls, innovations as I come across them.

 

  

Edited March 29, 2022 by Adrian Smith 1

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Always enjoy your blogs Adrian.

[Adrian Smith 1]

Cheers, John appreciate your comments. 

My first observation having taken all the bits out of the box is that while most of it is self explanatory, there is no manual included.  I had to print a generic manual from the SKYWING RC website, but even that is very basic and doesn't really tell you much and is quite vague. As with all these advanced aerobats it presupposes a lot of prior expertise and therefore it goes without saying a novice should stay well away.  The manual pictures show a motor box extension for electric applications, however there is no such thing included and I suspect I will have to raid my box of standoffs to line things up when I decide on the motor to use. I will post here when I decide on the motor/ESC combo and hopefully I should be able to get the workshop in a few days. 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Seems the motor recommended by SKYWING RC is:-

https://www.kingslynnmodelshop.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=78_543_547_548&products_id=5266&osCsid=1v1rjcem4udnmbpfebcgefsum7

 

I am sure many moons ago I possessed one, but can't remember much about it!

[Adrian Smith 1]

So the motor has arrived. It's all coming back to me - I think I put one in a sports aerobatic plane I bought from Bondaero. Must have a 5 years or so. I am surprised this motor is still available. Anyway it will fit the bill based on SKYWING RC's recommendations using the test model.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It has all the bits I need supplied especially a nicely engineered prop driver.

I know as a comparison Probuild are pushing the XPWR 35 for this particular kit with the following high spec:-

RPM/KV 220, 75A - 3500W with 24 poles at 774g weight. 

At £250+ compared to the Dualsky at £111 it was an easy decision and it weighs in at 617g. For a sports aerobatic that's all I need. 

Next decision is a sensible priced 100A ESC .....

 

[Ron Gray]

Hobbywing FlyFun, excellent esc and good price (110 amp).

[Adrian Smith 1]

Cheers, Ron I will check it out.?

[Adrian Smith 1]

Meantime on with the assembly. I always start with the front end and motor installation. I put the cowl on (all holes predrilled and bolts provided) and measure from the motor wall to the prop driver opening in the cowl. This was 160 mm. Next I measured the motor plus mount length.

 

72.5mm is good enough for this exercise.  Therefore the length of stand off as a minimum is 160mm less 72.5mm which gives me 87.5mm. Mmmmm ... not sure what I have got to match that. 

 

 

Well a combination of one long and one short gives me 90 mm which should be about right. I have had to do this type of assembly with other leccys and I know it to work fine on up to 50cc equivalent outrunners.

These S/Os are threaded for M5 bolts therefore a few mods will be required.

[Adrian Smith 1]

The motor mount holes where M4 therefore I used my pillar drill to enlarge them to accommodate M5 bolts. Next I had to draw a template as the hole markings on the motor wall were for a DLE 35 and variants.

 

A bit crude but good enough. The mount will have to be on the diagonal like so.

 

Finally, the template is fitted to the motor wall ready for drilling out and attaching the S/Os. 

 

 

There are already 4 predrilled holes in the wall which I can't use and therefore I will epoxy some M4 dowelling in the blank them off. As can just about be seen there is a line on the wall to use when aligning the motor assembly up to take account of the sidethrust built in. 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Off with the template and fill the existing holes with dowels and 5 minute epoxy.

 

While that's drying I decided to fit the U/C legs.

 

 

 

The bolts supplied are not the best quality but hopefully up to to the job. At least the holes are irregularly aligned so as there is no doubt which way around the U/C legs fit.

[Adrian Smith 1]

I re-drilled the S/O holes using the motor mount as an additional aid to the template.

 

I test fitted the S/Os and motor mount before fitting the motor.

 

 

 

Motor finally fitted and blue thread locked all bolts.

 

 

 

I did cut out the disc that was left in the motor wall for air flow

Edited April 5, 2022 by Adrian Smith 1

[Adrian Smith 1]

The cowl was test fitted and checked.

 

Seems near enough.

 

 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Last job of the day was to select the three pieces of C/F coated wood that forms the ESC platform. I used 5 minute epoxy to complete this job.

 

 

 

There were pre-cut slots to accommodate the frame which was helpful.

That's it for today. Next up some work on the operating surfaces. 

[Adrian Smith 1]

I decided to go with Ron's suggestion for the FlyFun ESC by Hobbywing. Having used Hobbywing before the electronics seem very good to me. The ESC + card were sourced from ElectricWingman. The response to a query to ElectricWingman was exemplary when Paul emailed me back at 9.50pm! DHL delivered today.

 

Bit of soldering to do here as no bullet connectors attached. I went for the opto version as I like to use a separate power supply for the RX.

 

 

The programming card is a bit novel in that which ESC you buy a different label is provided to stick on the card. The default label was for  R/C car ESCs which was easily remedied by attaching the correct label.

By the way the ESC came with fixing straps.

I probably won't get it installed tomorrow as Friday looks like a flying day for me in windy Suffolk ?

Edited April 7, 2022 by Adrian Smith 1

[Ron Gray]

Sure does look like a flying day here tomorrow, a bit of a change from our current 30+mph winds!

Edited April 7, 2022 by Ron Gray

[Adrian Smith 1]

Well I have scratching my head on this one, specifically about connections. I guess this is directed to Ron as you have used one of these, but any input would be gratefully received!

Here is the manual -

 

All well and good with the connections as I would expect (for an OPTO) them to be. When I come to look at the actual ESC they don't bear any relation. In fact apart from the 3 motor connections and the two thick wires (red/Black) which go to the power source there is no attached throttle lead for RX or any other lead for that matter.

 

Where I would expect the throttle lead there are no connection sockets.

The other end however shows thus -

 

No indication of what they are for and are at the motor end. The only leads supplied were two, two strand black/white wires.

 

The only three strand wire (short) of conventional red/white/black were supplied with the programming card and I assume this gets plugged in the side socket.

 

I had a larger Hobbywing OPTO ESC (200A) which was not laid out like this. So I am at a bit of a loss. Help! ?

 

 

[Philip Lewis 3]

Hopefully this helps, it's from the HobbyWing website, it seems to show the left connector is for a reverse brake signal wire and the right marked -,+ and S is for the receiver, seems that you only need signal and ground as there is no BEC or external power supply to the ESC, the connection on the side seems to be for programming.

 

Phil

FlyFunV5en.pdf

[Adrian Smith 1]

Thanks Philip. The FlyFun manual I have is completely different to the one you posted. The download you have posted explains it all as it specifically mentions/shows the 110A V5 model.

Thanks a bunch!?

[Ron Gray]

10 hours ago, Adrian Smith 1 said:

this is directed to Ron

Sorry Adrian, only just picked this one up. My destructions were the same as the ones that Philip has supplied you with, strange that yours aren’t the same, but good that it’s been resolved. 

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

On 01/04/2022 at 15:31, Adrian Smith 1 said:

 

 

 

I’ve been missing out - where can I get a .200 4 stroke that swings a 22” prop - my OS 20FS wouldn’t be happy on much more than a 9x4 !

[Adrian Smith 1]

Yes it's very strange, Ron.

I checked & checked again on the instructions enclosed with the ESC and they are definitely don't have the detail that Philip's copy provided which relates specifically to my model version. Anyway no harm done and as usual I can rely on you guys on the forums to put me right! ? I think I might mention it to the ElectricWingman boys.

Edited April 8, 2022 by Adrian Smith 1

[Adrian Smith 1]

Above my pay grade, Martin.

[Adrian Smith 1]

I managed to get a lot accomplished today which was the desired result as tomorrow and Thursday look like flying days. 

Today was always going to be soldering day with quite a bit of work here to arrive at the arrangement I want.

 

Connectors soldered to the ESC leads to the motor. The bullet connectors were pre-soldered to the motor leads.

 

Next I had to extend the power leads from the ESC to the fuselage internal space using standard bullet connectors and heat shrink covering.

 

 

The ends of the extension leads were fitted with anti spark connectors which are just in front of the series connect plug to accommodate a 12S set up