Hobby King Mini Skywalker - FPV Build

[bmsweb]

I thought so. I would be afraid of stalling my Bixler - if I ever get some FPV gear down here.

Its not so hard with an OSD because you know what sort of ground speed to expect with the wind and then against the wind and you get to learn your throttle positions. The problem with the Mini Skywalker is I've never had this information to begin with, so its just a matter of getting a feel for it.

Thurmond,
Thomas has flown FPV before but its only been during testing and mainly with the Monitor. It was his first long run of real FPV with MY model. He flew for at least 15mins with it and he did well. He didn't want to fly it at first because it was My Plane and didn't like the idea of no OSD and flying somewhere totally unfamiliar.

So yes I would say Maiden Proper FPV flight and all done visually.

 

[Tritium]

Way to go Thomas,:applause: You are a complete natural at everything I have seen you attempt to date. There is no limit to what you will accomplish by applying yourself as I have seen you do.

Paul, My hat off to you and your wife as parents. Keep up the good work and stay 100% behind this young lad. I believe he is destined to greatness.

Thurmond

 

[colorex]

Its not so hard with an OSD because you know what sort of ground speed to expect with the wind and then against the wind and you get to learn your throttle positions. The problem with the Mini Skywalker is I've never had this information to begin with, so its just a matter of getting a feel for it.

Should I spend money on an OSD if I ever get to flying FPV? Are all the features worth the extra of the nicer OSD's?

 

[bmsweb]

Thurmond,

You are too kind As a daddy I am very proud of the little man. I think the poor kid was worried about putting a scratch on the model. It did his confidence wonders. I'm just thankful that he seems to be interested in all the right things at the moment . . fingers crossed it stays that way.

colorex
I will tell you what I use on my OSD all the time.
1) Direction Home . . really takes the pressure off when flying. Its worth its weight in gold!
2) Distance From Home
3) Ground Speed as specially when landing.
4) Battery Voltage.
5) RTH and PA (LOVE THESE TWO)

I flew my Bixler on the weekend and for some reason the Video range was limited with my aircraft and Danger Mouse too (Both of his Aircraft). I basically got up and tested PA Mode and then RTH mode, then I switched off the TX and the aircraft went straight into RTH mode. Once all was good I flew out. I was having video issues as close as 600m away (not sure of the interference) but still managed 2km and the whole flight went smoothly and no panic at all.

My OSD is the NOVA and it cost me $130 . . . worth its weight in gold.

I don't want to lose my GoPro or the Bixler so its worth while investment. . . . man after that I wonder if I should start buying shares in Nova OSD . . . OMG, I sound like a salesman . . sorry salerperson

 

[colorex]

colorex
I will tell you what I use on my OSD all the time.
1) Direction Home . . really takes the pressure off when flying. Its worth its weight in gold!
2) Distance From Home
3) Ground Speed as specially when landing.
4) Battery Voltage.
5) RTH and PA (LOVE THESE TWO)

My OSD is the NOVA and it cost me $130 . . . worth its weight in gold.

All that sounds great - but unfortunately it is currently out of my range.

$130 for me is quite a big investment - my tricopter cost roughly that - but I guess you could call it an insurance?

 

[bmsweb]

I understand exactly what you mean. If you are going to fly without OSD, just have a spotter with you until you get a feel for the location from the air. What you didn't see in the video I posted, is I first did a circuit visually and showed Thomas what I wanted to do in FPV, then I tried flying the same circuit with the Goggles on. You can hear Thomas letting me know which way I am facing etc Once I knew what the location looked like from the air, at the altitude I was, all was OK.

Your spotter need to know exactly what you're expecting from them. It really makes the WORLD of difference. Well that's my 2 cents worth and touch wood we haven't lost and aircraft yet.

 

[colorex]

I understand exactly what you mean. If you are going to fly without OSD, just have a spotter with you until you get a feel for the location from the air. What you didn't see in the video I posted, is I first did a circuit visually and showed Thomas what I wanted to do in FPV, then I tried flying the same circuit with the Goggles on. You can hear Thomas letting me know which way I am facing etc Once I knew what the location looked like from the air, at the altitude I was, all was OK.

Your spotter need to know exactly what you're expecting from them. It really makes the WORLD of difference. Well that's my 2 cents worth and touch wood we haven't lost and aircraft yet.

I will have a spotter for my FPV flights - I don't want to lose the plane... But if I fly with the tricopter, then I can keep it close and not need a spotter!

Stuff looks so different from the air... Do you have any issues with identifying stuff in the low resolution of the transmitted video?

 

[Tritium]

It seems like it might be a good idea to do a keychain camera flight over a new flying area that you intend to do FPV flights over just to get the lay of the land from above "before" you commit to an actual FPV flight.

By the way Paul, the 2 cameras arrived this morning. VERY generous. Thanks so much to Thomas and yourself.

Thurmond

 

[bmsweb]

You're very welcome Thurmond (BTW if you need instructions that make sense for these, PM me your email address and I'll email them out to you)

Yes I did that also in the beginning but its funny, without the spotter, if you get lost for say 10 seconds the model moves away very quickly and before you know it, you're somewhere over houses etc where you weren't expecting to fly . . . not that anything like that has ever happened to me

colorex

Yes you do due to the lower resolution and also the wide angle lens sometimes doesn't seem wide enough, but you do quickly get used to it with a spotter and I mean really quickly too. At the coast where we did the maiden fpv flight on this model, it only took a couple of circuits and I knew where I was. The problem is, if you get confused for a moment, the model just keeps flying.

I'll tell you what helped me big time at our local park before the OSD. When trying out the gear and the monitor etc I recorded the actual flight from the FPV camera on the ground station. Then while at home I sat down and watched it a few time and that's all I needed. It was really a good way of practicing.

Its exactly like flying on a windy day the first time. The model doesn't fly the way you would like it and at times you feel out of control, however once you get the hang of it, it doesn't seem like it was ever a big deal and think back to "why was I so worried". In actually fact you're now more experienced hence flying on a windy day isn't a big deal and in fact you find you like the lower speed landings due to the head wind.

The same is true with FPV, it just takes a little time with becoming comfortable with it all.

 

[colorex]

I'll tell you what helped me big time at our local park before the OSD. When trying out the gear and the monitor etc I recorded the actual flight from the FPV camera on the ground station. Then while at home I sat down and watched it a few time and that's all I needed. It was really a good way of practicing.

Do you think it helps to fly "FPV" on the simulator? You know, using the cockpit view? I've gotten the hang of both helicopters and planes by doing it on the simulator with the in-cockpit view. But I did feel I hadn't practiced enough when I started flying my tricopter LOS! I still have to practice flying helicopters LOS on the sim.

I understand what you mean by flying in the wind. I mean, I flew for the very first time in about 5-10mph winds! I was so nervous! But now I actually enjoy flying in the wind, doing fast passes with the wind, or just gliding into the wind slowly and grabbing my plane in the air!

 

[bmsweb]

Do you think it helps to fly "FPV" on the simulator?

I understand what you mean by flying in the wind. I mean, I flew for the very first time in about 5-10mph winds! I was so nervous! But now I actually enjoy flying in the wind, doing fast passes with the wind, or just gliding into the wind slowly and grabbing my plane in the air!

That's exactly right! The wind is no longer a problem, but something to look forwards to I love doing vertical landings

As far a the Flight Sim goes, yes it does help but you don't need it. I guess a lot of us talk about what we had trouble / difficulty with rather than what was easy. The first time I flew the bixler FPV, Thomas' exact words were, "Dad you fly much better FPV than you do in Third Person". I actually remember him saying this on one of our videos and I interrupted him. I actually should have let him keep talking about it.

Remember when you fly Third person view if the model drops a wing a little or as you go into a bank you're not necessarily in precise control because you can't really tell if one wing is lower than the other or the model is pitching up or down. Now when flying FPV you end up putting in far more corrections because you're actually in the model and can see exactly what's happening. So in actual fact its much easier to fly FPV than Third Person. No two ways about it.

That's why you see FPV flying close proximity etc its pretty easy when you're actually in the aircraft. I hope that makes sense

 

[colorex]

That's why you see FPV flying close proximity etc its pretty easy when you're actually in the aircraft. I hope that makes sense

I kind of feel that I'm more fit for flying FPV close to the ground in an F-22 than with the Bixler... but we'll have to see about that

If I know myself, I'm going to be flying like TBS really soon

 

[bmsweb]

If I know myself, I'm going to be flying like TBS really soon

I actually don't believe this to be difficult at all. The real difficulty is having reliable platform and equipment. That's where all the hard work is.

EDIT: When I think TBS, I don't think what great pilots (not saying they aren't), but instead I think "What great Engineering"

 

[colorex]

I actually don't believe this to be difficult at all. The real difficulty is having reliable platform and equipment. That's where all the hard work is.

EDIT: When I think TBS, I don't think what great pilots (not saying they aren't), but instead I think "What great Engineering"

Along the same lines, "What a huge investment"

 

[bmsweb]

It's not only the financial investment but more so the time. I've just purchased $5.00 worth of electronic components, but now I need the time to work out how, where and when I can add these components to my models. Time is just so hard to find

 

[Burg]

Paul, I realy enjoyed the vids you made with Thomas and the FPV Mini Skywalker !
Great to see it fly that good and hearing both your comments.
What a great kid (!) and a pleasure to whatch his interest and confident growing ..
Also your vids are getting better and better ..
Hope to see the mods you made to the cam mount.

Just became father again of a beautiful baby girl (Esmee) so my Mini Skywalker has to wait ..
Keep the vids comming for me to watch during those sleepless nights
Mark.

 

[bmsweb]

Just became father again of a beautiful baby girl (Esmee)

WOW !!! CONGRATULATIONS Mark. That's awesome news!! and thank you so much for your very kind words, its very much appreciated. I am going to PM you now!

 

[Nonamerc]

GEFELICITEERD (It's dutch)

 

[Burg]

DANK JE WEL !! (is Dutch too

 

[bmsweb]

I thought I would share another video of this awesome little, highly classified military, top secret model. Thomas FPVed it on Saturday from launch to landing. It was his first full FPV flight with this little bird and his first ever FPV landing. I don't think I will video his landings anymore

A big thanks to Jason (Danger Mouse) for his help and allow us to use his small flying field