Cupid Stunt's Super Skysurfer 2.4m

[Cupid Stunt]

Well if the rain holds off long enough it's maiden time

Wish me luck

PS
Even my huge Fiat Multipla struggles to take this bugger with the wings on, I can just get at the gear lever

[rick]

Looking forward to this review!!   

[Cupid Stunt]

Damned rain, soon as we stepped out the door it started, then it just got worse
Hopefully it'll clear up a bit later

[Cupid Stunt]

Maiden Pictures

Well the day was quite windy averaging over 15mph and frequent gusts to around 24mph, the wind was funny though as when I self hand launched the Skysurfer just went straight upwards above my head about 50ft then I'd panic and have to get the throttle on to get it out in front of me so I could see it's orientation , suffice to say that in an avg 15mph wind bog standard with a 5000mah 3S battery it floats very well, I may tweak the CG back a tiny bit as it seems to drop the nose when the wind dropped but before doping that I need to fly it in calm conditions to get a real feel for it





















Videos to follow

[rick]

Handled the wind pretty good by the sound of it then Terry.  Nice one.  Looks great in the air too!

Looking forward to seeing the video too.

[Dusty]

from a distance, it almost looks like a regular sized skysurfer

[Marklincs]

I must admit thats looking a stunner in the air

just that wing issue...

[Cupid Stunt]

Build description, pictures and videos added to the first few posts

[Cupid Stunt]

New day, new video
Well 2nd day and two more flights, this time in calmer weather with winds around 5-8mph gusting to 10mph
She flies great I still feel that the 100mm CG makes it nose heavy and lethargic/slow and less floaty

Each flight was 20 minutes give or take 30 secs averaging half throttle all the time, one battery took 2466mah to top up and the other took 3059mah so with the CG set at 100mm a 5000mah battery will give you 30 minutes flight time at half throttle
Another thing that points to the 100mm in the manual being wrong is that they themselves recommend a 3600mah battery and with that it's impossible to get the CG at 100mm without adding weights in the nose, she also dips her nose very quickly when lift is lost and her nose drops in turns which has to be corrected with elevator, in fact pretty much the same symptoms as the FMS Fox glider which was also cured by moving the CG back
Anyway I will experiment with the CG one tiny bit at a time and report back, in the meanwhile here's the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ngb8ChnihO8
	Small | Large

[MrBen]

Effortless launch, nice flight and smooth landing. So is it a keeper and are you going to fpv it?

[Cupid Stunt]

Fitting it out now with camera etc

I want the HoryzonHD cam for recording HD and will also initially use it for live feed but later I want to use my Pixim Seawolf for the live feed so I can do a bit of dawn/dusk flying

PS
All the gear goes in the SSS very easily, no need to cut hatches, there's a very handy shelf/ledge under where the wings join together which will fit my RVOSD and receiver, that leaves stacks of room for batteries which can be balanced by moving the rudder/elevator servos to the tail and also fitting the VTX near the tail

Though you can't see it, this is with the receiver and RVOSD fitted in place


I've swapped the ESC out with a Hobbywing Pentium (Flyfun) 60a and a seperate sbec, the new ESC is fitted in the motor pod section (that was a damned squeeze to get it down the tunnel)




The tunnel I had to squeeze it through (ahh that brings back fond memories )

[Cupid Stunt]

PS
If you really wanted to go nuts with battery capacity I reckon that if you fitted the OSD/receiver in the section directly under the canopy on the floor you could fit 2 x 3000mah under the wings, 2 x 3000mah above the OSD/receiver and 2 x 3000mah in the nose section

That's 18,000mah of battery potentially

[Dusty]

at close to 300g per lipo, that'd be nearly 2kg of battery alone lol, I tell you what though, that thing is so massive i have no doubt it would carry it without much problem

[Cupid Stunt]

Yes, you'd need to upgrade the motor, esc and prop though as it's standard power set is only just adequate with a 5000mah 3S

I have fitted a new 8 x 6 3 bladed prop to go with the new ESC just to give it a little more punch

[Cupid Stunt]

Latest pics

So I got round to fitting my HoryzonHD cam on my home made pan mount, also stuck my new #16 keychain on there








Firtsly the keychain is suffering too much from vibrations there
Secondly, the damned HoryzonHD cam cut off in flight again, losing the file as it doesn't save it when it goes wrong
So I have to figure a better power supply for the HHD other than running it from the receiver power, I may be able to just switch my sbec to 6v to cure the problem but not sure if that's a great idea as everying else will be getting 6v when there's no load on the system