RCU Forums - Flyzone Sky Fly

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RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Great. How about a picture or two of your pushrod mods? I think I understand, but I'd like to be sure. From the sounds of it, I think you made a couple good changes.
Rob

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

I'll try to get a picture of it soon but the above post is really much the same as I did, probably a bit more professional :( than mine. I too did the Z bend and used the holes at the top of the servo wheel for the tail rudder and the same tab that exists on the tail rudder. I just drilled a hole pretty close to the tail itself to give me maximum movement.
On the tail wing flap I drilled a hole in the "bottom" tab that goes thru the wing and used the bottom of the wing for control instead the top tab as it should be. To do that I had to connect the Z bend on the piano wire to the "bottom" hole on the servo. This gives me more than enough throw and movement to the tail flap.
The piano wire flexes a lot but even with the flex there is more than adequate throw. But I crudely took a length of soft "bailing wire" and gave it a couple wraps around the rod that goes between the fuselage and tail and let it extend just beyond the piano wire. I made a simple tight loop on each end of the bailing wire and the piano wire goes thru it easily. I added some glue to the wrap and it seems to be holding very well....probably until the first hard landing (or do we call that a crash?). The piano wire is connected to the tail flap and rudder with the little cable clamp thingies that are shown in the previous post.

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

These mods are intriguing.

After last night I've decided to go with the Dubro 852 pushrods as well the pack of Staples elastics I bought apparently don't have the same pull as the stock ones, and control was pretty rough. I must admit though that until now I was happy enough with no-stretch fishing line. I didn't expect the elastics to die so quickly, nor that the LHS would charge $6 for Hobbico's OEM replacement pack. Same price as the pushrods...!

Has anyone come up with a solution for the weak nose gear? I've now had to bend back the collapsing spring-steel wire nose gear several times, and I consider myself a pretty good lander. I find that wire gear only lasts 3 or 4 landings before it's bent back and touching the fuselage. If anyone has a fix I'd love to hear about it.

Dave

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Quote:

If anyone has a fix I'd love to hear about it.

Fix = a little up elevator to flare at landing. ;)

Yes, the gear can bend a little, but I've never had it touch the fuselage. The good thing about the bendable landing gear is that it takes strain away from the fuselage.

BTW - did you post the FMS model for the Skyfly?

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Hi RTice - I'm glad to hear you have not had the same experience with the nose gear I've had. I think it's too weak.

Yes, I posted the FMS model. I don't warrant its accuracy I'm a rank novice with 3d modeling but wanted something to play with on rainy / windy days.

Dave

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

We live/travel in an RV so there are times that I can't find an open field to fly, depending on the local at the time. I'd like to get a flight simulator to keep in touch with the flying. Which simulator gives the best feel and most flexibility? Any suggestions from this group? Obviously I'd like one that will support the Sky Fly and my other favorite, the Slow Stick.

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Both models are avaible for FMS. FMS is free. Works for me.
http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html

Huttcraft: Obviously I was using a little tongue in cheek there. Could you post that Skyfly model for the others in this thread? I do like it and found that it does have many of the same characteristics if flight as the real one. Okay, it is easier to fly on the sim, but I think they all are.

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

I caught your drift RTice: I knew even as I posted the message that someone would tell me to learn to land better!

The Sky Fly for FMS can be downloaded from [link=http://users.eastlink.ca/~leahdave/skyfly.zip]here.[/link]

http://users.eastlink.ca/~leahdave/skyfly.jpg

I'm with you that price makes FMS the best sim out there. I also like the community accessibility of it: anyone can make a plane sim and there are lots on the net to download. I tried the Realflight sim of the Sky Fly a while ago and have to admit it's truer than mine, but pricey.

Dave

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

I had the collapsible landing gear issue myself, and it doesn't necessarily take a rough landing to make it cave in either. Simply landing on grass was enough to do mine in. After it had been bent, then bent back a few dozen times it broke off, so I resolved to fix it once and for all. It was quite simple actually, I just took a piece of slightly larger music wire, I'm not sure of the size but I could measure it if anyone is that fussy, bent it to the same shape as the factory gear omitting the coil spring, then drilled out the hole in the bottom of the fuselage to fit. I then drilled out the hole in the middle of the nose wheel, and the yellow plastic wheel collar, slipped the wheel on, then secured the collar with a dab of medium CA. It's held up wonderfully and has yet to bend at all. It's actually quite difficult to tell that it isn't the factory gear, with only the missing coil spring section as a giveaway.

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

I found that removing the wheels entirely make the Sky Fly land easily on grass. I removed my wheels long ago and have not needed them since. If I ever find a field with an asphalt or hard packed landing surface, I'll put the wheels back on.

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Got my SkyFly two weeks ago and finally got to fly it today. Amazingly I was doing pretty well for my first time and then came down landing on the wing breaking it. It wasn't a hard crash really, but now the servos wont move and the ESC is buzzing. Without my receipt, I'm guessing I'm SOL. [:o]

-Eric

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Hi Eric

Don't know what to tell you about fixing your electronics. For the price of a new wing and board, though, you could pretty much buy yourself a whole new plane and keep the old one for parts. That's not much consolation but part of the game I guess. Good luck.

Dave

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Well, I actually bought it only about 10 days ago, so I'll see if the LHS I bought it from will do anything. If nothing else perhaps they can give me a duplicate receipt to get support from Hobbico. If I am going to spend money on another plane, I think I'll just get a SuperCub. Folks have stacked this plane much more than me with no ESC issues.

-Eric

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Hi all. I finally got to fly my SkyFly!

Way back in May, I bought a SkyFly, but decided I needed to modify it to Mode 1 (which I have used in Australia) before flying it. I have only recently had the time to do the mods, because I have been away most of the year.

I decided to do the whole bit. I got a Spektrum DX7 (Mode 1) and AR6200 Rx. I got Hitec HS-65MG servos, replaced the motor with a Himax HB2815-2000 brushless, got a Phoenix 25 BL ESC/BEC and a 6*4 pusher prop. I have decided to keep the 6 cell, 900mAH NiMH batteries for the moment, at least. I replaced all the connectors with Dean's UltraPlugs. All this was easy, except that I couldn't see any way to replace the motor without removing the rear rod for the main wing rubberbands. The Himax is slightly larger in diameter than the original motor, but all this required was tightening the metal plate onto the motor and bending it slightly, before trying to fit it in the plane.

The biggest task was replacing the linkages and mounting the servos. I used 0.032 music wire for the control rods, and Mini E/Z connectors for the control surface horns, making it easy to adjust the linkage centering. I ran the rods down the tail boom, but this required elongation of the emergence holes towards the rear, so the wires would not be forced through a tight angle where they emerge near the tail.

I replaced the printed circuit board from the original electrics with a similar-sized plywood plank. Then I mounted the new servos as far forward as feasible on the plank, with their horns extending out over the lateral edges of the plank, near the side walls of the plane body. The servos are mounted with their long axes vertical, and the horns are pointing downwards when centred. This greatly reduces the angle through which the wires need to bend after exitting the boom inside the plane body. I used simple Z bends to connect the wires to the servo horns.

On the bench, I was really impressed by the new system. It is VASTLY better than the original, giving much better control over the surfaces. You can hardly move the rudder and elevator at all, without operating the servos. The new servos have a very positive feel and great responsiveness.

So yesterday I took it for a flight. I decided to visit the local club flying field, because I don't know of anywhere else suitable. And anyway, I enjoyed seeing what other members get up to. A potential problem arose, because the local club requires newbies to fly buddy with a trainer till they can demonstrate competence. Nobody thought this would be possible, with me flying Mode 1 and them all on Mode 2. Normally, the trainer would take over the trainee's TX, and the trainee would fly with another TX acting as slave. This preserves the link (binding) between the trainee's TX and plane. But this wouldn't work in my case, because the trainer had no intention of flying with my TX on Mode 1!

We found a way around this. He binded his DX7 to my plane, then we flew buddy with his TX taking control (on Mode 2) and my TX slaved and on Mode 1. This worked perfectly. Clearly, the buddy link transmits channel data, not stick movement data. Only minor hassle is I have to rebind my plane to my TX before I can use my own TX alone.

We took it up after the wind died in the evening. The SkyFly flew beautifully! No problem with trim or anything else. I landed it myself on the airstrip without any problems (I don't have wheels fitted). I have only ever flown my Australian Electrafun XP before, so I don't have a lot of experience to draw on. But for what it's worth, my impression was the modified SkyFly showed great control authority and responsiveness - more than I expected from flying the G4 simulation. It glided superbly, you could hardly even tell when I cut the motor. This could be partly because the motor power is pretty marginal anyway, on a 6 cell NiMH, but it may also help that I haven't modified the wing in any way to strengthen it. I have seen this sort of modification on other planes, and can't help think it must impose a serious penalty on wing performance. Nothing like having it fold, of course!

Naturally, with such low power and an unmodifed wing, I don't think of the SkyFly as an aerobatic plane. But that doesn't worry me. If I was into boats, it would be sail-boats, not motor-boats. Just a personal bias. My hope is to get very familiar with flying the SkyFly, and in particular, to get comfortable with flying in wind. Then I would like to move on to aileron planes, but if I see a long-term direction, it would be towards soaring of some sort. I would really like to try slope-soaring, but not too much potential for that in Missouri!

Cheers all, Chris.

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Chris:
That it is great to hear that you have successfully modded your SF and were able to get it on Mode 1.

Great solution in regard to the servos standing upright. Clever.

In regard to fitting your control rods thru the boom, how did you enlarge the holes near the tail? Standard drill and bit? Do you have any tips to do this properly...without destroying or weaking the carbon boom?

Rob

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Quote:

ORIGINAL: RTice

In regard to fitting your control rods thru the boom, how did you enlarge the holes near the tail? Standard drill and bit? Do you have any tips to do this properly...without destroying or weaking the carbon boom?

I used a small diameter needle file. I just kept filing away gradually, with the needle file oriented in the direction I wanted the wires to lie. The idea was to make an elongated slot, rather than just expanding the hole diameter. It took several minutes, but was not a big deal.

The hole itself is certainly enlarged more than I would have liked, and I guess it's inevitable there will be some weakening of the boom. I am sure that with finer equipment, I could have made the slot longer without significantly enlarging the hole diameter, but you do have to file away inside the forward edge of the hole as well as behind the hole, otherwise the thickness of the boom material is also a problem.

I attach a picture of the new hole, and another of the servo arrangement. In the latter, I have used a piece of printed circuit board for the plank, but subsequently realised it was pretty silly to put two large plates of copper right next to the receivers! So I ended up using plywood. Also in this pic, the servos are installed near the back of the plank, but I ended up moving them to the front, because it would be better for both the COG and the angle through which the wires need to turn.

Cheers, Chris.

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

My experience with the Skyfly has been good.......and bad.

After purchasing the plane last spring, spent a month getting in as much flying time as possible. Found the Skyfly an enjoyable model to learn flying, and fixing. I ended up losing a channel(elevator) in a run-in with the ground in May. It took months to get the problem resolved (warrenty return, receipt of new receiver, eventual supply of crystal that they didn't tell me I needed to remove before returning receiver, etc.). Finally in September, I had all the gear reinstalled and ready to go. After sitting so long, gave the batteries a full charge and went flying, but not for long. The charger wasn't giving the batteries a full charge. The only way to get a full charge was to babysit them and keep pressing the button when the light would go out. Finally got a couple of good flights in. On my last flight, lost all control input and put it down over a hill. It took quite a while to find, but I did finally retrieve the plane. No serious damage, but the throttle is locked at about 3/4 open.

When I got around to phoning Hobbico this time around, they informed me that they couldn't send me a new receiver as they were no longer stocking it. They offered to supply a complete Skyfly replacement. Although this sounds generous, it didn't make any sense to get another Skyfly which I've already had two receiver problems with. Surprisingly, when I suggested they supply a Skyfly 2, they agreed!! I received my new plane yesterday.

When equipping my original plane, I knew I would want to optimize my flying time, so I purchased two additional batteries. Now I have three 7.2V batteries and a 8.4V plane(with the single 8.4V battery supplied). As you would expect, the connectors are not a match. Before I head to the LHS to buy piffies for a splice connector, what are the consequences of running the lower voltage battery on the 8.4V system?

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Sorry for all the problems you had so far. The consequence of using 1.2 v less voltage is having a slightly lower power, and also you may need to set the balance since your battery pack is lighter. Of course your plane will fly with fully charged battery but will lose the power quicker than 8.4 v. I would add one 2/3 A Nimh 900 mah to each pack.

Good luck,

Fred

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Fred,

Thanks for the response.

Modifying my existing power packs are the most practical. Having trouble finding a source for 3/4 AA batteries though. Will most likely cut up one of my three 7.2v packs, and add a cell to the other two. This will still leave me with three power packs to go flying with, including the one supplied with the Skyfly 2!

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

BTW - the lower voltage pack will actually last longer than the higher voltage pack considering that they are the same capacity (900 mah). You may want to test to see if the 7.2v gives you enough power.

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

Sorry the correct battery is 2/3 A 900 mah.
Based on the following formula power is the product of voltage and current.
P= V X I
8.4V X 0.9A= 7.56 watt
7.2V X 0.9A= 6.48 watt
If your 380 motor consumes 4 A in average then it uses 4 A X 8.4 V= 33.6 watt. 8.4 v battery provides 7.56 watt for one hour. Thus, your flight duration would be 7.56 X 60min / 33.6 = 13.5 min.
With your 7.2 v battery your flight duration would be 6.48 X 60 / 33.6= 11.57 min.
I hope it might help to figure out what is the effect of voltage on the power.

Good luck,

Fred

RE: Flyzone Sky Fly

hi Fred:
Wouldn't it be...

8.4V X 0.9A= 7.56 watt = 7.56 X 60min / 33.6 = 13.5 min

7.2V X 0.9A= 6.48 watt = 6.48 X 60min / 25.92 = 15 min

After all, if your 380 motor consumes 4 A in average then it uses 4 A X 6.48V (with 7.2v battery) = 25.92 watts

Rob