RC Model Reviews

There have been a few changes already, and now it seems that some things are becoming sold out. With the holiday it seems that Hobbyking is still half comatose. None of my orders have shipped yet. And the Skywalker that I ordered became back-ordered and then discontinued before they could "verify" my CC. I found a guy on Ebay that had 10 Skywalkers so I got one from him.

Had my first accident with the Supercub. Fooling around flying inverted too close to the ground and got disoriented. Broke the supercub in two. I'm a carpenter and use 2p-10 glue and activator in my daily job, so i gave it a shot on the plane. Holy COW! I applied the glue to one side and the activator to the other side. Everything was good. I then pressed them together. Yikes, it started hissing and off gassing. I got a bit of the gas/mist in my eye. Everything was OK though but I won't do that again without eye protection. Anyhow, the joint glued up so strong and fast! Dead solid in 30 seconds. 2p-10 is not cheap, but compared to "hobby" glues it is.

Alright, new update. It seems that HobbyKing isn't going to be getting things together in a timely manner so I'm now two weeks into the wind and am going to cancel all of my HobbyKing orders and redo the parts of my list that pertained to them.

Will update list accordingly.

It's the first week after Chinese new year. No Honk Kong store is going to ship quickly at the moment.

"Patience young Skywalker."

Well, that part is true, and it did take a while to get any sort of response. The issue that caused my backing out was over a credit card. I used my company credit card to make the purchase and they couldn't understand why my name is not on the card but is linked to the account. They wanted a picture of my CC. So I sent one, I figured it's good they are checking. Then about 4 days later after me going round and round with them they tell me that they would like to see my bank statement. I'm not sure of the implications of sending that information over the net to some guy I don't know in China. I told them they could contact my bank if they wanted to verify my identity, and if that doesn't work for them then they could cancel my orders. They kindly canceled my orders.

I am no further behind then I was being that nothing was even packed. Heck the order hadn't even been sent to the warehouse. I picked everything out last night and will reorder from different suppliers today. Getting most everything from BEVRC whom has already shipped the order that I made with them initially. Everything should be back on track here in just a few hours.

Once I have the orders set I will update the spreadsheet, I'm pretty sure that everything that I'm getting is either as good or better then previous.

I'm so excited to get all my gear here and start testing out the different systems! I love to tinker.
Oh, and passed the Ham Radio tech exam. Missed one question and finished in just over a minute. Needless to say I studied for a bit.


Alright, everything is ordered and I ordered a few more things. Updated all the current items and have gotten responses from all companies ordered from indicated that my orders were successful. Will add in other items ordered later on.

Alright, an update. the last bit came in today. Servos, motor, goggles and a few other small bits. I also stopped by my local hobby shop and get a decent charger for the batteries. Now i atleast have the materials to start putting everything together.

I set up a test board for the video system and everything seems to be working right as far as the osd, current sensor, cam, transmitter and receiver go. Next step will be to assemble the plane and make and configure the controller. I am hoping to maiden the skywalker this weekend with no fpv gear onboard. I'll slowly add stuff on there as soon as I am sure I'm not going to have issues.

Will keep you guys updated with my progress.

Will,

Is the spreadsheet you've got in the first post of this thread up to date (with your Bill of Materials)?

Thanks
Peter

Yes, I have been making changes to it as I go along due to stocking issues and what not. Now whether everything there plays well or not is yet to be seen by myself. I will be setting everything up over the next week or two.

Also, there are a few things missing that I know of right out of the gate. Like ferrite rings, servo extension cables, base antenna (I will most likely construct one) etc...

I will be sure to add all that stuff on in the end. Hopefully as I blunder through this mess I will make a trail that can followed without making all the mistakes that I am bound to make.

Oh, and also, if someone with more knowledge in this area sees a blunder in my planning, please tell me.

How about a weekly blog (video or text) to track your progress?

For better or worse, that's sounds like a good idea.

At least if nothing else, I will keep updating this thread with my progress.

Ran a few tests this evening on the flysky9x, dragonlink, ESC, motor, and servos. Looks like everything is working. I will assemble the skywalker tomorrow and hopefully get a dry test flight. Will do a bit of range testing first though.