Continue reading »]]> I got a small delivery from a fellow pilot who I met at the big indoor event in January. He has a blog at blogspot and it is called Mickes Hobby He is also trying to build multirotor’s and is using MultiWii as brain. Together we ordered a few parts for the flyduino MWC and I will help him as much as possible to get in air. Another common interest is the fact that MultiWii can be used for airplane stabilization.

So if you are a Swedish visitor – please go to Mickes Hobby.

As for my own progress I am still waiting for various parts – one order was placed almost 2 months ago…yesterday I got a confirmation it was finally shipped. I want to finish off the Tricopter and a Quadcopter…

Continue reading »]]> I am currently testing the MultiWii airplane mode. Early stages of testing shows some really cool features.
There are a few things for me to find out and if I mount MultiWii on my Skywalker or a new platform like Bixler is still unknown. The goal for Skywalker is more autonomous so its going to be ArduPlane. I can test MultiWii on the Swift II (Flying wing). A separate platform would be the best of course…

No matter what I bet it will require lots of PID tuning to get a stable platform for aerial photo and/ or film.

Continue reading »]]> I am currently going thru all options for ArduPlane that I intend to use in my Skywalker.

I want to keep my current setup on the Skywalker – a 4 servo wing requiring 4 channels. This way I do not have to reverse any servo internally or change setup if I want to go back to the Spektrum radio again(failsafe)
Arduplane can fly on its own(UAV) and I didn’t know that flaps could be used in the software but I was not going to add this anyway. I do not intend to use any camera stabilization either (also optional).

What I do want is to have more options available from Arduplane – there are several modes:

I want to use some of them on a single stick – so the option is to use a knob.
Here the problem can be seen – the knobs on the TGY 9X has no index and it is very difficult telling how far you turned the knob without looking at it or the display.

I want to add indexing. I have to think about this to see what I can come up with. Possible a small spring that feel small grooves(holes) in the knob itself (or replace the knob with something indexed)

Continue reading »]]> Today I got a parcel from DiyDrones. I ordered a GPS for the ArduPilotMega and Oilpan shiled I have. The GPS makes it possible to use more features of the board including adding waypoints(UAW) and return to home if signal is lost.

It will be incorporated into the Skywalker as soon as I get time to tinker with it.
A few options will be controlled by a switch on my TGY 9X radio.

The software will be ArduPlane

Here you can enjoy the GPS

Continue reading »]]> I was asked to explain how I did the LED modifications. Here are more images to show how the LED-strips are inserted into the foam.

The winglet LED’s (red and green) are mounted with the supplied sticky-tape this way the red and green does not make the foam glow but they are more directional. This improves visibility in air as it clearly tells me where I’m going. The white LED’s are there to make the whole wing glow.

Continue reading »]]> I mounted a LED strip to my Swift II. This will make it possible to fly in total darkness.
2 40cm long cuts where I inserted the LED-strips standing in the foam. The cuts are about 15mm deep so I can squeeze in the 10mm wide strip and glue the foam together again.

Here is an image, this is the Swift II lying on my tiled floor, belly-side up towards camera, It is even brighter from the other side.

Swift II LED

Orientation Led's