Hi all,
I'm pretty new to DIY Drones but not to the topic itself, although I don't have any practical R/C hobby experience. I also now kinda "defected" from the multi-rotor world to here 
. Why?
Well, that's what I wrote to my personal blog about it:
Copter or no copter, that is the question...
With the building of a multi-rotor being so painstakingly complicated for me as a total R/C novice, I peeped over the fence to the ArduPlane guys, and there it was... Massive, huge, black, 2kg payload, ... ... ...
Of course, I am talking about the Skywalker X8, a flying wing with incredible 2,12m wingspan and 1-2kg payload (depending on motor and stuff). From what I have read in the forums so far, this monster is not only very stable and reasonably easy to fly. It even has it's own usergroup at DIY Drones - which I immediately joined, of course.
Yes, it's true, I am a helo person, but that doesn't mean that I can't fly fixed-wings . And with a multi-rotor being obviously painstakingly complicated (and expensive!) in construction, a fixed-wing might just be a nice alternative for the beginning. Especially, a fixed-wing like this!
Now, what's the next step...? The next step is to find a dealer somewhere in Europe, figure out, how much the monster costs and do some project- and budget-planning.
So, I guess, I'll hang out here a bit longer :).
-Stefan
Replies
Hi Stefan,
may I ask around what area in Finland you're located? Myself I'm flying fixed wing with APM1 in the metropolitan area (Vantaa that is) and it would be great to see an X8 in real life after watching lots of youtube videos. But I see that you're still in the process of getting one. I currently don't have so much time for the hobby so I don't dare to order :-) But hopefully I gonna get my Multiplex Funcub soon up again.
Cheers, Andre
Welcome, I suggest for a start have a look at this site. There are currently 366 pages so start about half way. You will learn a lot about the fantastic X8.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1555543
I don't know any dealers who stock it in Europe but if you order it from www.bevrc.com and make your order upto $200 by adding something for $1 you do or at least did get free shipping. Any questions just ask.
Also I am looking to connect a 3G dongle to a Raspberry Pi but unfortunately due to back orders it only arrived 2 days ago and from next week I am away for 2 weeks so not much progress yet.