The SkyHook Discovery.
Disclaimer: I was lucky enough to have been given one of the first prototypes as I helped in the design of the plane.
More info from :
http://www.skyhookrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=50
There is also a pure glider version, which uses the same feathers, just a different fuselage pod
http://www.skyhookrc.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=51
The Skyhook Discovery has been specifically designed for efficient soaring, whilst also being a good stable FPV platform.
The wingspan is 2.5 meters, but the model will break down to fit in a small box. The wing dismantles into 4 pieces, the fuselage boom separates easily from the fuselage pod and the V tail halves are easy to disassemble as well.
The plane has an MH32 wing section which includes a full length 20% chord flap. The MH32 is well known as a slippery airfoil, and the model is capable of flying very fast or very slowly depending on how you set the camber control in flight.
The wing and tail construction is foam with a glass skin sheeted over with balsa. This makes it very rigid. The surface finish is far superior aerodynamically to anything you can achieve with a foamie.
The ailerons are split with the wing panels and are hinged top side on the outer panel and bottom on the inner so you can set up an efficient "crow" flap mode too.
There is a good amount of space for gear in the "pod" between the wings and in the lower fuselage, and there are also pockets in the wings for yet more gear.
I chose a Turnigy GliderDrive 1120kV for mine and a 12 x 6 prop and an 80A Turnigy Plush ESC, and with a 3S 4000 Lipo, it get away nicely. The plane is very stable and rock solid as a camera platform , but also can do aerobatics.
So far I haven't had much time to try it beyond a couple of flights , but I'm looking forward to having some fun with this!
Comments
There is one issue outstanding for me. In order to use well ArduPlane with this model and exploit its capabilities such as camber control and crow flaps, (which will need fin trimming of elevator etc), ArduPlane will need much better and more versatile mixing capabilities than it currently has. I have heard that there is something in the works using the OpenTX mixing scheme, which is good news, though personally, having used the OpenTX GUI mixing, I am not a great fan. It takes a lot of work to get things working and somethings aren't intuitive, for example evaluation order.
Anyway until something else appears I hope to proceed with my own mixer as outlined here.
https://github.com/kwikius/mixer_lang
and here
http://discuss.ardupilot.org/t/a-new-approach-to-arduplane-mixer-sc...
bearing in mind Andrew Tridgell's comments in the second link
The glider.mix script is based around this plane in fact
https://github.com/kwikius/mixer_lang/blob/master/glider.mix
Excellent - pretty good price as well.
I am sick of looking at all the puffy cumulus clouds here in Perth and having nothing to do anything about it :-)
The model was originally convinced as my idea.. Then came together after multiple rounds of design work bouncing between myself, Andy and and Byron.
Fortunately byron travels to China almost weekly.. So we where able to ensure that the manufacturers resolved every issue. This means that the model is designed with sound aerodynamic principles - and flies well!
I personally am tired of all the fpv models out there being foam bricks that don't stand a chance of flying at the same level as my non fpv models. As such.. We designed first as a soarer / slope model.. Then worked out how to get the fpv gear in efficiently.
I think we have achieved the design goals. I can't wait for summer so I can get some good sunny thermal conditions!
Sighhhh - my bank account was just building up after the Challenge was over.......
This is exactly what I want as I would like to get back into soaring and have had thoughts about a FPV GPS triangle contest for a while.
That looks like a really nice plane, thanks for sharing!
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