The Skywalker X-8 is an EPO foam wing designed for long range FPV.
The large cargo space of the X-8 allows you to carry a lot of stuff. David designed this custom 360 degree pan rig that's controlled by the rudder and allows the pilot to see all around as he flying.
This custom add-on makes the FPV flying experience much better then the stock setup of this foam wing.
We installed an ArduPilot Mega 2.5 from 3D Robotics to provide additional flying control with options like 'return to home' which allows the plane to automatically fly a designated flight pattern.
Some design issues that we had were things like the wings, which are held on with only this small screw.
This bump on the nose causes the plane to jump around upon landing.
The large wing is not designed for high speed flying or inverted flight, but the cargo space will allow for extra batteries and components which will give you the option to setup the airplane for long flight times and long range FPV.
Chad's favorite part of this plane had nothing to do with the Skywalker X-8 itself, but the custom 360 FPV panning system David setup. A GoPro rig like this would be too heavy for a TwinStar II so that is the good side of what the X-8 can do.
Though the X-8 can carry a lot of things and flies great in calm weather, when compared the TwinStar II, we'd choose the TwinStar II or the FT Cruiser swappable.
This airplane is big! It's got some unique features that can be very useful for specific FPV setups and with all of the cargo space there are all kinds of options to customize the foam wing for your FPV needs.
The airplane does well as a large FPV plane and is pretty straight forward and relatively easy to fly.
David will be flying this airplane throughout the summer and plans to give an update of how the X-8 continues to perform.
We also had a chance to try out this RF Explorer which is a handheld RF spectrum analyzer. The device helped us fix some issues he had with the EzUHF Rx Long Range UHF Radio Control Link by showing us local frequencies that were interfering with our signal.
You can see more X-8FPV flying footage here:
You can see more images in the Forum post HERE!
We'd like to thank Chris Anderson of 3D Robotics for sending us the ArduPilot Mega 2.5!
You can learn more about the ArduPilot and the other components they have available at www.3DRobotics.com
Airplanes mentioned in this episode:
Skywalker X-8 FPV / UAV Flying Wing 2120mm
Multiplex TwinStar II ELAPOR Foam Twin Engine Airplane
FT Cruiser - Twin Engine Swappable Airplane
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