Kevin K's Skylark Build

[horsefeetky]

aero tow or hand launch it.. the dolly on blacktop might work ok buy even on smooth grass i had it bounce loose on take off and cause a prop strike. prop did ok but the nose rings cracked apart and had to be glued back prior to more flying... and i want to hear your thoughts on getting your hands inside that fuse through the canopy area. i said many cuss words but i did get things plugged up. hope to never revisit in there again.. super nice flyer... finish it up and go help your dad sort the bidule so we can get a tow on it soon.

[Sinkhappens86]

My plan is to aerotow it for the maiden, but I mostly plan on self launching this one. The field I'll be flying at the most has a fabric runway like Muncy PA. The prototype did really well launching off of that when I flew it, so fingers crossed.

The only thing I changed about the canopy/cockpit is the canopy is held on with magnets instead of a bolt. It is a tight fit, but I've been able to get in and move things around when I needed to.

A few more photos, getting really close.

[horsefeetky]

looking good we will fly ours together and see who can las the longest until the first person gets hungry or needs a cold beer and must land.. jim had mine up 2.5 hours once taking turns on the tx between flyers. they too gave in and landed

[gunny11]

WoW Kevin! Looks really really good. Again, you are talented with the color scheme...

[JimD]

We found that the Skylark can easily be hand launched...and you don't need to run fast to do it either (but recommend this to be a two person task).

Just take a few steps and push it off level or very slightly nose down and the motor will take it right out of your hands and into a nice climb.

[Sinkhappens86]

28 oz of lead in the nose and it's balanced right at 105mm

[horsefeetky]

loose the lead and go with a larger battery if you can fit one in there im going to enlarge the battery tray floor by 1/4" this winter so i can use my modern smart batteries in 4000ma size. might even be able to use the 30c 5000ma ones too. the new packs are not a few ounces more than the older ones i got from jim with the plane and those are much lower ma size

[Sinkhappens86]

Well today was the big day, we made our way to the Tri Rivers RC field to maiden the Skylark. I'm happy to report that it went perfectly! We decided to go with an aerotow first and the Skylark leapt off the ground like it had been towed 100s of times before. You wouldn't have known it was the maiden flight. Very little trim needed and it was climbing in thermals on the first flight. During the flight, I tested out the motor and the spoilers and then brought it for an uneventful landing.

After a couple more aerotows to keep the tow pilot busy, it was time to test a self launch. Again, it was like it had done this 100s of times. After about a minute under power, it was at around 900 feet and it was back to looking for lift.

If you want to build a kit to get into giant scale gliders, this is it. There are no excuses for not getting stick time with the Skylark. It fits in the back of my Chevy Cruze, so I don't need to bother with the truck and trailer. It can self launch, so no tow pilot required. Looking forward to getting a lot more flying with this one.

Thanks so much to Peter, Jim D, Len, Gunny and Steve K for all the help and encouragement. I'm really proud of this glider and glad that I was able to finish it.

Pictures and video!

[horsefeetky]

i see the prop windmilling on landing were you using power or just need to set the esc brake to hard setting........nice flight and cant wait to see your pilot choice for future cockpit time.. didnt need the bidule for that tow.. hope your dad is finding it worthy and get it in the air soon.. remind hime the da150 is new and idles down more once it warms up a tad.. should find it set to fly already.

[Sinkhappens86]

I had forgotten to program the brake on the ESC. Then when I changed it at the field, I forgot the last step where you actually save the changes. Whoops. It's all set now though.

[gunny11]

Outstanding Kevin! Great flight report.

[ARUP]

Awesome, K-man! Thanks for the vids, too.

[Sinkhappens86]

Had a little incident on tow today with the Skylark... Anyone have a canopy?

[Sinkhappens86]

Back in business! Thanks Peter for sending it so quickly!