gfunk
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- Jul 25, 2017
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Thanks to CoyoteNumber2 for the original Skelenaut inspiration in 2015 and sharing his lessons learned!
I successfully flew my own Skelenaut this Christmas. The local clubs weren't sure they wanted to let this one fly untested, luckily I have my own FAA CoA on some private Midwest farmland for a maiden flight.
With a loaded/pad weight of about 14lbs the AT K185W took it to ~1,300' AGL and 160 mph. Spoiler alert: Skeletons are draggy!
Build details:
Skelenaut video:
Video Link
Damage report:
He broke a distal phalanx off his second toe upon landing. This toe proved hard to locate amidst a harvested soybean field, so he's a battle scarred toe amputee now.
Also has minor zipper repair required due to a somewhat horizontal/high-speed deployment. I think this was due to weather cocking and then gravity turning on the long burn low thrust motor. A K550 or K456 might be a better choice for the next flight, but that long burn thunder at low altitude sure was cool. Regardless, he will be ready to fly again in October.
I successfully flew my own Skelenaut this Christmas. The local clubs weren't sure they wanted to let this one fly untested, luckily I have my own FAA CoA on some private Midwest farmland for a maiden flight.
With a loaded/pad weight of about 14lbs the AT K185W took it to ~1,300' AGL and 160 mph. Spoiler alert: Skeletons are draggy!
Build details:
- I used most of a full length of MAC canvas phenolic 54mm air frame, creating essentially a goofy minimum diameter rocket.
- Fins are huge, probably too big, and made from 1/4" birch ply. Generous fillets and 1.5 layers of T-T 2x2 twill CF cloth over the wood made sure they stayed put. I was willing to accept over-stability and weather cocking to make sure this didn't go unstable and turn into 7 seconds of long burn undead terror.
- I flew an RRC3 to get the apogee event timing right. The required delay would be really short, like a few seconds.
- True "Head End Deployment" fired a 72" Spherachute main at apogee. I had a 18" chute on the skull just in case the main needed help getting out. It didn't need the help, ground testing was spot on.
- I utilized rail buttons and a square hole through the skull to allow the optimal guidance offered by a 1010 rail.
- Walgreens seems to have the highest quality plastic skeletons around, better than either HD or Lowes.
Skelenaut video:
Video Link
Damage report:
He broke a distal phalanx off his second toe upon landing. This toe proved hard to locate amidst a harvested soybean field, so he's a battle scarred toe amputee now.
Also has minor zipper repair required due to a somewhat horizontal/high-speed deployment. I think this was due to weather cocking and then gravity turning on the long burn low thrust motor. A K550 or K456 might be a better choice for the next flight, but that long burn thunder at low altitude sure was cool. Regardless, he will be ready to fly again in October.