you look back through previous projects here on Nine Eagle products you'll see these models are very versatile and you can modify them like crazy. I like them best because of their size, this Sky Runner is 20CM bigger than the Xtra 300 with a 70CM wingspan making for a great NANO FPV platform.
This is the stock Nine Eagles Sky Runner and being honest its a very nice looking model. However it does come with a standard N20 brushed motor with a 250mAh 2 cell lipo which should give you about 10 minutes flight time on average.
Here you can see the standard RX/ESC/linear servo board and its all fairly tidy looking. I'm not interested in these electronics though and so I took them out having never used them. (including motor)
I took the RfSky 4 channel receiver out of it's casing and used heat shrink pipe to seal it, this still fits in front of the servos on the bottom of the fuselage nicely.
Now the stock inrunner brushed motor is not so good or powerful. Most brushless inrunners this size still don't have the power I want so I made an outrunner motor mount using 2MM plywood first UHU por glued in place to hold it while I used foam safe CA glue around the edges for a final bond.
The standard propeller is TINY and would allow for maybe winds upto 10-15MPH, beyond that and you'd fly backwards if at all. So I cut a slot out of the fuselage and used tissue paper to create a cover by apply CA glue to harden it in place. That's a 6*4 prop :)
Of course some structural integrity was lost cutting out for the propeller, so I added a 3MM carbon fiber rod down the bottom of the fuselage between the foam. I used CA glue to fix it in place. The tail boom is again solid.
Setting up at the field only 18 hours after buying the model, never using stock electronics to being at club ready for maiden flight all converted.
While this conversation was not as simple as others simply because of the fuselage inner design. Overall though this model 100% rocks, an amazing platform for micro/nano/sub-nano FPV flying.
The maiden flight, remember this model is 3 channel with no ailerons (yet lol). It was 16-22MPH winds so the plane kinda gets taken away until I got a feel for the plane, so the first 1 minute is a bit out there. This is also my first video with a slide show of the build in it, thought I'd try something new.
This model flies like a dream, not only is the COG (Center Of Gravity perfect - 13MM into the wing with this set-up) perfect but when I just glide with no power and let go of sticks it casually creeps forward into the wind (again 16MPH+!). It did this better with the 610mAh Rhino 2C lipo being 9 grams heavier it likes a bit of nose heavy.
I ran some power tests with the 500mAh:
After 5 minutes first maiden flight (video was edited) I had 69% left.
A further 10 minute flight left the lipo at a nice 25% which is where I like to stop.
So after really using lots of throttle to get idea on speed and fighting wind gusts I was able to fly 15 minutes easily. A calmer day and more gliding I could easily get another 10+ minutes.
Nine Eagles Sky Runner brushless and Futaba conversation with NANO FPV
