Product review: SONIC MODELL Micro Sky Hunter - 780mm

About

You might notice in the review gallery there are few planes that didn't get much spotlight throughout my activity. One (1228mm) didn't make it into my review few years back while the other of similar lineage (780mm) model did make it which i'm about to tell you now.  You've guess its the "Sky Hunter", this review  i'm talking about the micro version of the SH which sent last year on October 2016 from SONIC MODELL company (i guess they must be pissed for my late review but hey i have to be honest when i'm doing it else not being bias for you all reader). It took me almost half a year to get up and worked on the Micro SH due lack of funding and other lazy stuff that prohibit me to move my ass to build and fly this plane especially in the pass history having bad luck with the bigger version Mini Sky Hunter as you've seen sample of carnage in my 2015 gallery.  It took sometime to gain that 'Love' thing back into Sky Hunter platform....its hard to mend a broken heart, but a year later 2016 Micro Sky Hunter from SONIC MODELL seems to change all this negative perception that i've been through.  The SONIC MODELL:  Micro Sky Hunter i received in October 2016 comes as PNF package, with a wingspan of  780mm made from sturdy EPO and assembly is quite straight forward by glue and screw in the wings unlike its bigger brother the "Mini" version which involves lots of bolts and nuts tightening and some handy tools to works around it.  At the time of the release there are already variants or rebranded version of 780mm sized SKY HUNTER existed in the market offered by other popular branding such as from RMRC brand that comes in black color made from EPS material and the EACHINE brand.  Both of these company named their products as 'Nano' Sky hunter instead of 'Micro' as labeled by SONIC MODELL which makes it quite confusing for consumer to choose despite all three planes have the same wingspan length, kit specification but different material build. More likely it was build by the same manufacturer but not sure which is the main contractor for it but for now let forget some doubts on little things and let move on with the review. Honestly speaking what i can say about the Micro Sky Hunter is  "At last it flew!", why would i say that is because after many frustration flying the un-flyable early generation of "flying brick" Mini Sky Hunter (1228mm) which cause so much annoyance just to hand launch and ended up in crashes due to stalling as many people posted it at Youtube in 2015. The 2015 Mini version was a big failure but after a year later (2016) the introduction of Micro size Sky Hunter changes all this,  introduced many improvement inflight handling and reduce stall characteristics, plus its small micro size makes it great portable FPV flyer around the park. The Micro SH already have pre-built place holder for adding micro FPV camera and other stuff that you need to slot in the FPV electronics hardware so SONIC MODELL guys already figure it out early what FPV consumer what which is good.  Half years later it has become popular park sized FPV plane.  So what did i think about it from my point of view?....

Specification (as describe by vendor/manufacturer)

Package included (kit form - assembly required):
1x Micro Sky Hunter Kit (in two separate boxes)

Build, flight performance and review.

How did i ended up with this plane? Originally in the past i was asking to if i could try out their Mini SBACH 342 because i love to do aerobatic flight and some ninja flipping skills up in the air but they keep offering me to test out lines of their FPV platform since they knew i can do some 'miracle' wonders with FPV but i already knew anything with brick shaped fuselage with wings won't do much good because my aerodynamic common sense says it won't work....aerodynamic 101 man!. So in 2015 i failed their Mini Sky Hunter (1228mm) because despite many flight attempts the Mini (1228mm) version have tendency to stall regardless setup to its optimal specification and reduced weight, worse many people already proven it on Youtube that it does that...let alone try to hand launched it...it made me a few laugh and giggles just to see people hand launch and ended face plant on videos. To the extreme some rebranded model from other company that offer same Mini Hunter platform (you guessed it) does offer give away for to any customer who could do some funny biddings to make it more attractive to own one by force...so i guess there must be something wrong with this platform, fortunately the giant size Sky Hunter 1800mm wingspan does'nt pose much issue but no one wants to buy a giant planes that hardly fits inside a normal sedan car.  So that the story of the old Mini Sky Hunter.  So a year later their R&D manage to redesign a new generation of Sky Hunter ..a micro size.  Did they solve the previous problem?...YES!   Success!  Does it make me happy? No... cos i didn't get to try their SBACH 342. Lol.

Short story i got their newly release Micro Sky Hunter. A cute size plane...i try not to love this plane but have to say was amaze how cute it is to hold it in my arms.  Definitely most easiest PNF plane package to assemble without to much tools to work around it.  It doesn't come with a manual book to assemble it, as soon i've un-box everything i knew which part go to which so its pretty much common sense how to assemble it like you're given a car tyre and you know what to do on a car. Its pretty much 'dumb proof' to build it once you see a real picture who does it looks like in assembled form on internet. Just use a hot glue gun and a hex tools to lock the wing together and that's it.  Owner have two ways to enjoy the plane; as a normal line of sight flying or FPV. But i took the hardest option which is my favorite..UAV setup, trying to make it fly autonomously like my previous UAV project the Z-84...did it worked?    On my Micro Sky Hunter i setup as autonomous flight which mean i grabbed the exact electronics component ripped out from my old UAV Wing Wing Z-84 V1 which is the MINI APM V3.1 combo unit along with its GPS module + power module + 433Mhz telemetry module + ESC + motor + propeller + Frsky receiver + 808 #16 HD camera unit and 3s 3500mah Li-on pack out from that plane into Micro Sky Hunter as UAV instead of FPV.  Total flying weight was about 410gram an extra 35gram out of optimal manufacturer recommended flying weight of 375gram but no worries someone did flew more than 420gram successfully as standard FPV at Rcgroups.com forum and on Youtube, but you'll need additional thrust per-weight ratio to launch it.

I spent about 3 days flying the UAV (APM/Ardupilot/Arduplane) spec Micro Sky Hunter at the remote open field to flying it and really impressed with the flight characteristic and endurance of this tiny platform.  My first expectation was i thought it would perform as bad as its previous 1228mm brother but after its first maiden with the help hand launched by my friend i was thrilled to see it flew well almost below 50% throttle to almost stalled power and it flew well despite seeing it flew nose heavy having wrong CG displacement.  I quickly landed it and it glide nicely leveled into nearby bushes and straight away i adjusted the CG by moving the 3s 3500mah Li-on towards the back fuselage.  So after fixing the CG issues on the second hand launch maiden attempt the plane flew extremely well with 50% thrust and a minor up trim elevator and right trim on the aileron, it flew nice and straight just like my old classic Hobby King AXN Cloud Fly floater jet glider.  Since my Micro Sky Hunter equipped with combo unit APM flight controller (Mini APM V3.1) i took a day to do some auto tuning the plane and see how it performed in autopilot mode.  The 3rd session i try to make it fly in auto but it struggle to maintain altitude however the GPS didn't worked that well as it failed to lock on the satellite...got burned.  So the rest of the day on the second and third day of flight my Micro Sky Hunter was flown as Line Of Sight control (manual) rather than auto else just doing some fun flying with flying weight equivalent to FPV setup with added plus of live data telemetry update via 433Mhz telemetry that giving me direct data of battery and health status of the plane during the flight to my smartphone bridge via my ground station on bluetooth.  I have to admit the Micro Sky Hunter is definitely fun to fly as basic plane setup or with simple lightweight FPV gear on it as i flew manually by hand rather than added flight automation, i guess clumping around adding flight controller, GPS and unnecessary stuff on Micro SH doesn't do much justice to overall fun and simplicity than MSH was intended or designed for unlike its forerunner the Z-84 of similar size.   As seen on my youtube video "PART 2" review on Micro Sky Hunter (MSH) the plane flew extremely well, fast, straight and predictable in windy condition. Both landing and hand launch was easy too, does twitch much feels more like landing a glider than a scale plane.  Since it has an APM flight controller sometimes i do try around the stabilization feature both on and off and the MSH seems to perform well in both mode but the fun has been always in manual flying mode.  One of the most interesting attributes about Micro Sky Hunter is the overall endurance flight per-lipo pack.  I've tried both 3s configuration 3500mah Li-on and also 1800mah Li-po pack which both offer almost the same weight boast great flight endurance.  Flying about 16~20 minutes only drained the pack from 12.2V down to 11.2~11.3V only with mixed of throttle between 50~80% bashing in the air.  That's a lot of flight time to enjoy especially on FPV setup on a small battery pack.  I haven't fully finish my battery pack per-session because standing all around under the hot sun for 20 minutes is really tiring.  So more likely and as claimed from Rcgroups.com forum you're more likely to have between 25~35 minutes of normal L.O.S airtime/FPV flight time is you're stick to smaller optimal battery pack us as 3s 1800mah Li-po or any battery pack with equivalent weight it.  Some flown on 3s 2200mah but best refrain from using it since it might overweighted the MSH.

Videos/Medias
Here are sample of video of  i posted on my Youtube channel contain test review on Sonic Modell - Micro Sky Hunter

• Product gallery:  SONIC MODELL - Micro Sky Hunter (780mm)
  • Video:  Sonic Modell Micro Sky Hunter - Part 2 APM L.O.S flight
  • Video:  Sonic Modell Micro Sky Hunter - Part 1 Unboxing and assembly

Vendor/seller

Here are list of reputable vendor/seller which i bought from and also verified by community forum discussion groups. Also i've experienced buying from these places that have good support and services:

Seller SonicModell.com:  Micro Skyhunter 780mm Wingspan EPO FPV RC Airplane PNP With Camera (EACHINE)   else original from Sonic Modell company.
*Note:  Above link. Since i can't find where did Sonic Modell put their Micro Sky Hunter model at their website i decided to redirect it to Banggood.com website to an EACHINE's MSH  making assumption the platform came from same manufacturer so i don't disappoint readers in here if they want to own one asap.

Support group:

Places where you can find help and resources related to this product (by similar platform):
Topic: Rcgroups.com - Eachine Micro Skyhunter 780mm Wingspan EPO FPV RC Airplane
Topic: Rcgroups.com - Eachine Micro SkyHunter 780mm - full review / build log / owners' thread

Summary

If you're looking for a small, portable, fast park size easy to setup  winged FPV plane the Micro Sky Hunter is a great platform to add-in into your FPV flying list.  Most notably its stable straight line fast flyer and less tendency to stall provided the flying weight is setup below 375gram.  Since its release on 2nd half of 2016 more and more people in R/C and FPV community forum started to appreciate its flight performance and admired for its speed great for FPV racing around the park in winged category.  The advent of cheap and lightweight micro size all-in-one FPV camera from popular FPV electronics maker such as EACHINE (TX01 and TX*** series FPV camera) makes it more affordable to start winged FPV flying and easier to setup on Micro Sky Hunter. The EPO material seems to be very robust and tough else if severely crash its easy to glue back or patch up with tape to keep it flying again in a seconds thus a great plane to bash around the open field.  I really don't like the looks of the MSH due to its round blunt nose on its fuselage since it does looks as aero as Volantex Ranger or Z-84 but the fun factor flying the MSH keeps both my feet at the flying site enjoying how much fun it is to fly a plane. I guess you can't judge a thing from its cover.  If you've curious give the Micro Sky Hunter a go...it a great plane to fly both as normal line of sight and also as basic FPV flight, just don't forget to keep the total flight weight below 375gram and you're good.