I'm All Walrussed Out

..but still got the wing cam to go

Well, after a Herculean effort, the Walrus is assembled, packaged, tested and ready to go.

Apart from the usual head-scratching over servo orientation, the cockpit proved the biggest challenge of all. Despite the generous appearance of the fuselage, it doesn't really provide a good packaging. 

Yes it is wide; I eventually installed the battery and receiver in a tandem layout. However the the cockpit is only just long enough to fit the 1800mAh battery - it literally butts up against the motor at the front, which is not optimal for cooling, and narrowly misses tail servo arm travels at full stretch.

I also had to make up a battery tray to allow a space for everything and provide a secure mounting for the battery. After having installed the tray for the second time (I removed it to swap out ESC's during my no-power troubleshooting session), I discovered that there was insufficient space for the bundle of servo cables going to the receiver.

So I removed the battery tray again, and cut a large slot through which the cable loom could pass from underneath, now running alongside the ESC under the tray, with the battery velcro'd onto the tray and the Orange R620 receiver velcro'd to the side wall of the fuselage in the canopy area. The R100 satellite receiver I stuck to the rear bulkhead.


But that's not all, with all this kit crammed into the cockpit the canopy wouldn't fit. So, I had to do extensive modifications to the canopy, cutting out the lower section, as well as a small cutout to clear the satellite receiver at the back.

However everything is now installed and working, control surfaces trimmed, flap travel set etc etc. Just the wing cam that now needs a home - external mount or internal canopy installation - some deliberation still required. I reckon the Walrus cockpit layout would qualify for a packaging award...