White Lightning – Lightweight Night-Flying Stryker

White Lightning is a custom, lightweight Stryker. Built on abare, unpainted Stryker fuselage, the plane runs:

• TURNIGY Plush 10 amp 9 gram ESC
• GWS EP  8040 propeller
• Turnigy 2730 1500kV brushless motor
• 2712-12 1300kV brushless  outrunner motor
• HXT900 9g Servos
• 800 mAh 3S LiPos
• OrangeRx Spektrum-compatible receiver
• LED light strips, activated via a Turnigy radio-controlled switch. A total of 99 individual LED lights.

Static draw is 6.6 amps / 80 watts. The lights themselves pull about 0.3 amps. The plane will fly about 10 minutes on an 800 mAh battery.

Fins are made from the cut-down foam cores of two Stryker fins salvaged from my wrecked Stryker, with the outer plastic covering removed.  Elevons are 1/4″ balsa, covered with black packing tape.

White Lightning’s AUW is 12.4 oz, a little heavier than I’d hoped but I’m fairly content for now.

There are 99 LEDs on the plane:

• One red strip on the bottom of the left wing.
• One red strip on the top of the left wing.
• One blue strip on the bottom of the right wing.
• One blue strip on the top  of the right wing.
• One short strip of white each on the vertical fins and the nose.

The LED strips are turned upside down, facing into the foam, so they illuminate the plane from within, making it glow like a lantern at night.

LED strips on the bottom of each wing.

Lights On

The name is a play on the plane’s light weight, its LED lights and (ironically) its relative slow speed.

You’ll find some build information here and here.