Mutley's Drak

[mutley2]

Just thought I would do a build, trim and fly log on my Ritewing Drak.
I've been a fan of Ritewing airframes and have had the Z2, Z3 and now the Drak, looking at the spec it will be a very capable airframe and is a natural progression on his previous design's.
Chris Kick listens and reads the forums and takes note of what people want from an airframe, lets see what his latest efforts has come up with.

The build spec
Cyclops Tornado then Eagle Tree Vector
RVOSD anti vib mount
ImmersionRC 2.4GHz VTX, 5.8GHz VTX
ImmersionRC Tiny telemetry
EZUHF RX
Fatshark 900TVL camera
Fatshark pan & tilt
6 Zippy 5s 20c 4000mAh lipo's
Ritewing SS motor
Ritewing ESC
Ritewing Dig servo's
Ritewing Elevons balsa
Ritewing lam
Ritewing tray bases
Ritewing Black corex fin set (red was supplied and will keep as pattern)
12v ubec
5v ubec
Tuned 433 diepole
Tuned 2.4GHz LHCP antenna
Tuned 5.8GHz RHCP antenna
X2 Mobius camera's
3 tubes of marine Goop (UV)
Gorilla glue
White set
PLASTIDIP Black
Solarfilm Black
Solar trim Black/orange
Covering TBA
1 platelet of Tetley tea bags
1 Shipping container of family circle biscuits
2 weeks all-inclusive holiday to bribe the domestic goddess to keep out of the study.

A few pic's and thoughts before I start.
The fuss is EPP with a massive battery bay, I'm putting in x2 5s 4000mAh lipo's, which Chris says will fly this for about 40mins, on past experience you can sneak more battery in Chris's design's as he likes them fast and nibble. I just want an easy to launch airframe that will stay aloft for an hour +, the idea is to sneak another pack in as long as the CG is OK and it doesn't affect the handling too much (if it does I can remove). Chris will hate me for messin with his set-up lol, bless him.








SS motor


The quality is really good and Chris has an eye for the small details like premoulded intakes for cooling on the VTX bays etc and the really good fasteners he supplies.


Just as a comparison I took some pic's of the Drak next to the Z3 Spade, you can see the progression in his designs and the size difference as well.





Let the fun begin...

[mutley2]

This afternoons progress was to sand all the shiny surfaces that needed gooping and cut/fit the main spar's with hot glue to position and then goop to secure (cure for 24hrs)
After hot melt, checked wing position ready for gooping, the fit so far is spot on!

[Antkol]

That is looking like a really nice aeroplane.  Can't wait to see it fly.  Looks like it will go supersonic!!

[Andy Sayle]

Nice!  I'm hopefully starting mine this week too.  Put of interest where did you get your tiny telemetry unit from?  I'm struggling to find one!

Think I'm going with a Vector FC in mine...

[dp106]

Two 5s 4000's and it will only fly for forty minutes yikes! :)

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Western]

Really nice looking craft, but far to much ££ for me I'm afraid.
God luck with the build.
Cheers, Mark

[mutley2]

Nice!  I'm hopefully starting mine this week too.  Put of interest where did you get your tiny telemetry unit from?  I'm struggling to find one!

Hey Andy, when you start your Drak post some pic's, always interesting watching a build. Just had a look for a Tiny telemetry and you are correct, they are a bit thin on the ground, got mine from BYOD or Firstpersonview and they are both out. Have brought one from a French FPV shop last time they were out in the UK, can't find the name yet, working on it and will PM you.

DP106, sure you could get an hour but not how I like to fly "Need more Amps Scotty" hehehehehe, this airframe is all about Cloud surfing and mountain bombing and that just takes Amps. Hope to see you this yr matey at a meet or two, not seen ya since Socktra!

Western, they are a bit on the pricey side so do what I did and get the wifey to buy it for Christmas, sure she buys me them so she can have a bit of quiet and the TV remote ;-)

[dp106]

No I really must try and make the effort to get to a Mad Dogs this year especially as the Spocktra Boys have gone rather quiet.

I'd love a Drak but just not sure its worth investing in, not sure on the future of FPV with so much scare mungering over Drones.  I've got some 1.3 gear now so hoping that will enable me to fly lower and in my head be safer as in less likely to encounter something full size. My latest FPV ship is a Skywalker X1. The Drak could probably transport it for me before flying it back :-D

[Western]

Western, they are a bit on the pricey side so do what I did and get the wifey to buy it for Christmas, sure she buys me them so she can have a bit of quiet and the TV remote ;-)

Wife paid for my Hornet, and I'm happy with that, so I can't complain.
Keep the update coming.

[mutley2]

No I really must try and make the effort to get to a Mad Dogs this year especially as the Spocktra Boys have gone rather quiet.

Looks like there will be a number of meets in Herefordshire this yr if things go to plan, and some field trips, will keep you in the loop mate.

[dp106]

That would be cool cheers  :D

[iwan_canobi]

Looks awesome, nice to see the comparison between the Z3 and this, really is a bigger brother! Those batteries look completely lost in that bay as well! :)

What are the camera mounting options on this? Is it another bolt on bracket type arrangement? Am I seeing right that you are using 5.8 and 2.4GHz VTx's? Whats the plan there?

[Andy Sayle]

Hey Andy, when you start your Drak post some pic's, always interesting watching a build. Just had a look for a Tiny telemetry and you are correct, they are a bit thin on the ground, got mine from BYOD or Firstpersonview and they are both out. Have brought one from a French FPV shop last time they were out in the UK, can't find the name yet, working on it and will PM you.

Ha ha, It's operation "tidy the workbench" before I can start the build, but yeah, I'll do a few pictures and stuff.  I'm still trying to decide on a colour scheme.  I'm thinking bright green, black and the base silver foam.  I do a fair bit of LOS flying, as well as FPV, so habving a highly visible scheme is a must for me (even though the camo you use looks ace!)  Then again, I might go down the route of lam, and printed vinyl.  I've never done laminating around compound curves like on the fuselage/wing root area on the drak though, so we shall see...

Cheers for the links too ;)

Andy

[mutley2]

Then again, I might go down the route of lam, and printed vinyl.  I've never done laminating around compound curves like on the fuselage/wing root area on the drak though, so we shall see...

Chris is not keen on printed vinyl which is my covering for the last two builds, might tone it down and I thought that I would not lam the whole fuss but just the high impact area's, not up to that stage yet so its work in progress.

Am I seeing right that you are using 5.8 and 2.4GHz VTx's? Whats the plan there?

Yep have a left field idea of making this a "Two seater" fixed cam for flying and another independent cam with pan and tilt, this is something I'm toying with and is all down to flying and weight tests.

[iwan_canobi]

Chris is not keen on printed vinyl which is my covering for the last two builds, might tone it down and I thought that I would not lam the whole fuss but just the high impact area's, not up to that stage yet so its work in progress.
Yep have a left field idea of making this a "Two seater" fixed cam for flying and another independent cam with pan and tilt, this is something I'm toying with and is all down to flying and weight tests.

How come he isn't keen on the vinyl? Added weight? I like the sound of that actually, nice idea! How would you control the pan and tilt though without someone else having hands on the same Tx?