Mutley's Drak

[MarkLloyd]

Was looking at launches... all good for this guy

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[MarkLloyd]

but a softer landing than this one ........  skip to 2:55 and turn the sound up  :o


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[mutley2]

Hey Mark,
Cheers for the vids, I saw the mining vid Lol a few days a go, that lad was trying to avoid another model I believe, what a thump though lol.
This vid is of Hoss on the first few take-off's with his Drak and the first launch slips out of his hands, these really do have some power.
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[Dave G]

Hi Mutley, have you considered fitting the two 'front wings'? I can't recall seeing any pictures/videos where anyone has used them. My intention is to fly my Drak around, lakes, mountains, coast etc, I'm not really a speed merchant and I'm not sure if by fitting the two small wings, the Drak might perform better (more glider) at low speed, ta

[mutley2]

After waiting weeks for some half decent weather and not have any excuses I went for it this morning, got up at 6am so the world could not find something better for me to do and loaded the bus up. The weather was marginal as it was blowing 15-20mph and it was gusty as well, don't care I just want to fly this bloody thing now, so off I went.
First problem with the Drak and not un-obvious is its size, this is no Z3 and with the wind blowing and all my gear on my back it was a careful walk to my flying site trying not to break the VTX antenna, should have put the VTX antenna on the other wing so I could rest the Drak on my shoulder, hay-ho live with it.
Set up as I've done a million times before and all went well, or so I thought, good pic in the Fatsharks and she was tracking a treat.
Contemplated throwing the Drak my normal way but that was just not going to happen, too big too heavy so I didn't try, under arm Ritewing throw it is then, there is a reason Chris tells every Drak owner to throw it under-arm and that's cos its a breeze. She took off like a scalded cat, need to work on my throw but its there, a few clicks of trim and she was like a rock!!!
Not flown anything this stable in that kind of wind for ages, just punched though it, set up was as per Chris's down load jig, this was spot on if a bit sensitive so I dialed down the throws by 10% issh.
Two LOS flights and she good to go for its FPV maiden, third flight was going to be it for me so I took her up really high and popped on the google, just static, bug*er Bu*ger, she was just a dot but I cut the power and managed to get a LOs on her, landed ok.
What happen to that video signal??? After a bit of head scratching it turns out to be the googles were on internal RX with no antenna so range was limited, if Id know I could have just switch over to the tracker I'd would had good signal, ho-hum...
Forth flight was 100% and went straight into FPV, 2 min's in and the rain came, did a few circuits and tried PA mode (gains too high) and landed, and that was the maiden!
Good points is she flies really well (so smooth) is easy to launch and will make a great video platform, bad points is I forgot to put the foam behind the Mobius so the vid is kinda like looking though a port hole lol, sorry guys.
I've a list of things to tweak and I'm going to drop the Mobious and have ordered a Runcam2 HD, but she there, well chuffed and can't wait for some calm weather.
The Vid
All flying was in manual mode as the gains were set too high.

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[Andy Sayle]

Ace!

I was very glad you missed the wet patch on the landing ;)

Andy

[mutley2]

Cheers Andy, as maidens go it was not as fault free as I would hope and would have liked a little more stick time, can't grumble though as she flew well and came home intact. Another good shake down with 2-3 good flight and she will be in fun mode and ready for the summer. Chuffed 😀

[Billy_boy_2010]

Just brilliant man. I would use a bit more ooomph when launching so it doesn't get 18" to the ground below climbing IMO.

But it looks great for sure. What a hoot.

Now you just need to find somewhere suitably stunning to fly it!

[mutley2]

Cheers Billy, take offs were not as great as hoped because I need grip tape on the side of the airframe to get a good hold. Could not give it the hard throw I wanted because of the lack of grip but that's now been ordered.
Looking at the land based camera views I look like I'm throwing it too far forward and not enough up, the throw works but its not a launch I'm used to yet, tis all work in progress, just pleased there was no need for the bin linner hehehehee

[AdamG]

Good work! Very impressed on the stability in the high wind. Well done :sparta:

[mutley2]

cheers adam :thumbsup:
Just fitted some grip tape to the sides of the Drak to help with the underarm launch, just one of those tiny things that make a world of difference and just £3 for a roll, would recommend.
Have also fitted to the Z3 as well, can give it a bit more wellie on launch.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261886347852?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=560726807290&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

[mutley2]

Hi Mutley, have you considered fitting the two 'front wings'? I can't recall seeing any pictures/videos where anyone has used them. My intention is to fly my Drak around, lakes, mountains, coast etc, I'm not really a speed merchant and I'm not sure if by fitting the two small wings, the Drak might perform better (more glider) at low speed, ta

Hey Dave, sorry mate I missed ya post  :o
I've got the canards and they are super cool looking BUT, there are no Ritewing recommendations for fitting as yet and I know guys that have fitted them reported a massive CG change from the 1 1/2inch in-front of the spar.
Also fitting them would help in slowing the landing speed but I've no issue with that and tend to have a rearward CG anyway as I like it sharper and slow landings as stock, fitting would not improve it enough to warrant the extra issues like venerability and added weight.
If you are flying up in the hills as I'm planning I will keep it as simple as possible to keep my flight time up, IMo

[Dave G]

Hey Dave, sorry mate I missed ya post  :o
I've got the canards and they are super cool looking BUT, there are no Ritewing recommendations for fitting as yet and I know guys that have fitted them reported a massive CG change from the 1 1/2inch in-front of the spar.
Also fitting them would help in slowing the landing speed but I've no issue with that and tend to have a rearward CG anyway as I like it sharper and slow landings as stock, fitting would not improve it enough to warrant the extra issues like venerability and added weight.
If you are flying up in the hills as I'm planning I will keep it as simple as possible to keep my flight time up, IMo

Thanks for that, mine are staying in the box  ;D

[mutley2]

After all the wind and rain we have been having in the UK it's nice to get some proper flying weather, the Drak sat at 8 Amps just cruising around, nice...

Thanks for that, mine are staying in the box  ;D

Sure they will come out of the box but not yet, will keep it simple for now, just like meeeeee lol

[Dave G]

Hi Mutley, Ive been trying to silver solder the clevis on the control arms  :-[ My soldering iron won't melt the silver solder i bought, so I've ordered some lead free stuff. What did you use? Ta