Dave G's Drak build

[Dave G]

Engine mount in first, ready for a full days glueing ahead

[Dave G]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8hPQ1Il4qw&feature=youtu.be

[Dave G]

Cans of beans, tomatoes and bottles of red wine make decent weights  ;)


Dressmakers pins are good for holding the fibreglass rods in place


....and it all fits together perfectly  :)

[Dave G]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut893uFOo70&feature=youtu.be

[AdamG]

Whats with this invalid URL rubbish? Just click the Youtube button and paste the link in:

[Dave G]

Whats with this invalid URL rubbish? Just click the Youtube button and paste the link in:

I did exactly that. Even though it says invalid URL, the link still works. Think my Mac must have been having a grey moment :'(

[Dave G]

Looks like a nice build. TeamLegit on YouTube published a good maiden flight video of their RW Drak about two weeks ago, it looks awesome in the air. I was surprised at how fast it was considering the size of the thing.

I hope that RiteWing decide to manufacture their prototype "Mini Drak" though as that looked equally cool and better for people like me with small aircraft hangars!

Cheers AA, there are some super videos of the Drak, (some pretty hard landings too) I can't wait to get out there - although I'm gonna wait for the good weather.
I pondered for ages over the Drak, didn't know a mini Drak was on the drawing board  :o  If I were you, I'd go for the big brother, it's already gone up in price by $50 since I bought mine

[AdamG]

I pondered for ages over the Drak, didn't know a mini Drak was on the drawing board  :o

Its not really, Chris made a prototype and posted a video of him flying it... I don't think there are any plans to make it available to the public yet.

[FPVSteve]

He said he would if there was demand for it. I guess that's because it costs a large amount to make the EPO moulds.

[Billy_boy_2010]

He said he would if there was demand for it. I guess that's because it costs a large amount to make the EPO moulds.

I will buy one in a shot.

But I suspect the airframe won't be massively cheaper with the mini Drak. If a big cost is the mould then the money saved on a little less raw material won't be that significant. 200-250 USD is my prediction. He won't have to spend much on R & D I suppose but it won't be cheap. He's aiming for 43" which is a damn good size IMO.

[mutley2]

Hey Dave, glad to see the Drak coming on, just wondered if you tried hot water on the dent in the Drak, most of them will come out with a little bit of hot water :-)
When posting vids, copy and paste but knock off the "S" in https

[Dave G]

Hey Dave, glad to see the Drak coming on, just wondered if you tried hot water on the dent in the Drak, most of them will come out with a little bit of hot water :-)
When posting vids, copy and paste but knock off the "S" in https

Hi Mutley, thanks for the advice - had no idea about the hot water ploy, I'll try that first in the future 👍🏼 - I'll lose the 's' too 👍🏼 pretty new to this hobby, technology, terminology, thread editing, etc 😨 but love it! 😃

[Dave G]

Ive spent two or three days now painting my Drak. The black paint is 'Plastidip' spray paint, its very forgiving, end of can splatters and over painted areas soon blend in on drying. I used three cans to do the main body, all four red fins, the rear third of the wings and the ailerons.





I then masked up the plastidip on the rear section of the wings (this is okay to do so long as you apply gentle hairdryer heat to the tape when removing), masked the front third and applied two coats of household emulsion from Homebase - these were match pots - £1-49 each  :D. This paint will scratch and chip very easily but, I will laminate it, this will stabilise and protect the paint.
I also applied carbon fibre effect self adhesive vinyl to the compartment lids.



Finally, I applied the same vinyl to the front edge of each wing. This was quite difficult. After one failed attempt, I had to fairly accurately measure the length of the vinyl (width is not so important) and carefully apply it with a damp sponge and hairdryer, being careful not to touch the emulsion. >:( >:(



......and underneath.....

[iwan_canobi]

That looks awesome! Looking forward to seeing it fly!

[wgt40w]

Great colour scheme and well applied.