Just about got most of the quirks ironed out on this one, but having the battery slide back really grabs the attention for sure. Still at awe at how well the twin version handles, just about one of my favorites to bring out to the field anytime.

Glad to hear it. At first I thought you had done the vtol conversion.

hahahaha🤣 --- can't get away without flying in the wind out here in the winter. Don't enjoy it but only way to get any testing done...

Get some decent gear on this little one and really see how far it’ll go, would be a huge blast, especially how quiet it is!

Thanks Scott! Had the video on the same day as the NanoDrak, still amped up from that rocket. One in a thousand shot for the weather for now, blowing 15-20 and rain all day. Hope you get some more of that awesome cloud surfing in down your way, and have a great Merry Christmas!

Sometimes the filter got shot to hell when you see the nano immediately go into a bobble head action, kind of like knowing a bad bowling toss and nothing you can do. It’s just that it flies fast as you know and not having much control, really glad the foam allows it to mostly bounce, put it back together and go fly…

Absolutely a great wing to test out the autopilot systems, might just keep that system in this 44, would make it great to take out to central Washington for a few flights near Beverly dunes.

Need to charge up the lipos again and give it a go, seemed to work just fine according to the osd readings for loiter, just trying to avoid flying over the houses on that side due to a few residents opinion on flying. Works great nonetheless.

I could but it went through a couple of revisions to launch from a rail in a similar manner that the university had for launching the mega Drak, and still having a few more bugs to work out. The biggest problem I found with off road launches was that the plane jumps out of the pegs on the first minor bump and caused a few scrapes and many broken props. As of now I’ve been working on using the same bungee launcher that the Mini Drak uses but had to come up with a super bungee to get this Big Drak to even get up to enough speed to attain lift within the 40-50 ft pull area. I’m still starting to think that the only viable solution for self launches is installing retracts since it’s the only way to keep the Drak from hopping off the dolly during launch speeds. See what pics I can send though if still looking for an alternative to getting this beast up in the air easier.

Him much does your aircraft weigh? I have an Anaconda that weighs 11.2 lbs. my ??? is Catapult or Cart?

@@sherwoodp2738 This plane is about 8-9 pounds, which I have come down to realizing the motor is not putting out the required thrust to get it moving the way it should, one of the major changes I’ll be looking at this winter. Probably see it work much better on the bungee, and setting up the direction into a headwind of Atleast 5 mph would be just enough to keep it from sinking back to the ground.

Give it time, just think I’m one of those old school types that has a tough time with the next major upgrade. That and the monitor is getting swapped out. One major project in the works is a total trailer and cockpit replacement after all the travel this last summer. The old fpv cockpit box finally showed its sign of age and water damage took a major toll. Looking to work on a cockpit video to show off the new setup and might consider looking into digital video as part of the gear integration, lots of work this winter.

El osd del MiniDrak es el vector Eagletree más antiguo y transmite a 1,28 ghz. Tengo una antena de recepción de pepperbox de sistemas aéreos de vídeo y un relé 5.8 que se recoge en la cabina. Funciona bastante bien a lo largo de los años. Espero que el traductor tenga sentido a todo esto.

@@Airtruksrus muchas gracias, buenas noches !

Por favor ¿Cómo conecto el joystick? Estoy pensando en hacer una estación de tierra móvil con joystick. Gracias por su ayuda

@@dronesUceda Gracias por preguntar. Hubo otro video que publiqué hace un par de años que mostraba el montaje completo y encontró que la mejor manera de hacerlo funcionar en una estación de cabina como esta era utilizar un transmisor FRsky y cambiar los controles con un joystick de tamaño completo, cuadrante del acelerador y pedales de timón. Esta radio tiene una función de calibración y configuró los controles para que tengan un movimiento completo en cada uno. Coloqué los interruptores y las perillas para el resto de los controles en lugares que permitieran un fácil acceso. Esto también eliminó el uso de un convertidor que añade un ligero retraso al control de la aeronave. Esta ruta lleva más tiempo configurarse, pero todo valió la pena. También publicaré otro vídeo que muestra la nueva construcción de la cabina, ya que la antigua tenía una extensa podredumbre de la madera en todas partes.

Espero que esto te dé suficiente información para seguir, ya que estoy a merced de una aplicación de traductor, solo te deseo la mejor de las suertes si emprendes un buen proceso, definitivamente vale la pena en mi opinión. Espero tener el nuevo en funcionamiento para el próximo verano.

I usually go for the hitec brand that fit due to reliability but most of the small Turnigy 9g brand should work. The surfaces have a light loading given the carbon rod hinge, so should have less chance of breaking gears. As for any of the Turnigy 9xr radios, that is about the cheapest radios I’ve come across that come close to the $50 pricing, it was the $30 in shipping that got me but with the open tx programming, getting the wing mixing is rather easy once you get past setting up the aileron and elevator combination. Personally I’d spend a little more on a good radio since most accommodate so many different profiles and reliability, definitely worth the investment. Usually Radiolink or Frsky type is a preferred go to nowadays.

Thank You very much, I just hope I can really keep this up all year, had fun putting this first video together.

It’s the Eagletree Microvector. Going to be tough to find many of these anymore.

Poor doll would have ejected early I’m afraid. That was one awesome flight with everyone there at the event. Been slow this year. Edit: thought it was the earlier flight…

When we test flew his Pike, we stuck to the marked cg locations and it behaved very well and being a lightweight setup, had some really well handling at low speed. Definitely go by the location specified.

@@Airtruksrus the marks on the wings or the mark on the bottom of the plane?

@@alilakkis5622 that would be the marks half way out on the wing and 1 inch (2.5 cm) back from the leading edge. It should be imprinted in the skin on the lower side. When I printed my plane up, made it really heavy due to my printer not working so well with a single wall thickness. Making another go with a Printrbot I picked up, much better parts output.

That was definitely an epic trip for father and son time, just should have stopped off on that barren road to Las Vegas to fly more. Hope for another long trip next year.

Screw it, hand launch it for me next time…. Lol

You can reduce the size in the print program, but you’d have to very precise on reduction of all the individual pieces since there might be small variations when it all slides into the wing locks. Would have to look for an appropriate size carbon spar and use a fairly small miniquad motor. But yeah, a little effort, it could be done. Might be a little more of a speedster but the handling should be somewhat similar at best guess. Might be able to fit some of the micro video gear in there with what’s available. Would definitely take far less print time. I’d say give it a try.

Thanks, definitely spot on with this plane and sensitivity. Seriously considering that it needs a stabilizer (god forbid) just due to the short coupled nature of this particular plane, seems to behave like it but could probably just use the rates turned down a little. One of the biggest problems I noticed is that I never moved the rudder pedals and may have contributed to the drifting while lining up to land in the wind. Just glad bamboo skewers should make the nose crash proof for the next times out.

@@Airtruksrus yea afaik,, the KF has a steerable tail, so you need to steer the tail with the rudder pedals and once the tail lifts then you just use the rudders to keep it striaght. you should be able to fly that w/o a stabiliser to be honest, but i would hazard a guess you just need to reduce your rates or adjust the throws to calm it down a little.

The tail wheel is definitely effective on the ground, but when I fly with the regular transmitter that I’m using both ailerons and rudder in almost the same coordination that is used on a quad. It was really affected by the breeze and have to stay lined up. Guess when I go out next time, I’ll have to practice like in flight training all over again. What was odd, it kind of felt like stall practice when I flew in the Cessna 150 and did the same exact thing when I didn’t line up the turn and bank indicator, had an extra couple thousand feet up to play with.

The way the plane turned out with the Prusa, the Pikes airframe had plenty strength to do just about any maneuver I worked it through, even inverted. Handled way better than I thought. Definitely need to keep the setup light on this one, especially with 1 shell.

I’d better! Not sure if it’ll survive the soccer goal netting much more. Did realize I have to let it build up a lot more speed before pulling up, otherwise it was leaping off the ground and stalling right after.

Well, you got the previous owner correct…. I found when I takeoff from the lawn, I have to keep the stick back and gradually let off or it tips over. Trying it out in the cockpit was a little wierd, seemed it didn’t want to build up speed to fly straight and going to increase the expo to about 30% to soften up the center of the elevator. Seems to fly just fine with the radio but have to try out a few other settings for next time out, and fresh charged lipos. Hope to just get one decent flight from the seat. Being the small scale this is, a larger 1/4 scale would be preferable since this one reacts quite fast when it gets behind the power curve for a stall.

@@Airtruksrus yea, you'll need to keep a little bit of back elevator until it's built up some airspeed for it to lift the tail on its own

It’ll get there soon enough. Even had trouble reworking the launch dolly when the nose gear got torn off during the trip down south, found it doesn’t do well with a larger wheel and the track at full throttle did a little damage to the mini drak. Plenty of projects lined up, should have the Demon 56 ready as soon as the rest of the ordered parts finally arrive.

Glad to come across your setup. Having it mobile like this been quite a huge benefit when sharing the experience, especially that it doubled as a camp trailer with my son last 2 weeks of August. Plenty of improvements over the years.

Un amigo tenía este avión por un tiempo, lo recogió de su hermano. Sólo hice la instalación del piloto automático y las pruebas en vuelo durante este tiempo. Hace poco me dio el avión, pero yo lo doné a otro amigo, ya que tengo demasiados para quedarme.

@@Airtruksrus mil gracias. Uso el kopilot lite. Pero no tiene osd quiero un osd sin complicaciones uno muy basico sin tener que usar computadora conoces alguno?

Hay algunas buenas que he usado en los últimos 10 años, pero la mayoría han estado fuera de producción durante un tiempo. La mayoría de los que han llegado al mercado últimamente parecen necesitar un ordenador con Inav con la línea Matek fácilmente comprada de controladores de vuelo. Los tipos más sencillos como Ezosd eran tan sencillos como el plug y el juego y pueden encontrar todavía algunos en el mercado. Mirando hacia atrás en este video, ojalá hubiera podido mostrar las estadísticas en la pantalla para mostrarlo funcionando ya que este sistema Storm tampoco requiere un ordenador para configurar ninguno de los dos, todavía disponible en Foxtech por $90 usd como hice una búsqueda rápida. No está seguro de si ayudará o no. Todavía estoy usando el Cyclops y colocándolo en un ala de velocidad Ritewing aquí para el próximo proyecto.

Worked on a few solutions early on, even had a miniquad motor on the back with a dsmx receiver so I could drive it back afterwards. Found as long as it turns off the parking lot, it won’t get run over, could never forget to pick it up unless my buddies are toasting with me to another successful test flight… Absolutely addicted to this entire contraption after a few years.

Not as hard as Darrel from 2019 lol! Thanks, I thought seeing the footage from start to finish of the race showed quite a contrast, worth posting up. Hope I can get the guts to fly the course at full throttle eventually.

Thanks Mike, they got a definite kick out of it

Thanks, hope to get way more flying with it this weekend!

First time finding out I could save the livestream from Facebook just before posting. Hope to be able to get most of the footage from the wing meet if possible. Fingers crossed

Need to try that sometime, had a blast! Have to refine a few things but great flying overall

It was my little 250 printed miniquad, have to refine a few things but had a blast just cruising out there

Found these locations just up from the Gorge Amphitheater. Checked them out a couple years ago but didn't have a quad that would carry the camera for more than a minute.

Hey Scott, this was really the first time being able to see just what the mini would be able to handle with the 7, but yeah, Li ion seems to have come a long ways with some outrageous performance as I’ve seen with a few of the others. Just being a fairly small quad, feels like I’m squeezing every last bit of utility out of it to see where it quits.

Always unsure of what’ll happen on the first launch but the way this is set up, I’d do this with any plane with a camera. It’s a real treat seeing others hop into the cockpit as well to try their hand at it. Gets better every year!

Took me a few attempts on some of the parts, just had to put it up for a while till all the house upgrades get done. Should be enough room for the Matek if wanting to go that route, loved the way it handled, Gary built his plane well.

Loved the way it flew when I saw it at Wow. I just finally started getting the printer files set up but some of the pieces don’t want to print with a single shell and had to go with 2, making a stiffer plane for sure. It’ll be a little heavier but almost feel like with the great handling and speed, should fly similar to the MiniDrak when I get done with it. Going to have too much fun with it.

Thanks and I think you’re right... That’s why I’m putting 2 shells on mine. Will be a bit heavier but definitely rugged. Got some vinyl wrap as well. See how it turns out.

Hey thanks, i had to change a few supports but it generally works well most of the time. I'm seeing the steering component to be of vital importance since it works so well on the Mini Drak, the larger wheel on the Big Drak dolly seems to work against it and showed on the last time i attempted to take off and it veered off to the left and almost hit the cars. With a larger 80" wing, you'll see it lift off way faster, just have a large area for allowing it to taxi around. The parking lot where i tested it is fairly tight but am able to steer without too many issues, better if watching through the goggles as i usually sit in the cockpit trailer and takeoff as in full scale. Just make sure that the resting angle is almost at zero and the rotation support is about an inch behind the cg so it'll lift off when reaching flying speed.

@@Airtruksrus so when you say the resting point is almost zero, is that a negative attitude for the plane? I have it set in the FC to fly with a 4 degree pitch up, so would i use the zero from that or true zero of the fc being level?. I really appreciate your help. Also, what size battery are you running on it?

The biggest issue with both the launchers is that if there’s any positive angle with either the Big Drak or the Mini Drak with the smaller dolly is that they lift off the wing peg supports before you’re ready to pull back and slides off sideways. By having the rotation point just aft of the center of gravity makes pulling back when they get to take off speed allow you to lift off when you know it’s going fast enough, only takes a few seconds of thrust. For now I’ve got a 7000 6s Tattu lipo in the Big Drak, it will take a much larger pack for sure. Feels like the flight time is a bit short with it after a year and a half of use.

There was another modification I made with this launcher and when all is done, just hope it will make a better impact on self launching this fine plane. The way it will release is completely changed due to a design I saw on a catapult launcher and think this might work out more effectively and very quick send off. Just have to wait till the weather gets better here in the north west.

Dude, that Mini Drak is a freaking blast with the cockpit controls, just wish it wasn’t 95 degrees when we flew, would have been in a roaster oven otherwise

Never had a better setup ever, glad I did this upgrade!

Tasty Drone, thanks a bunch.

Thanks a bunch, ive been utilizing the heck out of the cockpit this last month. Just hope to run the rest of the Ritewing hangar through this before fall hits.

No Fly Drone, when I pulled out the old Turnigy radio, I have an extra set of controls that I want to set up that would be used for a portable system without hauling the trailer. Just putting the Taranis in the control panel made a huge difference, way better than I could have imagined. Have to let Shawn try the big Surfer next time with video to see how easy it is to get other people in and out of it.

Thanks, able to test many more planes this summer, great way to fly these.