Heavier Can Be Better - E-flite Draco Review

[@BrianPhillipsRC]

@ 2:28 - my favorite clip ;) LOL LOL LOL ...but to be fair, we fly in a much tighter spot. Your taxiway (RC runway) must be 1500+ ft feet? Ours is only 275 feet, with a bit of a drop off, so more like 250 feet and our tree line is at either end VS your "alley of trees" along either side of the length of the clearing...which in and of itself presents some interesting challenges and advantages. Some time, when you're passing through Iowa, you need to come fly our strip and you'll see why I get so dang giddy about Thrust Reverse. It's realy a game changer for short runways!

[@TwoBrosRC]

Happy to see you didn't take it as a jab at ya. We think you're a good guy! Definitely interested in taking up your offer to fly at your place sometime. Reach out via our business inquiries if you ever want to stay in touch. With regard to the airport, we definitely have an advantage over where you're flying - except that our trees are significantly taller and much more numerous. You've got a tight space. Hoping to see you pave a runway in that big field behind your house. That should be a lot more enjoyable to fly from!

[@baughboom]

How refreshing. I’m so tired of hearing from the Haters Club who seem compelled to speak out every time anyone says “Draco”. They’re so disappointed with it. Everyone at their club has sold theirs, heavy wing load, etc. I don’t care if someone doesn’t like the plane and chooses not to own one. But I’m weary from the complaints. Some guy’s days just don’t seem to be complete until they’ve trashed on the Draco a bit. So thanks for the video.

[@brendanshroyer7696]

There's a guy at my club who has one, and it's just gorgeous.

[@coryturner9140]

One of the best flying airplanes I’ve flown. It’s solid!

[@RC-HouseHold6]

Best Draco video out right now! Thanks for pointing out all your reasoning for the score! Love the Brian Phillips pun! I remember watching his Draco video when it came out.

[@ModelAV8RChannel]

They are stunning for sure. The most scale foam plane ever made probably, and the lights are freaking awesome! I agree on the lighter packs, I flew mine on 3700's. Nice flying!

[@TwoBrosRC]

Thanks Adam!

[@27niner]

Jon, you are one of the few reviewers worth listening too. Great wrap and totally agree with your Draco commentary. Mine wheelers fine on short grass. I’ll get a clip to you.🙏👍

[@TwoBrosRC]

Can't wait to see it!

[@gmorphan]

I'm committed to the Draco...having bought way more of them than a sane person should.🙄 As for landing, Kavan air tires and most importantly...I replaced the spring in one shock on each side to a softer spring from Ace Hardware. This gives the gear more compliance and smooths out bouncing a lot. The tires actually help reduce "grab" on runway surfaces, thus reducing stress on the carbon fiber gear.

[@erikshute7153]

Best Draco flying on you tube right here! Nice work Jon!

[@TwoBrosRC]

Wow, thanks!

[@Joe_Zajac]

Agreed!

[@AL-RCjunkie]

Yeah, I don't really care what the Draco-haters say. It's on my Mt. Rushmore of planes to get some day. I've seen some pretty spectacular crashes of them. And they always seem to be right back in the air-no matter how much bad mouthing the pilot does during the process. Great video, Jon 👍 Thanks!

[@calircpilot4261]

I own one and loved it the minute the box arrived to my house. My two,humble cents are that HH should already have developed a true damping set of shocks (oil filled?) to,replace the spring loaded ones in the original model since these do a total disservice to this incredible design from Mike Patey and the astonishing work from The designers of this RC model. This plane deserves a suspension at same the level of everything in this awesome aircraft model.

[@jimmyhaley727]

the elevator control horn broke on mine and suffered some crash damage, been at RC since I left the USN back in 1965, not a nob RCer, asked for some replacement parts and got NO answer or parts, glued it back and still flying it ( replaced all horns with REAL aluminum ones-no problems)

[@TwoBrosRC]

That's odd. HH isn't known for denying warranty service.

[@nirlachman007]

The Draco is fun and great as long as you know what to expect from it 🙌🏻

[@Joe_Zajac]

Massive ironing boards for wings! Great line!

[@ficosk8]

Nice, again :D I was also thinking about to increase exponential on my elevator. Yesterday night I finished repairing and reinforcing my carbon landing gear with epoxy and glass fibers. I did a hard bump and it twisted and cracked. I haven't too much flights, but have done them on 6000, 5200 and 3300. The last one probably saved my plane from crashing while recovering her over a forest after accidentally activating reverse thrust :S Best regards from south Germany/Bavaria

[@waynemiller6070]

That flat spin at 3:17 was awesome.

[@rafaeltorres2886]

I love your thoughtful insight on how to fly properly the Draco, I will follow your advice. Please review ARF balsa planes.

[@TwoBrosRC]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/j2fEi2aFo7aUp6M

[@HAWAII-uh7sc]

Aloha love to watch you fly. You are sure talented. Also, wouldn't mind hearing more on unlocking Your receivers

[@TwoBrosRC]

Join us on Discord via bit.ly/TBRCDiscord and we'll happily help out.

[@rafaeltorres2886]

I bought one from the first batch and mine is still in the box ,I just have too many planes , no were to store them but I will eventually fly it.

[@billbollinger7305]

😂 and I thought I had way to many! Lol got 9 hanging and 8 more in box's plus spare room full. Lol got 42

[@Mikeylikesit1968]

When you said Brian Phillips, I started laughing 😅

[@paanglin]

Outstanding shipmate. Press on. USS Kitty Hawk CV-63. Jan 1980 to July 1983. RC`er for life. and maybe after I am dead too.

[@BullFrog96]

Shots fired hard in this episode

[@airhammer6203]

Way to show that this Dragon has some teeth. Now if someone could just get it to spit fire..... Great flying Jon. AirHammer out!!

[@thereal-stl_slim]

I would like to collect all of Mike's planes scrappy looks fun

[@adamrodgers2377]

Its a Badass Scale Model, we love ours also! 🤙🏼

[@rcLawnDartPilot]

Somebody that actually agrees with me that it's not flimsy. For tires I replaced the stock ones with DuBro 6 inch balloon tires and deflated them enough to create a flat spot while parked. This added a bit of weight and required me to go with no higher than 4000 mah Batts. Takes all of the bouncing out of my wheel landings.

[@mfh9780]

Morning! Nice video. Thanks for the review. Found my Draco flies better light with a 4000 6s battery.

[@TwoBrosRC]

Likewise, the 4000 class packs seem to perform best for us as well.

[@mfh9780]

@@TwoBrosRC I could be wrong but I think the plane should be a tiny bit tail heavy. I did the “just plane crazy” gear mod to beef up the main gear. Battery had to be shifted all the way back and I added 1 1/2 oz of tail weight to the horizontal stabilizer. Also removed the 20 oz dubro wheels that I previously installed and use kavan balloon wheels that are similar in weight to the eflite tires, around 5 oz. Plane flies great now. Thanks again for the video.

[@gmorphan]

@@mfh9780 I agree with the Kavan tire swap. Weight is Draco's achilles heel and should be avoided whenever possible.

[@old-rcplane-phart]

Thrust reverse is more fun flying! Complete stop to reverse coming out of a hammer-head! No guts, no glory👍😁🤷‍♂️

[@old-rcplane-phart]

Reflew my twin timber yesterday, with the dual 13x4 (apc) propeller swap. Got bored & did some thrust reversing. U can do some really extreme stuff with a twin motor in reverse!😁🤪

[@SakkusMind]

The Draco is just a beauty! How do you usally transport those big planes? Also how do you unlock the receiver?

[@TwoBrosRC]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGTMpJWsZrprm68 We just remove the wings and put it together at the field.

[@DanielLy1200]

Can you show how to hook up the LEDs into the light module? Mine got unplugged and I can't find a schematic anywhere

[@TwoBrosRC]

Our advice would be to plug them in one at a time until they work how you think they should.

[@spacecadet1249]

I've had one of these for two years and the Tail-wheel has been a nightmare! You simply cannot steer it while on the ground! The linkage between the Rudder and Tail-wheel has always slipped and will not tighten properly. And while E-Flight and Horizon Hobby have top-notch customer service, they haven't a clue how to fix this issue. Other than that, this plane is a dream to fly.

[@TwoBrosRC]

We never ran into that issue once. Sorry to hear you had a rough go of it!

[@Letsroll000]

I have never flown this plane and I'm new to the this world of RC airplanes. But I heard this plane likes to land with some throttle and is not the biggest glider, do you share the same thoughts?

[@TwoBrosRC]

You can see it landing with minimal or no thrust several times here. It'll glide well if you're descending with it.

[@JC-td4gg]

I still wish Horizon would come out with a smaller version of this awesome plane as they do with other models.

[@northernfpv9562]

I have one and have flown it a few times, but it's a hangar queen because it's too pretty to crash!

[@TwoBrosRC]

Crash it once and then you'll just throw it around like we do. One year review coming up soon, with some bush flying mixed in!

[@Joe_Zajac]

I installed heavy pneumatic tires on mine. Now it only bounces once! LOL

[@ILLSMOQ]

Another great Video! Thanks!

[@adamcline8041]

hey Jon, kinda unrelated, but I'm curious, have you heard any story about the abandoned Ryan Navion I see in the background of your videos? I always hate to see cool vintage aircraft just sitting out in a field like that

[@TwoBrosRC]

It's owned by a guy at the airport everyone calls "Air Boss" who hoards stuff. It's been sitting out there for years now. It's in pretty poor shape.

[@jaybui7506]

Can I use this airplane as a trainer?

[@TwoBrosRC]

Wouldn't recommend it.

[@Lopez_rc]

I have an eflite carbon-Z Yak54, it easily flies on 7000mah lipos

[@TwoBrosRC]

Guarantee it would fly significantly better on a 4,000 pack. :)

[@jeffoh5787]

Hi Jon! Which SMC battery would you recommend for this plane? I just picked up a brand new Draco from a guy for $350! I was looking at the SMC 6s 4400mah HV. Any issues running a HV pack on this plane?

[@TwoBrosRC]

The 4400 and 3600 are both solid choices!

[@florianN132]

The thing is: It might fly well even if it is heavy (can't judge on that because I haven't flown one) but it's just a matter of fact that it would fly even better if it was at least a bit lighter. In My opinion all the newer E-flite planes are way too heavy. They focus too much on new fancy gimmicks, wich creates the need for more powerful drive systems than typically needed for planes of their size - wich in turn makes them even heavier -wich necessitates strenghtening them further, also increasing the weight... And that spiral goes on and on. Foam planes should and could be LIGHT! That's one of the benefits that should come from the materials they're made of. But that seems totally lost in nowadays premium ARF foamies.

[@TwoBrosRC]

You have valid points, but as we've demonstrated, it can be quite easily flown - and this argument that everything is too heavy is blown way out of proportion. Draco was meant to be a scale representation of the full scale aircraft. You're not going to get that without adding weight. Scale details create weight. Super lightweight airframes look like toys and quite honestly get boring to fly in short order, which is why it's nice that there's a variety of different airframes to fly.

[@florianN132]

@@TwoBrosRC Your points are also valid in my opinion. Of course Planes with a bit higher mass and wing loading can have great flying caracteristics, and present a different flying experience or welcomed challenge that might even be preferable in some cases, but that's not the point. I'm talking about a (imho) questionable direction in the designs of those modern foam-ARF's. Draco might indeed be a bad example for this, but The Timber Evolution and even more so the Super Timber also share these problems... And those aren't scale planes with a lot of predefined details that need to be added for proper looks. I have a heavily modified Balsa ARF, 1.6m/63in wingspan (added big flaps, internal and external lighting for night flying, big an sturdy landing gear with huge air-wheels).Fuselage as well as tail surface size and volume should be about the same as the Super Timber, wich to be fair has a bit more wingspan (68in) and even more wing area due to the big chord. My Balsa Plane's flying weight with a 4s 2700 pack - wich gives it flying times of over 15mins and 3d capable power to weight ratio - is about 1,85kg (65oz) while the Super Timber even without a battery comes in at 2,6kg (93oz) With the recommended 6s pack it is at 3,2kg (111oz). Thats ridiculously heavy for a 3d/bushplane of it's size! As already mentioned, the Super Timber has a lot more wing area than the balsa plane I am comparing to, but otherwise it's really comparable in size. And I'll bet they only gave it such a disproportionately large wing because it desperately needs it to get the wing loading down to an acceptable level - same with the also way too heavy "Twimber" btw Theres just too much gimmicks, too much heavy plastic reinforcement, too much trying to build it as sturdy as possible and too much focus on crazy power output. it spiralled out of control.

[@ror-ys3qp]

It will not survive hard landings on the landing gear. The carbon fiber landing gear is a false indication of strength because the carbon landing gear is mounted to 4 very thin plastic tubes in the fuselage.If you land it properly for a heavy plane you will be fine.

[@TwoBrosRC]

That should be the way you're landing to begin with. It's an aircraft, not a monster truck. 😅

[@ror-ys3qp]

@TwoBrosRC true but everyone is not as skilled as you

[@itzjoeylo4501]

I just ordered five different colors of 1 1/2” width electrical tape lol

[@TwoBrosRC]

It's so useful for so many things.

[@itzjoeylo4501]

@@TwoBrosRC I was using colored packing tape for years, now because of you. I’m in with Electrical Tape lol

[@revsonsrc9573]

It’s such a gorgeous bird. It’s definitely not the list lol

[@sirreginaldwilliams]

I prefer flying mine on a 3200

[@wizardz7938]

Wrong Landing gear are a weak point. snapped mine in have landing a foot of the ground on and landed on one wheel.... after the upgrade kit was instaled ZERO mishaps.!!!!

[@TwoBrosRC]

They might be a weak point for you if you're slamming it into the ground - but be aware that it's an airplane, not a monster truck. It has to be flown to the ground, not dropped on it.

[@djinn201]

Wind loading square rooting dog poop while what🤪🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Carboneye7]

I have ethical concerns with the name Draco As we now see that name means something worse than the devil itself, a legion of them.

[@TwoBrosRC]

Lol wut

[@Carboneye7]

Lol, perspective is needed: The Draconians. The originators of the word we heard on the news to describe vile acts towards mankind. think the deep state of the deep state. The ones behind the cloaks at the rituals at the bohemian grove . The child trafficking Reptiles It’s the only real thing keeping me from buying the plane., lol But what do I know, I bought edf as a first plane haha A fms 64mm f35v2 Upon wich the Esc fried on the first pack and it spiraled into the ground. I just had to go 4cell and the Esc did not like it

[@RubyS.1]

No you

[@TwoBrosRC]

No U

[@terrordactyl4425]

Hi Dee Ho

[@habiks]

Get kavan inflatable tires (pretty much same weight as original hard foam) for smoother landings.

[@old_coastie]

Finally a fair eval... old_coastie

[@TwoBrosRC]

We strive to be fair!

[@johnthomas1348]

Nice review Jon. Your comments about landing on pavement reminded me of how my 84” EF turbo bushmaster did the same. Switching to 6” kavans helped but not consistent. I have found that landing with wing in crow configuration, the upward throw of both ailerons keep the wheels planted to runway.