Ian McDowell, Mini Drake build and flying video

Some of you will have seen this model at the October Club Meeting, when the woodwork was almost complete. It’s a 605mm (24″) wingspan design by Parkscale Models, sold in the UK by Micron Radio Control.

The construction is plan free with laser cut slotted parts. It’s intended for smallish radio components although I have used a Spectrum micro Rx ‘brick’ converted to brushless operation with an external ESC.

Most of the effort went into a modification where the motor nacelle can be swapped out (I am hoping to try it with a micro edf one day) and probably the most challenging covering scheme I have yet attempted. Mostly white, the coloured parts are transparent red, green and yellow over silver to show as darker, metallic effect, colours. All covering is Solite.

Despite many areas of double, and in some cases triple, layer covering, the model has come in with a flying weight below spec at 109g (3.8oz).

Click on the image below to watch the video and for more photos of this model:

More photographs and videos from this glorious day out on the Winter Solstice are available on the Knettishall site tab. Many, many more articles and some videos are available from the Photo Reports tab.