Fliskits Drake Build

I've been thinking about doing this for some time and after about 2 years reading, posting occasionally, and learning enough to get my L1 and L2, I figure it's time to share back. I've started this before and after a couple of pictures I complete several steps in a row without a picture and ditch the idea of a build thread. But I got all the way through this one and took pictures the whole way.

I bought this kit just after Jim announced he was closing shop. I always like the look of rockets with wings, but shy away from actually building them. There are a couple of things about this build that give me pause, but I figured doing this thread would be a little encouragement to take a little more time and do the best I could.

I did a couple of new things that made the build easier that might be useful to others, especially if you use a Cricut.

So here goes...

Start with the standard parts pic (of course I already started some gluing at this point before I decided to try this again.

I'm going a bit out of order from the instructions (and while I read them through before I started, I don't follow them much on this build, to my minor detrimate later on).

When a kit has a transition that is built out of card stock and not balsa or plastic I typically know I'm going to rely on a lot of filler to smooth it out. I stopped improving my cutting with scissor skills about 2nd grade, and always feel like I do a poor job of cutting along a curve. I also worry about the attachment point to the larger tube.

The instructions say to leave one of the transition rings half way out of the larger tube to attach the transition. This really doesn't seem like enough surface area for a good bond, so I'm going to increase the thickness of my centering rings a bit. Using my cricut and some 24pt card stock, I cut a few extra centering rings to add to the sides of the ones provided.

This should make me feel more confident with the connection between the lower tube and the upper tube.

Cutting out the transition always causes me fits. This kit already comes with two, and I usually copy all the instructions anyway, so I can try as many times as I like, but I want to try something new this time.

There are calculators online that you can enter the dimensions and out pops the outline of a transition. What if I could create the formulas for this in OpenSCAD and use the customizer, that way I could save a .dxf file and import it into my Cricut for automatic cutting. Took me a while to get the formulas working correctly (I found a good chuck of what I was trying to do on thingverse), and I got the customizer set up. Works pretty well for this one. Smoothest transition I've ever gotten (forgot to get a picture of the cut transition) .

I also started using painters tape a while back to hold the transition while the glue is drying on the tab. I've found it works well and doesn't bend the paper like clips do. Just have to be careful removing it after the glue is dry.

The angled wings on rockets like this have also been a problem area for me. The little paper cutouts provided for the angle isn't something I feel confident using and while I've built functional rockets in the past, a close look shows that they aren't symmetrical and a little off from where they should be.

So I decided to use a jig that I made cutting the template out of 24pt cardstock on my Cricut. Very quick and simple to do, I'm kinda frustrated that I've had this machine for almost 2 years and haven't used it for stuff like this in the past. I think they turned out pretty well.

I was able to get a good glue join with a small fillet of TBII in along the bend. I do different things with fins on different rockets. On this one I chose to just round the edges all around.

I sometimes paper fins, but on this with such a large fin surface, I didn't want to add a lot of extra weight at the rear of the rocket so I chose to just use Minwax Sanding Sealer. I like my finished rockets to look good, but I decided a while back that I was never going to get them looking as perfect as what some people do, so the sanding sealer, a little sanding, sandable primer, a little sanding, usually results in a finish that I can live with. Papering give me a better finish with about the same amount of work, but adds a lot of weight. I also don't plan on going hardcore on filling spirals on this because they aren't super noticeable. So I think will work well for the fins.

So next I ran some CA around the inside of the aft body tube to help stiffen it from inserting and removing lots of motors.

This kit also comes with a couple of nice aids to help with the large wings. The fin marking guide shows you multiple lines for the placement of the wings, this really assisted in making sure the wings are in correct position. It also comes with a very nice jig to hold the body while you glue the wings on at the proper angle.

The wings connect low on the tube so you sand a 45° angle on the root edge. I attached the wings one at a time to make sure I was positioning them each correctly before I moved the jig.

My typical routine for gluing paper and wood with wood glue (TBII) is: sand areas to be glued, light coat of glue on each surface, let dry for a minute, then a line of glue along the root edge and mate the surfaces (I forget what this is called, double glue method?). After that glue is set I run a thin bead along the root edge on both sites. When that is done, I come back over with a nice fillet of TB Q&T. (I left the root and about 1/4" of the edge clear of sanding sealer to get a good bond). I'm nervous about how these fins attach, so I wanted to make sure I got a good bond on what surface was available. The seem pretty sturdy.

The instructions have you putting the transition on the tube before you attach the wings, then glue the larger fore body tube in place, then glue the transition in place. However, because of the way I added surface area to the centering rings I was able to glue the transition in place before gluing the body tube in place to make sure that I had a good surface for each part to attach to.

I'm very pleased with how the transition turned out. I usually expect a bit of a crooked seam, but this turned out better than usual. I'm going to keep using this method of cutting out transitions in the future. I need to test the OpenSCAD customizer a bit more to make sure it's always correct (doesn't seem to work right past certain limits). When I do, I plan on sharing the .scad for others to use with their cutting machines.

I added a kevlar leader to the top centering ring. The kit comes with elastic and a tri-fold mount. I know those work fine and I use them frequently on LPR. My habit on MPR is to do it via this method.

Final things that drives me crazy (because I don't execute them very well) is shaped body tubes. This kit has a ram-jet tube mounted to the main body tube that you cut with a template. Cut the template out (first problem - can't use my transition method yet), wrap template around tube (second problem because they never seem to completely reach all the way around), trace and cut (third problem because I don't cut along the line very well).

I really tried to take my time on the cutting on this one, going a small cut at a time and not going all the way through on the first pass (I think I went around about 3 times). I think it turned out pretty well.

I then ran CA around the inside of each end, let it dry and then sanded a bit to get a smoother surface. All in all, probably my best cut tube so far.

I then glued it in place and filleted with the same process as the wings.

Home stretch now. The last steps are to glue the larger tube in place (it mates perfectly to the transition), attach the stabilizer fin (I missed a picture of this going on) and attaching the launch lugs.

The lugs are bothering me. It's two long lugs that you attach along the top of the ram jet, along one side of the stabilizer. I should have attached them so they were touching, the gap is killing me. I'm also thinking about adding a pair (similar gap) to the other side of the stabilizer for symmetry (having them on only one side is bothering my OCD).

The stabilizer is a tiny bit off perpendicular to the tube, not overly noticeable unless you are looking at it straight on, and the single side launch lugs make it look worse. Adding another pair to the other side should distract from the slight error. The stabilizer isn't as far off as the second picture makes it look, but I took this angle to emphasize the asymmetry.

Final steps are to apply sanding sealer to the nose cone, screw in the screw eye with a bit of medium CA, and put some heat shrink on the kevlar leader where it exits the upper body tube.

I've been doing this heat shrink on the kevlar for a while and it works pretty well. The kevlar is pretty thin, so I have to do 3 different sizes to work up to a decent diameter. It's not to protect against a horrific zipper, but with a long kevlar shock cord attached, it is enough to protect the tube from being sawed by the kevlar on the way down if it's swaying/spinning under chute.

The build part is now complete. I just have to find some extra launch lugs in my parts box(es) and decide on painting. It seems like a duck theme is popular since it's called the Drake, but I'm a pretty vanilla finisher most of the time and follow the face card. In this case the face card doesn't really give me much direction in this regard.

The backstory to the kit is that it began life as the Proconsul for the 2003 NSL, the first Anniversary kit created for the event. The name Proconsul came about from its resemblance to a Romulan Bird of Prey. I agree with this and am likely to keep the paint scheme in the flat black/grey area. I might create some vinyl decals for it as well. It will probably take me a few more weeks to get that far, my finishing pile is always quite large becuase I hate priming and sanding. But I'll post pics as soon as that is complete.

I have appreciated all the build threads I have read in the past because they have taught me so much and have made me a significantly better builder than I was when I became a BAR 2 years ago. I appreciate them even more now because this is a serious commitment to time and effort to document the steps in a build. Thanks to everyone who takes that time and has that commitment. I'll try to keep this from being my first and last.

Thanks for posting this, it was very informative. I have one in the build pile.
Didn't know about the relationship to the Romulan War Bird. Maybe orange vinyl wings top and bottom?
IIRC I think you can fit a quarter into those wing holes.
Or maybe it was the Madcow Batray.
Laters.

kuririn said:

Thanks for posting this, it was very informative. I have one in the build pile.
Didn't know about the relationship to the Romulan War Bird. Maybe orange vinyl wings top and bottom?
IIRC I think you can fit a quarter into those wing holes.
Or maybe it was the Madcow Batray.
Laters.

Click to expand...

This is the one with the quarters in the wings. Adds a lot of weight though, I read a comment from Jim Flis in an old build here about that. I was thinking of 3d printing some small disks with some kind of image on them, but I actually like the looks of the holes, so I haven't decided yet.

Thanks for the thread on this wonderful rocket and taking the time to document your work.

This is my Drake, painted to resemble a Mallard duck.

Heh, I painted mine with the colors of a Drake Wood Duck. I mounted the LLs inside the hollow tube.

IIRC, The wing joints were a weak point, if I were to build another, some reinforcement would help.

It really gets up there on a D12 - an E9 CATO was its final flight attempt.