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I've done a few revisions of this kit I make. The first redesign was to get it to fit into smaller shipping boxes I have to use due to postal rate increases this year, and the latest revision was to reduce the weight further to get it right at the 250 gram(8.8 oz) limit for not requiring FAA drone registration number or remote id.
The first version used the old silver comet nose cone with molded in cockpit, now I just use decals to simulate that and keep the same look but using standard PNC-80K cones which are lighter and available.
For this revision I shortened the tube slightly and got rid of the need for a coupler and two piece body tube and moved the wing back a bit to completely eliminate the nose weight. I also removed the reinforcing strips at the wing/body tube joint because they just aren't needed and I switched to top mounted servos with narrower full strip ailerons instead of the barn-door type in the first two versions. It doesn't look quite as clean with the servos on the top but they are well protected during landing this way. Rail buttons are offset to the right to clear the tail.
So I give you the latest Dragonship, sort of 50's sci fi, swoopy lines etc. I worked with Stickershock to reproduce the dragon decal from the Estes Dragonship 7, and my own designs for the rest. I used a template cut from a strip of .03 styrene 6" long with holes punched every 1/2" to make rivet detail using a sharpie pen. I use the template for spacing as well as the marking and it only took about 15 minutes to do the whole thing.
Only paint used was the red nose cone. The rest of the markings are the cut vinyl decals.
Constructed from BT-80 2.6" lightweight tubing, PNC-80K nose cone with the base cut out, 23" wingspan with slight dihedral, 31" length, 6mm depron wings and tail with 3mm carbon spars for the 24mm E-6 longburn rocket motors.
I used hitec digital metal gear 35055 servos, 1s 500mah battery, AR410 receiver, 8" lightweight servo extensions to get the receiver into the nose cone held in place with velcro along with the flight battery.
The first version used the old silver comet nose cone with molded in cockpit, now I just use decals to simulate that and keep the same look but using standard PNC-80K cones which are lighter and available.
For this revision I shortened the tube slightly and got rid of the need for a coupler and two piece body tube and moved the wing back a bit to completely eliminate the nose weight. I also removed the reinforcing strips at the wing/body tube joint because they just aren't needed and I switched to top mounted servos with narrower full strip ailerons instead of the barn-door type in the first two versions. It doesn't look quite as clean with the servos on the top but they are well protected during landing this way. Rail buttons are offset to the right to clear the tail.
So I give you the latest Dragonship, sort of 50's sci fi, swoopy lines etc. I worked with Stickershock to reproduce the dragon decal from the Estes Dragonship 7, and my own designs for the rest. I used a template cut from a strip of .03 styrene 6" long with holes punched every 1/2" to make rivet detail using a sharpie pen. I use the template for spacing as well as the marking and it only took about 15 minutes to do the whole thing.
Only paint used was the red nose cone. The rest of the markings are the cut vinyl decals.
Constructed from BT-80 2.6" lightweight tubing, PNC-80K nose cone with the base cut out, 23" wingspan with slight dihedral, 31" length, 6mm depron wings and tail with 3mm carbon spars for the 24mm E-6 longburn rocket motors.
I used hitec digital metal gear 35055 servos, 1s 500mah battery, AR410 receiver, 8" lightweight servo extensions to get the receiver into the nose cone held in place with velcro along with the flight battery.
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