DragonLady Specifications: 66 inch wingspan / 55 inch length / 872 sq-inch wingarea / 136 ounce weight / 22.4 ounce wingloading.

Controls: ailerons/flaps, elevator, rudder and motor speed.

Equipment: One Hitec 4 servo flight pack, 8 channel receiver, 4 HS-425BB servos, 600ma receiver pack,Hitec Supreme receiver, AXI 4120/18 motor, Jeti Advance 70-3P opto ESC and Graupner 14x6 prop, 18 3300ma NiMH cells, up to 20 3300ma NiMH cells

Construction materials: The DragonLady is a standard balsa built-up ARF made for a 60 to 1.20 gas motor.

Comments:If you look at the planes I have built most are handlaunch and small. When I saw the DragonLady go on sale I jumped at the opportunity. My friend Steve loaned me his gas powered one for a couple months and I loved flying it. So this will be a nice conversion. I HOPE !!!. Using the 20 3300ma NiMH cells I should get a nice 7 minute flight. Anyways I'll update this project as it goes. 7 Sep 03... This is another global kit. http://globalservices.globalhobby.com I'm hoping the weight will come in under 8 pounds.

The DragonLady is a nice looking plane, I should get a lot of experience from this and then build an 81" span SUZY.

28 Sep 03 - I flew the DragonLady twice yesterday on the 16 2000ma NiMh cells. These cells only give up about 25 amps so I had about 480 watts of power. I had two nice 4 minute flights. We ran the batteries out after the second flight and the batteries give up after 5 minutes. At 8.5 pounds this plane needs more power. I have some larger 3300ma NiMh cells and I'm going to build a pack. These are larger cells and I will start the pack at 16 cells and do a comparison of the two 16 cell packs. Then I will add cells to bring up the power if possible. If these NiMh cells don't give me enough power I will go to NiCads. I need about 22 cells (26volts * 35amps= 910watts).

Now that the DragonLady is flying I now have a platform to try out different battery packs and possibly later power systems. It is a lot of fun to taxi out and takeoff and land. Even though She was a half pound overweight I am very happy how the DragonLady has turned out. Takeoff was nice and straight and climb was not great but she did roll and fly inverted and inverted turns. I think the cg is still too for forward - nose heavy. Thats good - I can slide the batteries back. It's off to the workbench - so later!

4 Oct 03 - Added two additional flight packs. I built a 16 cell 3300ma NiMH pack and it gave me 600watts output - 30amps. I was looking for 40 amps so I added 4 cells and this combination with a 14x6 prop gave 44amps - 985 watts on my meter. I built a 16 cell Sanyo 2400ma NiCad pack but it gave out the same power as the 16 cell 3300mah NiMH pack but with less duration. I'm going to add two more cells to the NiCad pack and fly it some then maybe add 2 more cells. With the 20 cells I get what sounds like and may be cavitation on the prop at the upper 10% of throttle. I had 4 flights today and I am still moving the CG back. One nice thing about electrics is the CG stays the same through the entire flight. I had to get rid of the spinner, it went out of balance. I didn't have any problems until I ran the 20 cell pack. I started getting terrible vibrations at half throttle but after removing the spinner the vibrations went away. I didn't have the problem when I test ran the motor last weekend. I Like My Plane. Its fun to have something to takeoff and land and taxi back to the pits. I put the Idle on the idle-up switch so at throttle back all the way the prop slowly swings so you can see it. A very nice idle.

Final Notes: 18 Oct 03 - 6 flights today. and heres the setup. I'm using a Cam 14x6 prop on 3300ma NiMH 18 cell pack this turns about 7300rpm on the ground at 748watts - 36amps. A little bit larger prop may be in order - I tried a 16x6 but that pulled 985watts - 50amps - 7100rpm at full throttle, but the low speed performance was fantastic. I would guess that if you were careful this setup would give the max thrust for the buck. The motor is rated at 40amps continuous and 50amps for 60 seconds. The 14x6 prop gives a very nice 6 minute flight with good power - after landing we ran the power out and we had another 30 seconds of power left. I heard comments today like "That's the best flying electric I have ever seen". You have to take into account they haven't seen many electrics. The C.G. is moved way back more than 1/2" past the location shown on the plans and still it can move further back.

The Conversion:The kit comes with plywood formers in the fuse for the original fuel tank. I cut down the formers to allow the batteries to poke through and then put velcro on the plywood and attached the battery packs I also wrapped a velcro strap all the way around the batteries. Basically I have two eight cell packs but wired in series. There is tons of room for the speed controller and even much larger battery packs. The larger packs will move backwards to set the proper CG. To mount the motor I used two 1/2" plywood planks and drilled 4 holes to allow 4, 6-32 threaded rods. These bolt through the 3/16" motor mount plywood and the original 1/2" firewall. So there are 8, 6-32 nuts on 4 rods holding everthing in place, another great substitute would be the Hacker motor mount. I debated on epoxying everthing but it is so solid I decided not to. In case I have to build another motor mount. The large hole in the firewall allows air flow straight through the fuselage and by cutting open the cockpit area there is a large exit hole for cooling air. I didn't know if the CG would work out and that was the big risk. I added 4.5 ounces of lead strip just under the motor but after the first flight it looks like I can remove it. Note: after 12 flights I have the C.G. 1/2 inch behind the location shown on the plans and it could move further back. I originally started flying with the batteries all the way to the front and added weight and now the weight is gone and the batteries are way back. The picture is of the 16 cell pack installed and you can see 4 cells completely. Notice the location of the receiver and flight pack. You can also see the opening in the cockpit area for venting hot air. Also note I insalled 2 aileron servos to act as flaps. They are very effective and really slow the plane down for landing.

The C.G. The instructions say between 3 3/8" to 4 1/8" but I have moved the C.G. back to the main spar at 4 5/8" to 4 3/4". I am very comfortable with the C.G. at this position. Granted the DragonLady will fly with the forward C.G. but it is more maneuverable back at the main spar where it seems it belongs.

The Prop I started using the Graupner CAM 14x6 propeller. I tried a lot of different types and sizes of props. A 16x10 is probably the largerst prop to use with the AXI 1420/18 motor on 18 cells. Thats about 50amps at full throttle. I am now using the APC 14x7E prop. The performance seems better at lower power settings and is much quieter. The Graupner prop is stiffer and I believe gives better high power performance.

The one problem There has been only one reoccurring problem I have had with the kit. The tailwheel was made to go to a brass ring and tighten with a screw. But the brass strips out and will not hold the tail wheel wire. So I'm going to rebend the tailwheel wire and make it come all the way up thru the collar and run along the bottom of the rudder.

Thank You Very Much for visiting. When I first started flying speed 400 planes the standard battery pack was 500ma. Now a 1100ma pack will fit in the same space. This doubled the flight times. I'm hoping for the same thing here. I have a beautiful flying plane and all I would need to do is change the batteries to double my flight time. I can hope anyways. If you have the time check out the video.

Final Notes: 5 Jan 04 - Installed the new AXI 4130/20. I'm running 20 3300ma NiMH cells and an APC 18x10E prop and Wow! doe this setup go. More power than the 4120/16 but less power drain and longer flights. This setup pulls 912 watts on the meter which is less than the 4120/16 setup but the more power is obvious. The advantages of a larger prop.

 DragonLady To Home Page Video of the DragonLady in flight ZIP file .wmv format (2.7Mb)