Mini Drake (oz12937)

About this Plan

Mini Drake. Powered glider. Wingspan 160 cm. RC trainer for .75 to 1 cc engines.

Note this is the original plan for the Mini-Drake, as first published in Modellistica, Feb 1983. The supplement article is in Italian. A later version of the plan, modified for electric power by Arthur Fox, appeared in AMI see Mini Drake (oz8094).

Note we have credited Ivan Polonin (club secretary, draghtsman) as the designer here simply through a lack of more detailed info - see article text. Somebody out there must surely know the name of the young GAB club member who first created this model? We'll add that info when we get it.

Update 09/04/2021: Added article in English from Airborne Australia, thanks to Valeria367. As hosted by gruppofalchi.com

Quote: "Beginners 2-function RC Powered Glider for .75 to 1 cc. A powered glider, inexpensive of materials, very economical on fuel, easily transported, very stable but with rapid control responses: an excellent RC trainer. By Celestino Rossi and the Editor.

INTRODUCTION: It is not too difficult for most people to appreciate how an aircraft is steered around the sky with rudder and elevator, and even aileron controls; and the use of a throttle is accepted almost without question. When it comes to the actual application of the basic ideas it is far from easy, and many aspiring pilots have been disappointed with their attempts to fly, particularly Radio Control aircraft. It is NOT easy.

The concept of an easy to fly RC trainer has been attempted many times. The Minidrake is another attempt at this important aspect of RC flying. It was developed by a club in northern Italy, and has been published in Modelistica; although the plan and aircraft featured here were drawn and built, respectively, before it was published in the Italian magazine. AIRBORNE acknowledges the advice and support from our colleagues in Italy, with thanks.

The aircraft is basically a 2 metre span free flight pusher with rudder and elevator controls. The framework is built up to give light weight, reinforced to cope with stresses of RC flying, and with miniature RC gear, is slow flying, stable and responsive: just what is needed for a trainer.

Here is how Celestino Rossi organised the project (Cel's notes):

Real friends are rare, but when two people with the same ideals meet, they are friends forever. It happened to me during my last visit home (Italy). I met, by chance, Ivan Poloni the secretary and spokesman of GAB (Aeromodellers Group of Bergamo). We talked about aeromodelling, free flight, the old times and to him I mentioned my activities in Australia. Since then, 1978, he has written often and kept me informed of the various activities through the club's newsletter. I regularly send him plans of my FF scale models.

Recently he sent me the plan of the Minidrake for the readers of AIRBORNE. There is nothing exceptional about the model except that is is extremely simple, very cheap and it is the Model of the Year 1983, for the school of aeromodelling.

Falchi (Hawks) is the name of the junior members of the GAB. One of these junior members one day put together bits and pieces of leftovers from damaged models and went out on the field and began to fly what was to become the Minidrake. He took the model to the Think Tank of the senior members and asked them to draw a plan of it so it could be introduced as a basic model for beginners of RC. Ivan took the task and kept everything very simple; basic. i helped in building the model for AIRBORNE readers and the total cost of the building materials is only about $10.

CONSTRUCTION: Fuselage. Cut out the sides and glue the longerons in place. Cut out the formers, glue F2 and F3 to one fuselage side then add the opposite side to form a rectangular box at the wing centre section. When this has dried add F1, pulling the sides into it, then join the aft fuselage ensuring that the framework is symmetrical.

The wheel and plywood skid may now be added, but time can be saved by omitting them. The fuselage nose is actually weakened by the insertion of the skid, so it may be added on the outside of the nose bottom sheeting, later during construction.

The bottom sheeting may be added next and extra strength is gained if the grain is parallel to the centre line, but this necessitates extra cross pieces to prevent the sheet sagging between the sides in the nose area. Install the rudder cables (and elevator pushrod, too, if you wish) before adding the rear top sheeting. The front top is a removable hatch, rebated into the back of the nose block.

Tailplane and Fin: Both these have flat plate aerofoils which have LEs rounded and TEs tapered after being cut to shape and assembled. They are then glued to the fuselage ensuring that they are correctly aligned. The elevators and rudder are not attached till they are covered.

Wing. Cut out the parts, pre-shape the TE, including the rib notches, then assemble the parts in the standard fashion: LE, TE, bottom spar; ribs, spar webs; then top spars and the gussets. When the glue has dried, finish shaping the LE, TE and remove any high spots with a large, flat sanding block.

To incorporate the dihedral, cut the spars at the dihedral break and trim the ends to give the required angle. Pre-cement the ends then glue the parts together, adding the braces when the framework can be safely handled.

The centre section is reinforced with two braces, large gussets and a layer of glass fibre and polyester resin right across the centre sheeting and the motor mount..."

Supplementary file notes

Article in Italian.
Article (English, from Airborne Australia).

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