Micro Dragon FPV

[localfiend]

Just because I need an excuse to build one of those DIY Micro FPV camera and transmitter setups.....



~18 Wingspan

6.4g HD1610 3400kv Motor
5030 Gemfan Prop - 5" Maximum Prop Size
6AMP Plush ESC
1.7g Servo x3
Micro Receiver
Gift Card Firewall and Servo Horns
180-260mah 2s

All setup for the still in development micro power pod.

Dragon Leg Landing gear.








What do you all think? Will it fly? I wanted to do something tiny for indoor and small space outdoor FPV and thought that something like an tiny easystar/skysurfer/bixler might work. But if you're going to go to the trouble of a pusher, you might as well jazz things up a bit.

I just don't know what's going to happen without an airfoil and slightly forward swept wings.

Thoughts on amount of dihedral needed?

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

I don't see any major issues. You may need to add a KF step, but I'd give it a shot with the flat wing first. Give it about 20 degrees of dihedral since it's only a 3 channel bird (excuse me, reptile).

 

[localfiend]

I don't see any major issues. You may need to add a KF step, but I'd give it a shot with the flat wing first. Give it about 20 degrees of dihedral since it's only a 3 channel bird (excuse me, reptile).

Good idea on the KF step. I don't think it would really add that much weight. I'll see what happens as designed first with 20 degrees of dihedral.

I just need to decide on a color.





I can't wait to chase the cat around with this.

 

[AkimboGlueGuns]

Why not both? These would be fun to do combat with !

 

[FoamyDM]

Any Shot of this one built or Flying?

This looks great! :applause:

Thanks for adding such a fun build idea.

Are there any shots of this built or Flying?

-FoamyDM

 

[localfiend]

This looks great! :applause:

Thanks for adding such a fun build idea.

Are there any shots of this built or Flying?

-FoamyDM

I never did actually get to try flying one. Got one mostly built, but then it suffered a horrible hanger accident and I never came back around to it. It's tempting to blow it up in size a good bit and use a mini quad motor.

 

[PsyBorg]

I just saw this and was interested.. all the pictures have broken links for me

 

[localfiend]

I just saw this and was interested.. all the pictures have broken links for me

Huh, all the pictures still show up for me. I'll upload a few to the forum.







Here's the plans in the red skinned variation.


Micro Dragon FPV Alpha v.1

If there's any interest I can blow these up to mighty mini size where they'd be easier to work with.

 

[jfaleo1]

looks like fun, a bigger version would be better for me.

 

[PsyBorg]

Well that's strange.. ALL of the pics are here today in all posts.
I thought it was for a micro quad at first until I scrolled up. The shoulder areas on the body section and wings look like engine holes.. I need ta step away for quads for a bit. I am seeing them everywhere now.

I don't know where you find the time for all this stuff you do but keep it up. You do some of the best stuff on the forums mate.

 

[Capt_Beavis]

it looks amazing but I think you should add some contrasting color to the skins, red/green or green/yellow maybe green/orange.

 

[FoamyDM]

What's That Part For?

Local Fiend,

I have this mostly built, I have some probably foolish questions.

So Far this has been a very fun a simple build. I'm going to add a Power Pack "A" motor. A great Yard sized piece.

Long legs in front, right?
The partial cut/crease on the long leg is for what?
How is the Power Pod Mounted, on top of the middle and ? Do the wings have any 3D shape or is it flat?
I'll post some pics when I get home tonight.

-FoamyDM

 

[localfiend]

Well that's strange.. ALL of the pics are here today in all posts.
I thought it was for a micro quad at first until I scrolled up. The shoulder areas on the body section and wings look like engine holes.. I need ta step away for quads for a bit. I am seeing them everywhere now.

I don't know where you find the time for all this stuff you do but keep it up. You do some of the best stuff on the forums mate.

Thanks. I have lots of weird ideas. Time isn't too much of an issue if you don't finish projects. I started this thread September of last year and haven't made any progress lol.

it looks amazing but I think you should add some contrasting color to the skins, red/green or green/yellow maybe green/orange.

I may try and do something like that when it gets scaled up. I'm no artist though, and I drew all of this in cad.

Local Fiend,

I have this mostly built, I have some probably foolish questions.

So Far this has been a very fun a simple build. I'm going to add a Power Pack "A" motor. A great Yard sized piece.

Long legs in front, right?
The partial cut/crease on the long leg is for what?
How is the Power Pod Mounted, on top of the middle and ? Do the wings have any 3D shape or is it flat?
I'll post some pics when I get home tonight.

-FoamyDM

Cool, pictures would be great.

A pack might be complete overkill at it's current size. It was meant for a 5-6 gram motor, so the A pack is triple the weight. I'm interested to see what happens though lol.

I'm trying to remember, but I think I was just going to go flat with the wings to start out. Pod is top middle I think. Don't remember if I ever put the power pod on it before.

I believe the score cut on the long legs were for wires or something. Don't really remember. I think I was planning on landing gear of a sort. Short legs go in the back, though they do look kinda small. Like I said, I'm no artist lol.

Been busy with other projects so haven't had time to resize. Maybe this evening.

 

[FoamyDM]

Chuck Trial

Cool, pictures would be great.

A pack might be complete overkill at it's current size. It was meant for a 5-6 gram motor, so the A pack is triple the weight. I'm interested to see what happens though lol.

I'm trying to remember, but I think I was just going to go flat with the wings to start out. Pod is top middle I think. Don't remember if I ever put the power pod on it before.

I believe the score cut on the long legs were for wires or something. Don't really remember. I think I was planning on landing gear of a sort. Short legs go in the back, though they do look kinda small. Like I said, I'm no artist lol.

I glued it together. I put approx. 20° dihedral in the wing. after checking weights and balance.



I agree the A pack feels way to heavy. I chuck glided this using 2 U.S. pennies at the head. This put the CG at mid wing. To mock up the weight of an A motor I put a standard AA battery in the power pod area and tossed.

It might have well been a lawn dart.

I then Replace this with the pennies, and it glided well until it slow to a gentle drop onto all fours. Pretty neat landing

Takeaway notes on the build

• The belly should be deeper or reinforced as the transition point was fatigued and ripping after a dozen repeat crashes
• This was printed close to scale about 95% scale. I don't feel this affected anything.
• larger scale would accommodate it an A swap-able engine (with added connection/skewer points built in.
• The suggested prop was a 5030 Gemfan - 5" Maximum Prop, 5" won't fit as designed. There is 2"-1.75" clear from center of power pod mounted on a dihedral wing. a 3" prop would fit of course.
• The pod mounted upside down to give a down thrust angle, which forces a positive angle of attack on the wings and thereby - lift. This is in-line with the Easy Star inspiration piece.
• It's worth it to put a KF step in the wing.

I'm looking to pic up components to see if I can get this in the air.
The plan was to build another one for my son have us battle in the yard. (Add a jouster on it too)

 

[localfiend]

I glued it together. I put approx. 20° dihedral in the wing. after checking weights and balance.

View attachment 76343 View attachment 76344

I agree the A pack feels way to heavy. I chuck glided this using 2 U.S. pennies at the head. This put the CG at mid wing. To mock up the weight of an A motor I put a standard AA battery in the power pod area and tossed.

It might have well been a lawn dart.

I then Replace this with the pennies, and it glided well until it slow to a gentle drop onto all fours. Pretty neat landing

Takeaway notes on the build

• The belly should be deeper or reinforced as the transition point was fatigued and ripping after a dozen repeat crashes
• This was printed close to scale about 95% scale. I don't feel this affected anything.
• larger scale would accommodate it an A swap-able engine (with added connection/skewer points built in.
• The suggested prop was a 5030 Gemfan - 5" Maximum Prop, 5" won't fit as designed. There is 2"-1.75" clear from center of power pod mounted on a dihedral wing. a 3" prop would fit of course.
• The pod mounted upside down to give a down thrust angle, which forces a positive angle of attack on the wings and thereby - lift. This is in-line with the Easy Star inspiration piece.
• It's worth it to put a KF step in the wing.

I'm looking to pic up components to see if I can get this in the air.
The plan was to build another one for my son have us battle in the yard. (Add a jouster on it too)
View attachment 76345

Excellent. Thanks for the feedback. I sized things up to a 28" winspan and added a kf step section as it's probably needed. I think that removing the paper from both the bottom of the wings, and the kf step section will give the wings a nice curved look.

Mini Dragon FPV 28" Wingspan Alpha v.2 - Tiled

I believe that at this size a 5" prop will actually fit, but I haven't had a lot of time to look this over in detail. Belly will also be deeper, though I don't know if it's enough to help. Now that it's at a bigger size, more details could be added, and the dragon shape could probably be enhanced.

Can you try and re-post the pictures? None of them are showing up for me, just invalid attachments. Thanks!

 

[FoamyDM]

Pictures should be fixed

 

[localfiend]

Pictures should be fixed

Thanks man! It looks great. Only thing I noticed is that the fuse should be an A fold. The wide edges by the head should be hidden if you want to try it that way on your next one. I don't remember if I ever actually assembled one of these. I think I only cut out the parts then they got smashed. Seeing one together makes me want to go and build one now.

Maybe I'll plug the 28" version into my CNC machine tonight.

 

[FoamyDM]

LocalFiend,
The way the tail "Spar" matched up in the original design required a B fold on the main body. I made the power pod an "A" for the extra 3/16" height. The great part is when the power pod is "A" and Fuselage a "B" the power pod nests perfectly. Right now the 2 folds don't match you'll see when you buildit.

I'm sure you knew, however the nesting was a design revelation for me.

For those who know more about KF step wings, where does the step stop vs. CG lift? Where should I look for details?

Lastly Localfiend, Thank you for designing this.

 

[localfiend]

LocalFiend,
The way the tail "Spar" matched up in the original design required a B fold on the main body. I made the power pod an "A" for the extra 3/16" height. The great part is when the power pod is "A" and Fuselage a "B" the power pod nests perfectly. Right now the 2 folds don't match you'll see when you buildit.

I'm sure you knew, however the nesting was a design revelation for me.

For those who know more about KF step wings, where does the step stop vs. CG lift? Where should I look for details?

Lastly Localfiend, Thank you for designing this.

Yeah, that tail part is messed up and the pod needs reworking. I think I'm going to completely toss out the current fuse. I just cut one out at mighty mini size and it's really ugly at this scale lol.

I think tail surfaces might have to increase a bit, elevator will need to be bigger for sure. At least it's dragon like.

Thinking about chucking electronics on it anyway just for kicks.





I'll get back to you on CG tomorrow. If it flies. Maybe I'll try it in the dark tonight lol.

 

[localfiend]

I tried to fly in the dark last night but the elevator was too tiny to be effective. It just face planted. So I chopped it off and put on a larger one. Motor angle also had to be greatly reduced.


It flies, but could certainly use some tweaking. Gotta make the tail lighter, extend the neck, and fix the ugly fuselage. A little more wing area wouldn't be bad either. I'll have to add the kf step as it is and see what that does.