RC Mike Patey's DRACO

I attended my first Flite Fest Ohio in 2015 and was fortunate to meet and more importantly watch Joshua Orchard (Willsonman) build his Sikorsky seaplane.  It took me a few years to improve my skills and find a project I wanted to build. I have followed the Flying Cowboys group on YouTube the past few years and I was fortunate to see them fly in the STOL contest at Oshkosh last year. Mike Patey has an outstanding youtube series on how he modified an original Wilga into Draco. His enthusiasm for flight is contagious and I decided to scratch build Draco.

Many of the techniques I learned from Joshua were incorporated into my build. The fuselage is cut from house insulating foam, the tail feathers are balsa and the wing is kitbashed from an Eflite Timber. I based the build on a set of balsa plans from Aerofred. The model is fiberglassed (3/4oz.) using waterbased polyurethane. I added a 3w light system to simulate the amazing lights on the full scale Draco. The model has flown twice, but not painted with the decals. I will be flying it at FliteFest Ohio 2019. I encourage everyone to jump into a project of your own, its very rewarding thanks to the great community at Flite Test.

Shout outs to Mike Patey for his encouragement, Callie at Callie Graphics for the decals and Joshua Orchard for his encouragement and support throughout the build.