New Dragon Lady ARF
 

I saw the new ARF version of the Dragon Lady at my LHS. Wow, it really looks great. The workmanship is excellent.
I was thinking of buying one and using my tried and true OS61 FX but after reading a few threads about the plane I get the impression that a .61 isn't the right engine for it. I see those who are planning to add a gasser or Saito 1.20's etc.
So should I forget about the .61 and go for a much larger engine?

DragonLady
 

Tman,
I'm putting her together this week. Arfs sure have come a long way since I've been in the hobby. The only thing I can say thats negative about it is the covering material is kind of strange. I'm going to put an ASP 108 in her. I think if I were you I'd at least put a 91 in it .

New Dragon Lady ARF
 

If it's made the same as their old ARC you are going to have a 9 to 10 lb plane. A bit much for a 60.

New Dragon Lady ARF
 

If don't already have a GP Spacewalker and a 4*60 on the building table, I would buy the Dragonlady in a heartbeat. In fact, I've thinking about quiting my 4*60 kit buiilding and buy this one.

If I were to get one, I would for sure put at least a .90 on it. An 1.08 2stroke or 1.20 4stroke would be ideal. The stock landing gear looks to have huge ground clearance and just begs for a big prop. :)

New Dragon Lady ARF
 

I had sob sob a d lady 60 and put a saito 180 on it. It flew like a dream an elevator servo failure took it to ground. 1/3 throttle take offs and hi idle for landing . Favorite move was come down to the deck half the length of the runway slow then pull the nose up and goose it . very cool. Most flying was done at half throttle . Enjoy the plane its a great one
Paul

New Dragon Lady ARF
 

Got a Dragon Lady 60 ARC about 18 months ago. Power is an OS 108 with a Slimline pitts muffler. Pulls with authority!

As a side note this was the first airplane I ever put dual servos on the elevator. One servo fail after the sixth flight due to a bad solder connection. Sometimes I get lucky!!

New Dragon Lady ARF
 

This is a better view of the Dragon Lady 60. Really like this plane!

New Dragon Lady ARF
 

TMAN, go ahead and get the Dragonlady, Im putting the finishing touches on mine right now. I installed an OS 120 with a slimline smoke muffler and a TME smoke system. All I can say about the quality of this ARF is WOW!!! It is put together real nicely,especially for being a first run kit.. The only extra things I did was to epoxy the firewall real good and fuel proof the tank area.I also sanded and filled in the flashing line on the wheel pants and painted and clearcoated them.I also put flying wires on the tail surface not because I think it needs them it just looks good with them.Now if it just would warm up enough for me to maiden her!!! :D

New Dragon Lady ARF
 

The D lady is one of my all time favorites. I have the ARC version, and another in the box "just in case". But I do like the look of the ARF. Engines go from go from a 90 2c all the way up to a G23

I have a bunch of pictures of them on Fubar Hill, if interested.

Dragon Lady
 

Tman....... Don,t let this power hungry mob put you off, the D-lady will fly fine with a good strong 60. The performance will be very scale like. I have flown mine with every thing from a 70 Surpass to a Saito FA-130T and it is now flying with a Surpass 90 which is just perfect for getting over the jitters after flying my 1.20 G202.
Just don,t put a 12-6 on that 60 and let it scream, load it down a little bit and it will pull that D-lady OK. If it turns out to be a little too sedate for you that's time enough to put a larger engine on it.
:cool:

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

Where to buy a Dragon Lady???? Just lost mine today, flew it for 12 years, w/ enya r120. Want to buy the arf version. Who handles them?????
[email protected] mistydee0 on RCU

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

I believe Hobby People show them as being in stock for $179.00.

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

I would love to put a twin in mine but don't want it to be overkill. Any ideas as to which one would work best?

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

I just checked and Hobbypeople.net actually have it in stock for $169.00!!! John Redfox I guess you could put a twin in her if thats what you want to do,but i have a 120 Four stroke in mine and it pulls her all over the sky!!! She sure is a pleasure to fly!!

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

[X(]I just lost my lady this weekend, the servo arm came off of the servo and it went in nose first. Not much of the airplane leftover. I had a saito 100 in it and it flew very nice and stable. Like someone else said the covering is the weak area of this airplane. It had already started coming off before the first flight, this was around the firewall area. The landing gear structure is very nice and stiff. You have the option of mounting the servos in the fuselage or at the tail for the rudder and elevator. I installed mine in the tail which made it very tail heavy, if I decided to purchase another I think I will install them into the fuselage. They also put in tubes for the push rods that run the length of the fuse to the cutouts at the tail area. I changed out the wing bolts that came with it to 10/32 bolts. The instructions are a little weak on the installation of the wing bolts. The other option I would love to see is the ability to put a servo on each wing instead of the single servo installation that the arf comes with. Hobby people have this airplane for 169 thru novemeber 23, I got lucky and got it for 149 when they had it onsale in Sept/Oct time frame. I also epoxyed the firewall and installed the spacer that was provided for the smaller engines, that was the only other drawback I found with the instructions was that they called to install this block on the airplane for xx engine to xx engine and not to install it for xx engine to xx engine. Well the satio falls right in the middle but since it is about the same size of the 90 engines I installed the block and it worked well.
John

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

I also picked one up for $149. I sold my first one (ARC) after a friend flew it and belly flopped it. That one had a ST 1.41ci upfront (ST 2500), and this one will have a ST 1.37ci (ST 2000). The aielrons must be split up if your going to the higher end of the motor range. I did not know there was an option for installing the rudder and elevator servos at the tail (haven't peaked at it yet :eek: ). Perhaps with the "big block" strapped on, I won't have a tail heavy situation.

An awesome flying (big) plane for the money, and one that will fly even in wind you wouldn't dare to fly your other ones in.

Hey Buckaroo, NYAA NYAAA.....bought my own since you wouldn't part with yours! ;)

Gary

BTW, a .60 motor is NOT going to be enuff for this plane. Do not waste your time installing one, only to be disapointed later. A minimum of a strong .91 (2 stroker) is needed.

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

Man, I wish this post would have come up a couple weeks ago.

I just bought a Dragon Lady 60 ARF. Specs say a .60-.90 2 stroke, so I got the Tower .75. So do you think I should upgrade to a .90??? Or will the .75 be O.K.? I'm not looking to do any 3-D flying, just some simple aerobatics, and buzzing around the field.

I got mine from [link=http://www.hobby-warehouse.com/modair.html]Hobby Warehouse[/link] for $145. Total was $168 to my door.

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

Backwing,

Your probably going to be ok with the 75, it's just that you can throw a lot of motor at this plane and it loves it!

If possible, set it up with the 75 with the intent that you're going to step it up a notch later on. For example: Install the 75 2 stroke horizontally with a pitt muffler. Then, if your unhappy with that combo, install a 91 2 stroke (or bigger) in the same way. This way, your not having to replace the cowl, only enlarging it for the new bigger one. Of course, there may be some motor mount changes at the firewall.

Gary

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

Thanks, That's what I wanted to hear.
This is my second plane, and will be building it over the winter, inbetween perfecting my trainer. Probably not going to maiden until February or March.

I didn't want anything overpowered for me, so it sounds like the .75 will be a good first step for my second plane, then upgrade when I'm more comfortable.

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

Good luck Backwing!

Keep us informed of your progress, or if you have any questions.

Yer gonna luv it! :D

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

John....just for an eye-ball....this ASP (same as Magnum, but $100. cheaper)
1.60 Twin looks like a deadringer....If you wanted something "Special"....:D
I'm just starting to put-up a "Lady" myself....I'm going with the Magnum 1.20
4-stroke....(inverted)....I think it will be just about right....:D The Lady
would be an excellant, stable, reliable as an anvil platform to put a Twin in.

Just my opinion, and you know how that goes....heh heh heh....:eek:....the .60
just won't be enough....and the .75 would be minimal, at best....I think perhaps
a Magnum or S.T. .90 would be OK....I haven't checked....but I think the new
ARF's are quite a bit lighter than the previous version....

Dave. :D

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

Hi everyone,
My two cents worth on Dragon Lady: I put a Saito 150 on mine. (Nothing draggin' about this bird!) It took a little hogging with a Dremel tool on the motor mount to get the motor to fit far enough back in the cowl. The servos are mounted in the tail. I removed the torque rods and put in dual aileron servos just because I never liked torque rods. Servos are JR 537's and the battery is a 1400 JR. I also removed the lower third of the firewall and angled a piece of lite ply back at a 45 degree angle. This gave the muffler on the 150 a new place to angle back and down instead of out the side of the cowling. (Did this same treatment to our Sig Rascal 110... Just makes the exhaust easier to clean off and you don't have to cut any holes in the cowl that will later turn into cracks.) I'm using a 15-8 APC with a Dave Brown spinner. I wasn't crazy about the blow-molded wheel pants..... They weren't exactly alike at the wheel openings so I put on a set of fiberglass pants and they are just fine. (The blow-molded ones would probably be more damage resistant but I kinda like things looking the same on the right as well as the left!) The covering job looks good but I have re-shrunk this bird 3 times during building and a couple more since flying it. The turtle-deck covering has been replaced because it started pealing off. Good thing I had no cool graphics here or I'd have been upset!) We get these ARFs for a variety of reasons..... We like them, not enough time to build one, etc. I guess we can't complain about crummy covering! I like either Monokote or the Ultrakote. Anything else is like insisting a Daewoo car rides like a Cadillac! On to the flying! If we would have had big four-strokes and large powerful 2 strokes to put on planes of this nature years ago, we all would have been 3-D pilots long before the term came about! I like the aspect of tooling around low and slow and barely sipping any gas. Most of the flying I do is less than 1/3 throttle and the Dragon Lady is still moving along at quite a clip. Full throttle passes right side up (or down) are enough to get your adrenalin pumping. I like pretty much all this plane has to offer. Price was right. (166 bucks) The color was pleasing. I did stick a full canopy over my pilot though. Later guys. I gotta go bore some holes in the sky.
Iceman

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

I just checked the front to back fit with the Twin. The cowling would need
a 1" set-back onto the fuse....mine only goes 3/4" without forcing it
back,....so a 1/4" plywood doubler would have to be added to the
firewall....probably not too bad an idea, anyway....with the extra weight.

Dave. ;)

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

Flyboy-

Thank's for all those pictures. I think I may skip on the twin. I believe now it would be overkill. I have a new YS 91 but I think I may sell it and get a OS 120. Seems that is the best engine for it. I had a Magnum twin 160 for my H9 Cessna and it was underpowered plus I didn't like the way it ran. Oh well, live and learn. Again, thanks for your help.

RE: New Dragon Lady ARF
 

I have two of them now and power both with 0S 120 four stroke-they are great-I stuck the rudder and elevator servos in rear and balanced both of them with battery under pilot seat. I also added the second aileron servo in wing-major pain in the bu**-shows no difference in roll rate or aileron authority with two servos-also I thought I like to try the flaperon function with two servos-guess what a very small difference noticed on landing speed but who needs it-these are great planes