Hey David,

As you can see, Ivee been rather busy with my jet.

I have looked very carefully for your canopy, it was not anywhere in the box, nor in the wrapping I mentioned in my previous note to you, sorry.

Perhaps the guys at Airworld removed it from the box when they opened them to inspect the kit and forgot to replace it?

I recieved the right flap/trimmer for my Draken. Thank-you for the quick shipment. Some how I ended up with two, I think the guys at airworld got wind of this oversight and rushed.one to me not knowing you had an extra. I'll get it back to them this week.

Here are some photo's of todays work;

Hey Guys,

Today I was able to cut all the door panels out for the main and the nose gear.

It took some doing with the straight-edge and a few #11 blades, but I was finally able to get a clean enough line to switch to the razor saw to do the final cut-away from the fuselage.

The landing gear was a simple bolt-in affair once I cut the doors out.

In the morning I will begin cleaning out the remaining areas for the flight controls and sorting out the correct hinge clearence for thier movement.

The Draken inner main gear doors are mechanically attached to the struts, the outers will be air-ram operated.

There are also four (4) speed brakes around the aft-fuselage area I hope to duplicate useing clever hinging and air-ram to deploy. I'll have photo's of that as I go thru tomorrow's building session.

Some more Draken shots;

Frank,

I'm following this thread closely thanks for going to the trouble to document so well. I don't fly turbine jets but the Draken is on of my favorite airplanes, it was way ahead of its time.

I am working on an inexpensive Prop driven Draken build right now and was wondering if you could tell me where on the airframe the indicated CG is?

Your Draken project is awesome.

Thanks

Hello Arizona!

Have been distracted for some time, but I'm back now.

The CG for the Airworld Draken is indicated by Mr. Peter Liebetrau to be at 35mm ahead of the wing/fuselage contact point.
For most delta type platforms, this works out to be just forward of the main gear center mounting point. Thanks for the kind words of encouragement.
Good luck on your build, I will be posting photos of my ongoing build as well.
Frank.

Hello Folks,

Holy Cow!
You guys are busy, I thought I was doing well. But I go back to find my tread to upload some recent building pictures and find myself way down on page 8!.
OK, well here we go.........

Here are some more late night Draken build shots.
Enjoy!

The next few pictures of the aileron horn cut-out and the fitting of the to the wing.
Also, the forward fuselage avionics bay for some of the service units onboard the jet. The rear shot is of the main engine mount, yes, its true, the turbine for the Draken is mounted in the most rearward aft location in the fuselage! In the end I may need a short lenth dual wall exhaust tube for the gases to exit the last 1-1/2 foot of aft fuselage!
Perhaps the most profound moment for me is the fact that the Draken is now sitting quite nicely on her own gear!
I will be installing the nose gear steering servo forward, then the wing aileron flight control systems in the next few days. The elevator/trimmer system will be constucted concurrent to this for proper alignment of the trailing edge of the jet.
Here are the latest shots of the Draken.
Man she is huge!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Guys,

I'm quiting for the night, here are the last of todays work.
Take a look at all of those gear doors! Not only do I have to get those moving in correct sequence, but to compound the issue, I also must have four (4) aft fuselage speed brakes open durring the landing phase of flight too.
Looking forward to getting the first flights, should be very impressive!

Hi Frank,

i´m just wondering - any updates ?

Happy New Year and many happy landings

Thomas

Frank,
These blades work great for cutting all those openings. They are only .010 thick too!

http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares...oduct&ID=14346

Everybody already has a red Draken... What about a yellow one?

Thanks for the interesting photo!

I have chosen the #2 Stafflel wing, Austrian Air Force. The actual aircraft is the number 13, with the squadron/unit crest of a panther.
You guys will like it when I'm done with in the next month or so.

Frank.

Hi Frank, I have been watching your build, looks like a great project. I have been following the thundervolts newsletters from time to time and came across the link for this thread. I have so much going on in my life with work and family that there is not enough time left to spend on the hobby and the club. I hope that in a few years when my kids are a little older that I will have the amount of time that it takes to properly participate in this hobby, I really had fun while doing it but without having the amount of time to really get in to it, I alway felt like I was rushing and that takes the fun out of it. You will see me again in the future. I hope all is going well, and tell the guys at the club that I said hello. Nathan Garrant(former thundervolts BOD member)

Hello Nate,

Great to hear from you old pal! I certainly can appreciate the time it takes to keep both the family and this hobby in check.
Its fairly easy to let the later get out of hand. I know of several guys that jumped in with full steam, spending tons of cash on this kit, or that ARF, or whatever. This was always followed by an unusually stern reminder from the Queen bee to "knock it off". That said, I'm very glad to hear from you, perhaps you can swing by the field durring the spring time to say hello to the gang. In the mean time, stay warm, stay safe.
Frank.

Hello folks,

Here are some updates with regard to the Draken progress.....

The first shots of the wing aileron control system and servo hatch install. Following this are photo's of the soon to be finnised cockpit. The wing lower vortelons have been installed to aid in high-alph laminar flow issues durring the take-off and landing phases, or for that matter, any other high AOA attitudes durring flight.
Enjoy...................

Hey folks,

Here are more shots that would not load on my previous post.

Frank.

Hello Folks,

Here are some of the latest pictures of the Draken aft fuselage work.
Had to ad an entire rear former to absorb the tail wheel loads that are possible during the landing and take-off phase, I thought that I should add two, forward and aft fuselage were it breaks for transporting. You can see this work, and also the primary panel line outline were the tail wheel will be installed.
After cutting and mounting the tail wheel, it was appearent that I should bolt the aft section on with a spread pattern to keep a tight and strong aft section during flight. The eight bolts also absorb the wieght of the aft mounted thrust tube that remains attached to the removable tail section.
Here are the photo's.....................

Here are more pitures of the Draken build tail section...................

Some more shots aft end of the Draken with the tailwheel in the up and down position.........

Great job Frank !
What hinges are you using for the gear doors ?
Good luck on your project.
jef

Hi Frank,
You are doing a great job, looking forward to seeing the jet soon at Top Gun.
Joe Castelao!!

Superb work. I have had my eye on this model for some time and watching your build Frank is really making me keen to pull the trigger and buy one of these.
Regards Al

Hello Florida!

I am actually useing the Dubro large type for the tailwheel doors. I figured I would use stuff hanging on my shop walls rather than braving the -4 degree temps outside!
This would be the only application for that type hinge as the rest of the jet will require heavy duty metalic/carbon type that are offset to handle the required geometry.
Thank you for the kind words, see you in Florida during the April Top gun program.
Stay warm,
Frank.

Hello Joe,

Thanks for the kudo's!

I have been on a rather intense building schedule with this bird. I'll be shocked if I can actually get this jet built, and pull this off buy mid March.
Ground testing to begin at the end of March. And if all is well, to proceed imediatly with the flight testing profiles and work-ups until I load the trailer for Florida in April.
Rather ambitous I know, but I have been lucky to surround myself with some greats like, Kerry, and Mark, and fella's like yourself.
I'm currently flying the system and will return early Saturday to continue the Draken between all of the honey-do's. the kid do's, and any other do's that need my attention.
Take care for now Joe, good to hear from you,
Frank.