Hobby Lobby Dragonus Canopy Painting Contest

[Jim T. Graham]

Hobby Lobby Dragonus Canopy Painting Contest

Our friends at Hobby Lobby want to know if you think you can do better than this?

http://static.rcgroups.com/forums/attachments/8/3/9/7/t1505434-227-thumb-uglycanopy2.jpg

Give it a try. Hobby Lobby is selling Dragonus Canopies for $5.00 for use in this contest. Call us at 615-373-1444 and use part number CANOPY01 to order your canopy. Paint it with your best scheme and post a single photo of it in this thread. You can paint as many canopies as you like. Contest ends on November 25th. Hobby Lobby will pick the top ten and a poll will be created for you to vote for the winner from November 26th through the 30th. The winner will receive a Dragonus II N-Plus kit (http://www.hobby-lobby.com/dragonus.htm) with 4 Hitec HS-65 servos, Jeti SPIN 33 amp controller, and a PolyQuest 3 cell 2150mAh battery. That’s over $400 worth of goodies!

Feel free to start your own thread in this section detailing your progress and tips.

You guys have fun with this and a big thanks to Hobby Lobby for the cool contest!

[parkzonekid]

IM IN!!! count me in for 2 canopies, thats all im gonna need!!! ordered first thing tomorrow!

[Roto Rob]

Ok, I'm in with my favorite, and well used Dragonus II.

[All Electric]

He're my Dragonus canopy paint scheme. Very straightforward as I wanted to get flying as soon as possible. And highly visible, as it turned out. I really enjoy flying the Dragonus. Lots of fun! 40+ flights so far and stopped counting.
John :D

[Marcellus]

Hi,
Here's one of my painted canopies.

http://marcelluswallace.free.fr/images/forum/dgn119-600.jpg

[moosemanty]

well, might as well enter one :) it's deffinetly not the best, but it is the best of my abilities(which isn't much since i don't have an airbrush ;) ) . .....


http://i69.photobucket.com/albums/i75/moosemanty/Picture109.jpg

[Ecaf]

Here's mine...

[edge5foamy]

Cool! I have a friend who is pretty good with an airbrush, so I will tell him about it!

[Marcellus]

2 other ones I painted for a friend.

http://marcelluswallace.free.fr/images/forum/drago.jpg

[WaterDog]

Throw this one in to the mix.....

[moosemanty]

Throw this one in to the mix.....


wow..... i am willing to bet you will win :) your painting skills are crazy. i remember the darker green one you did...simply amazing. :cool:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1302652

[WaterDog]

Good memory, MM. I designed them and Tom painted them. If they win, I'll give him the Chopper. :)

[parkzonekid]

nice job fellas, cant wait to get mine canopies to start airbrushin!!!!

just a taste of my skills........ here is a 52in tunnel hull
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/lussoro/boat5.jpg

and a chopper tank i finished not to long ago...

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r296/lussoro/scull4.jpg

[Clay Schmidt]

Here's mine.

[sliver-surfer]

They all look great unfortunately :( shipping is too much to Canada 30day shipping for $15.Oh well good luck all.

[furex]

An other from France.


http://perso.orange.fr/fur3x/drag/bulle%20%282%29.JPG
http://perso.orange.fr/fur3x/drag/bulle%20%283%29.jpg

[finless]

Here is my paint job.

[PilotSmith]

Yo Bob! Do these fit on a Trex 450?

[moosemanty]

Yo Bob! Do these fit on a Trex 450?

no, they are much to big.

[spacktack]

Brill, I know someone that would really like this.

Smack-attack

[Marcellus]

Yo Bob! Do these fit on a Trex 450?

it fits but it's ugly :eek:

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/258/img36659ot.jpg

[Kevin Murray]

no, they are much to big.


So then ... will they fit an ECO 8 ?

[Marcellus]

no, they're too small.

[Kevin Murray]

Thanks Marcellus.

[Bricobrac]

2 other ones I painted for a friend.

http://marcelluswallace.free.fr/images/forum/drago.jpg

Marcellus,

you can say that you painted some for me & A2pro for Nuremberg Toy Fair in februar as we were in a crazy hurry to present the Dragonus there :).

See you tonight, your 2 babies are waiting for you here :D

BEst regards,

Fabien

PS: here are other canopies but not from Marcellus :)

http://www.e-flex.fr/dragonus/aso1.jpg

http://www.e-flex.fr/dragonus/aso2.jpg

http://www.e-flex.fr/dragonus/aso3.jpg

[ArtPiranha]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Why I am so far away in Russia????? :(

[Bricobrac]

Hi,

well (i'll make another thread as i do not want to troll Hobby Lobby post) A2pro Russia has asked us a few canopies so you might see a few ones there :)

And why complaining beeing in Russia ? I've been living for 2 years not so far away, in Vilnius , and damn it was a greaaaaat place :)

BEst regards,

Fabien

[JKY]

Here is mine - someone on here previously refered to it as 'The Doberman' look which i can see.

[cat5]

Some very nice paint jobs!

[Bricobrac]

PS for Hobby Lobby: pleae do not take my canopies into consideration, as there are canopies we make for the Dragonus customers and other are personnal canopies for events and showroom, as we are Rcer aprtenrs and distributors in Europe. So please do not include my posts in your votes :)

Thanks a lot and have great fun in the contest ,

Fabien

[Stikflyer]

They all look great unfortunately :( shipping is too much to Canada 30day shipping for $15.Oh well good luck all.

It depends on who you buy from. I ordered a trex canopy and a few other things from Rediheli in florida and shipping was $6.00 and change and took 8 days. Not sure if they sell the Dragonous though.

[heli-headcase]

OK, I give up, how does one insert an image? Can I upload one from my hard drive or does it have to already be online somewhere? Oh wait, "Attach Files" down below! D'OH!!!!

The pretty one is done with a color scheme as inspired by a tiny picture that was of the new decal sheet currently available. I didn't know it was a decal at the time and regardless wanted a slight shifting of the fades. Scott Milton of AceHelis did the paint application and did it perfectly. The orange canopy is a "throw away" I received with a Dragonus Intruder. Please don't judge it! :D

[Blackgex]

Here is mine, another from france.

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/5717/photo003ti8.jpg

[FlyAgain]

Damn this is cool!!

[MikeyMike1969]

Are most of you using poly-carbonite paint? I've painted plenty of R/C car bodies from the inside but haven't tried a heli canopy yet.

Thanks,
Mike

[heli-headcase]

Mike,

My white/fade canopy in the pictures above was colored by spray cans (Rustolium brand florescents) and cleared with an automotive polyurethane. The plastic used for this Dragonus canopy is something resembling ABS or styrene based, not polycarbonate (Lexan). There's parts of the plastic trimmed away as scrap that can be used to test paint compatibility before risking the canopy itself. Save those scraps!

Are most of you using poly-carbonite paint? I've painted plenty of R/C car bodies from the inside but haven't tried a heli canopy yet.

Thanks,
Mike

[MikeyMike1969]

Mike,

My white/fade canopy in the pictures above was colored by spray cans (Rustolium brand florescents) and cleared with an automotive polyurethane. The plastic used for this Dragonus canopy is something resembling ABS or styrene based, not polycarbonate (Lexan). There's parts of the plastic trimmed away as scrap that can be used to test paint compatibility before risking the canopy itself. Save those scraps!

Thanks for the info. I painted one of my white Blade CP canopies with the Polycarbonite paint and it seems to stick pretty well. It just doesn't have that high shine to it.

[planelover93]

wow, if i had a canopy i would show off my skillz! :)

[Bricobrac]

Hi,

on our side we use automotive paints ( Maxmeyer ), Sikkens clearcoats with softener additive, and for the candy colors, we use Color Horizon candy tint bases + flakes and House of Kolor products as well.
Hope this helps:)

BEst regards,

Fabien

[Bricobrac]

Hi,

another to give you more ideas (simple scheme to paint )

http://www.e-flex.fr/dragonus/bulle_pro.jpg

BEst regards,
Fabien

[radiohead]

Here's my entry; I tried to get the best angle possible. I'll try to put some more shots up tomorrow in a different thread.

Jake

[moosemanty]

wow! if you did that, i have a feeling you win :eek: nice work man!!

[radiohead]

Haha, cool, I'm glad you like it! I'll put some more pics up then of progress and the other side (as its not symmetrical). :)

Jake

Edit: I added more pics and some info in a thread in the main section:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=777088

[ardon123]

more and more nothing lose

[ardon123]

more and more

[antennahead]

I just finnished mine up, hope they don't close the thread before I get my pics up.

[antennahead]

Heres my canopy for the contest. I have never painted one of these bleach bottle canopies before so I didn't know how the paint would stick to one of these. I started by spraying on 2 coats of bulldog adhesion promoter (You can find this in a spray can In the auto section of wally world) Then a couple of coats of Tamiya laquer white primer, Then masked off the orange part and sprayed it with House of color tangelo pearl Then masked off the flames in the orange and gosted in some skulls and some fogging with House of color ultra orange pearl. They're hard to see, but when the sun hits it they really pop. Masked off the orange and sprayed the base color in house of color violette pearl, then masked the side pannel and sprayed it with House of color pearl white, masked off the flames did some fogging with over reduced black then sprayed it with bright blue candy. I then sprayed on a few coats of Tamiya laquer gloss clear.once i was to this point, I took it outside and this thing really pops in the sun!! It's not quite finnished as I want to pinstripe it and add some more shadows under the blue flames, but I wouldn't get that done in time. as it turns out this paint seems very flexible, I did a few test peices on some of the scrap plastic and have been able to fold the piece over onto itself without the paint cracking. really the only problem I had was cutting out all of the masking. I basicly followed the same procedure for painting the tailfin. The landing gear was painted with Tamiya gloss black with the runners painted in Alclad polished aluminium. This was a cool project that I had alot of fun with.

[radiohead]

Hey antennahead, you know how long I searched for Bulldog primer? This is my first "bleach bottle" too and I heard about Bulldog but never thought to look at Wally. Thanks for the tip! I ended up settling for some plastic primer from a craft store.

[moosemanty]

holy crap! very nice Antennahead! :eek:

i am sooo jealous... i wish i could paint... but i have seen elephants with better artistic abilities than me :o

[antennahead]

Yea, I've used the stuff a few times when it was only available in quarts, then one day when I was bored, wandering around wally world waiting for my wife to finnish shopping, I saw it in a spray can. if you can't find it at your store,let me know and I could send some to you.

[antennahead]

Hey moose, you can paint like this, the paint isn't really the hard part....the hard part is comming up with a design and cutting out your masking.....The best thing to practice on, is some empty 2 liter pop bottles. that way you can test your materials and masking technique and also test out your color combination.It doesn't really matter what type of paint you use, I used automotive paints but, the same type of results could be had with the parma fastcolors (similar if not the same as auto air or createx) The candies and pearls give the most WoW factor. after doing this canopy I'm thinking about doing a "how to" in the airplane paint and finnishing forum........of course.....I don't have another canopy.......guess I should have stocked up when HL was selling them for 5 bucks. :)

[radiohead]

Yup, antennahead nailed it.

Masking is a great way to get stunning paint jobs and still be fairly easy to do. As you progress you can move in with a combination of freehand and freehand-shields for details because they are quick and let you paint at about the same speed as your imagination.

Painting is a lot easier with even a mediocre brush than a super cheap one. The one you use can either awe you or frustrate you. I tried a cheapo single action 10 years ago and got a so-so paint job on a plane; I gave up in frustration and never returned to painting until a few months ago when I invested in a better brush. Wow, what a difference!

One last bit, you could pick up Createx at a craft store, but I'd avoid it since it's a textile paint intended for t-shirts. You might as well get Auto Air (same company) since it is an automotive paint and the same price. Then you're not stuck with a bunch of textile paint later. That's the way I started and now I have about a dozen+ bottles of Createx sitting around; I better start painting some t's :rolleyes:

Sorry for cluttering up this thread... :eek: ... if you're interested in freehand techniques I could shoot some paint tomorrow and post samples in my other thread.

[tukkus]

Hi radiohead, that's a nice looking canopy. I just ordered a couple of canopies but I've never airbrushed anything and don't own any equipment. I looked up the cost of the Infinity airbrushes and they seem kinda expensive, can you tell me what the difference is between the airbrushes in the $100-150 range and the Infinity will do.

Also what kind of air compressor would be good to get...thanks

[moosemanty]

thanks for tips guys :D

and yeah, the masking is the bad part for me... i can't even draw, so this is next to impossible for me :( also, i don't have any air brush which i imagine is even more frustrating than having a cheapy one :p i have done all my work with $1 cans of spray paint :o and any body who has seen my canopies can tell you that they not pretty...or any where close to it :)

[radiohead]

Hey tukkus, check my other thread, I rambled out an answer for ya :D .

Moosemanty, no brush is better than a $10 blue-light special brush ;)

[Jim T. Graham]

Hobby Lobby has choosen a top ten. Go to the link below to vote for your favorite canopy:
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=777673

[moosemanty]

lol... not sure how my canopy got in there... :p i didn't even vote for it :o

[sketchaholic]

Wow, some very inspiring painting! Wish I saw this sooner.

[heli_freak2007]

heres my plus canopy but im about to do my pro canopy still thinking of an idea because i think the pro is harder to paint (less good lines only good curves) but i will post a pic of that soon

[moosemanty]

looks good, :) though the contest has ended.... sorry.

[Gooty]

How do you guys rate the dragonus compared to the trex 450? example the dragonus plus?

[moosemanty]

IMHO, the dragonus is an all around better heli :)
i have a trex and a dragonus and the dragonus is the one that gets spoiled ;) the trex is 'ok', but the dragonus flys better, has better quality parts, etc....
it really is an awesome heli :)

[heli-headcase]

I'm going to jump in here even though it's off-topic.

Dragonus VS T-Rex 450(SE V1.5 in this case):

I fly both and to say the Dragonus is better than the T-Rex is being closed minded and nearsighted.

Each heli has their good and bad points. Each had a distinctly different personality if built as intended by the manufacture. Product support is in a different class too.

The Dragonus is better if you like hyper quick cyclic response for fast 3D maneuvers. Saying this, the Dragonus WILL NOT fly as steady and "stable" as a box-stock T-Rex 450SE. The Dragonus is very fast in forward flight and wants to keep moving whereas the T-Rex needs a little more persuasion to keep the forward penetration.

The T-Rex is more predictable and consistent in aerobatic flight but the Dragonus isn't far behind it will just do things a little snappier.

The Dragonus has a less draggy tail drive than the T-Rex with fewer parts. The overall noise level of the Dragonus (if correctly set up) is clearly less than the T-Rex in stock form.

Parts for the T-Rex are just minutes away at most USA hobby shops. Dragonus parts, so far, are best purchased through mail order/Internet. If the time factor is important then this is more on the side of the T-Rex.

Dragonus has more built-in options for adjusting the control response of the main rotor. The T-Rex is fixed to how Align wanted it to fly from their engineers. It can be changed but not without some machine work.

I fly both, I like both. I look more at my Dragonus and think: "Man, that is one cool and exiting heli!" I keep my T-Rex locked in its carry case but am more relaxed flying the T-Rex and am less afraid to crash it.

So, I made choosing easy didn't I? :D Anyone that says one heli is better than another is either overly biased (for whatever reason) or hasn't given both models an equal chance under similar circumstances. I own over 300 heli's, maybe 10 are T-Rex 450 of all types, three are Dragonus. I'm a field rep for one of the competing mini-eheli manufactures, one that is a close relation to the T-Rex. I have to keep an open mind with these things.

[Gooty]

Wow Heli-headcase what a reply!! you have sold me on both the helis..lol. I guess it comes down to the type of flying you want to do and how quick you want it to happen...im still in the early stages of heli flying so im going to have to ponder on this for a bit and as you said that spares for the Dragonus are not as easy to come by as the Trex and in the early stages of flying spares are important..well for me anyway..lol. Thank you Gents for the Reply on this Topic!!

[moosemanty]

as you said that spares for the Dragonus are not as easy to come by as the Trex and in the early stages of flying spares are important..!

spares are not as easy to come by "yet" ;) Rcer will have more distributors in the future (sooner than later).... it is being worked on right now actualy :)

and with the dragonus, crashes are very predictable... this means you can stock up on a few common parts and have most of your lighter crashes covered :D
just get a hardened main shaft (it's VERY hard to bend), booms, blades, spindles, and main gears(if you aren't good with throttle hold)
and you will be covered for a majority of your crashed :)

[heli-headcase]

Hi Ty,

Unlike you, I crash differently each time :D I've broken little and I've broken the whole heli (not refering to the Dragonus or T-Rex as neither have been hurt by me) at times. The best way to stock up on something is to buy a complete spare kit. Now you're covered for any heli part requirement.

As to spares availability; I can only speak of the current state of spares distribution, not the (unknown and uncertain) future.

[moosemanty]

well if it's light crashes, such as hover tip overs or bad landings etc... while in the beginner stage, it's very predictable :)
heck even most of my bad crashes (not including the REALLY bad crashes which end in a rebuild) are predictable.
my last crash i drove the heli in nose first at a slight angle at full speed from about 10 feet up. and all that broke was the usual... just blades and a maingear :) that's how the majority of my crashes are. though there are a few cases where an out of the ordinary part breaks.. but 90% of my crashes are predictable. :)

[osterizer]

spares are not as easy to come by "yet" ;) Rcer will have more distributors in the future (sooner than later).... it is being worked on right now actualy :)

And how soon might that be?

[moosemanty]

And how soon might that be?

it's coming along and we are trying our best.... another online store is now carrying the dragonus :)
http://fxaeromodels.com/

[osterizer]

Sounds good, man. I just ordered an SA :). I see FX also carries the Jokers- oh, if I had $1K I didn't know what to do with.....

[BBRFST]

Here's mine Oh and I prefer flying the Dragonus over my T-Rex 450 V2. The V2 was what I cut my teeth on and has been very reliable. As for stunts, for now I feel more comfortable on my Rex. It's just a matter of time before I'm ready to try things with the Dragon.

[JoeR]

it's coming along and we are trying our best.... another online store is now carrying the dragonus :)
http://fxaeromodels.com/

FX doesn't have many parts and as such can't be considered a real dealer.

Doesn't sound like much is eminent with your statement. Hard to compete with Align I would imagine.

Is H-L still the exclusive distributor for the US? Or was that a limited time thing?

[BBRFST]

FX doesn't have many parts and as such can't be considered a real dealer.

Doesn't sound like much is eminent with your statement. Hard to compete with Align I would imagine.

Is H-L still the exclusive distributor for the US? Or was that a limited time thing?

My 2 cents;

I shop at Flying-Hobby (http://flying-hobby.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=3_27_172)
they have a lot of parts for the stock unit as well as good quality up grades. There shipping charge is higher cause there in China and all. But the stuff comes in quickly if you choose the $16.00 ship rate. I just stock up on parts I may need for both my heli's. And there is no tax so you can still save $$$. An other place is Hobby Lobby (http://www.hobby-lobby.com/dragonus-parts.htm)
they have fewer parts but are in the States and closer to me than China is.

Good Luck getting what you need.

[desertkil]

They all look great unfortunately :( shipping is too much to Canada 30day shipping for $15.Oh well good luck all.
your fortunate that you're not outside of Canada. They don't ship to me :mad: .

[Marcellus]

Here are two pictures of another I painted.