You inspired me Donatas!

[Donatas]

Troy, awesome work mate, nice to hear you was inspired by my painting tips!!! Nice technique and result, keep on good work!

[Scat-R-D]

Very cool work and a fine job Troy!!

With as good as that looks using rattle cans I'd hate to see what you could turn out with an airbrush!

It's threads such as this one that keeps me pushing myself and I'm sure LOTS of others into more elaborate and one of a kind schemes!

[Boulder]

Absolutely awesome work Troy!!!

You've got skills!!

[Troy P]

Getting closer. I have servos installed and finishing up linkages. I have to solder up a 'Y' harness on my two aileron servos. Also need to get my Scorpion motor in. Building time was short this week... Busy with my 4.5 month old, honey-do's, and had to squeeze in some flying yesterday. Got bit by some fire ants and mosquitos in the process. Park flying is dangerous business

[JVDO]

Supeeerb!!!

[MikeC3D]

Very cool....

[Troy P]

Do I smell a maiden flight this weekend??? Yahoo!
I don't have my ideal motor just yet but I have a hand wound Go Brushless (GBx)double CD-rom that ought to work for now.

Installed all servos close to the CG so it flips & flops with precision and then used some .050" carbon for control rods to the tail. Used zip ties as rod-guides and scrap 6mm depron as stand-offs.

[pbrantuas]

Troy, that looks amazing!
Let me know next time you go down to SeaWorld. I'd love to see that one in person, and I'm sure Mike would like to get some video of you flying it.
What's your all up weight?

[Troy P]

I weighed it today with a Scorpion 2212-22 & a 3S 1320 and it says right at 14oz. For the maiden I only have a 9X6 prop but it is pulling about 160 watts. I was hovering in the garage and it seems like it will work for now. A 10X5 would be better.

Yah, I'd like to get down to Mission Bay soon. Maybe if I can get my buddy Neil to finish his DW Extra 300 we can come down one morning and do some flying.

[electric-2000]

Troy,
I've seen them come in heavier and some lighter. Seems like about 13.50z's is what they are coming in with HS55's, Berg 7ch RX, Scorpion 2215-20 and a CC25. You might have picked up about 1/2 oz in weight with the paint.

Does hovering in the garage count as a maiden flight?

Mike
www.DWFoamies.com

[Troy P]

My digital scale is out of calibration so that 14 oz is a +/- .5 oz estimate. In reality, there is very little paint on there and the markers don't add much. I'll put it on a better scale at work...

I almost flew it out in front of the casa tonight but it took a lot of will power to hold off till tomorrow morning when I can maiden at the flying field and maybe get some vid!!

[Troy P]

Wonderful day of flying! It was a beautiful morning... the birds were chirping, the sky was clear, the lipos were charged!!!

I set up my Yak with a Scorpion 2212-22 because I had one and knew it pulled over 22oz of thrust. Knowing Pedro was flying his on a smaller prop gave me confidence it would be fine with a 9X6 prop. I did my usual preflight, juiced the throttle, and under-hand tossed it into the sky. I immediately noticed I was twitchy and was going to need some more expo, but after the initial climb out I got the feel of it and just kept it light around center sticks. The motor combo I thought was going to be mild was, to my surprise, wild and fast. It had zoom galore and rocketed skyward like a home-sick angel. Me likes! A few clicks of trim and tested out some up lines to see how it tracks, very nice (Borat) Once it was flying straight I came in for some torque rolls. In the still morning air it locked into a hover and just started spinning. It didn't fight me at all. I zoomed out of there and tried some knife edge circles and a knife edge loop. Once again very nice... Got up high and blendered into a really nice inverted flat spin. I just kept thinking that this was going to be one of those planes that just makes you look good because it is so well balanced and predictable. I flew some basic pattern style lines and it tracked nicely there, too. After 11 minutes my timer went off and I didn't want to land. I was having too much fun. Brought it around, pulled up into a hover, and snagged it out of the air by hand. I was jazzed and ready to throw in another pack!!

My over all impression of the Yak is great. It is easy to build, easy to set up, and flies wonderful. Kudos to Mike and Pedro for getting this one right! I am definitely going to be adding some color to the bottom because by contrast to the top, stark white is tough to see out at distance.

I didn't get any video but managed to get some digital pics.

[electric-2000]

Troy,
Great flight report! It sounds like this one is going to be a keeper. I guess with those cool graphics, it would still be a keeper even if it didn't fly well. Can't wait to see in person, I'm sure that it looks even better. Did I hear "video"

Mike
www.DWFoamies.com

[FlyingSquirrel10]

Very impressive work. You should be pleased.