EF 74" Yak 54 What have I done

[mikeh]

How's that Yak comming along Tom?
Mike

[blackbeer]

Well Mike; we're knee deep in our first winter storm of the season and it is 15 degrees with a 50mph NE wind blowing and it's just to dang cold out in the shop. But I did score a 5955TG for the rudder so the gear is first cabin. This storm started Sat. night and has been going strong ever since. Looks like well into next week before any let up. Did I say I'm not a winter person............................

Tom

[mikeh]

We just got hammered again and expecting more tomorrow night. Gotta love the snow.LOL

[Flyboy1958]

How much throw are you guys going with on the high rates? I have the 74" EF YAK54 and the manual says bevel to bevel. My ailerons are capable of 48 to 49 degrees of throw and the elevators 60 degrees or so. Have any of you come to the conclusion of the right amount of degrees of throw?

[exeter_acres]

For 3D, with any plane... I just get as much as I can get without any binding.
I do use a throw meter to make sure that the ELE halves and the Ailerons are going the same...

[maineflyer]

Also take a couple of sticks or CF rods and tape them to your elevator halves so that they are about 1 foot behind the rudder and 1" from each other and then watch them as they move through the travel so that they stay even all the way from end point to end point. This will definitely help in all maneuvers where the elevators are used.
Jeff

[Ground Pounder]

The typical reaction is for max throws. I disagree. 45 on the rudder is fine but I have found that on the initial flights a bit of moderation may be beneficial when you are starting out. Even when doing hard 3D I have found that 42 dgrees on the elevator and 32 on the aileron is plenty of throw.

If you go for max throws on the aileron I doubt that you will enjoy the new bird. Going to far on the elevator creates a tendancy for tip stalling.

It is easy to increase it after the first few flights and things settle in but it can be a bear to control it if you have too much throw and/or a CG issue.

[blackbeer]

Right on again Ground Pounder, my Velox has been busy teaching me more and more about setup. Last summer I added tri-stock to the trailing edge of my stab so I could get much more elevator throw. Thought it would help with wing rock in a harrier. Well it seemed to help but in fact I was just getting used to it. A couple of weeks ago I started tuning the serface deflections way down. Wanted to see if there was any IMAC in this plane. Moved the cg forward a bit to help tracking and low and behold a hole different airplane imerged. Harriers are much more solid, hovering is easier, and doing some IMAC type flying is much easier. In a couple of weeks I will be putting the Yak in the air set up using what I have learned with the Velox. I am so glad I went this route instead of just jumping into a gasser. The Yak will be the next step in my learning process. If nothing else, I have learned that setup is everything.

Tom

[JEFFRO503]

Tom...are you located in the NW usa? I was just looking at your avtar pic , and it looks like washington maybe?

[blackbeer]

Well it's been quite some time since I started this thread, a lot of water under the bridge, a few bad decisions on my part due to my lack of patients to get into a big bird but that is over and done with and I went back to the Yak with a different mind set. First off I will never know how this airframe flies with the Saito, I traded it off for a 40cc gasser. I know some of you told me to go with the 180 but the price of nitro was really getting to me, as was the slime. Don't get me wrong, I still love flying my Velox and I still love my YS engines but it was time to be a little self indulgent and do what I wanted to do. The engine I choose is the CRRCPro 40 that I got from ValleyView RC. Heck of a little engine and only a few ounces heavier then the Saito. I mounted the engine on 1 1/2 inch standoffs from SWB and started laying out the gear so as to maintaine the cg. Not a problem. I asked Chris about beefing up the structure for this engine and he thought it wouldn't need any but I did add a little glass to the motor box just to ease my mind. Some of the "water under the bridge" was the purchase of a 50cc engine and used airframe that turned into a real nightmare. The engine was the nightmare and left me thinking unkindly about some of the advise I recieved on this forum and a little nervious about the choice I made for the Yak as far as engine choice. Anyway, last week was maiden flight time and I have to say it went off without a hitch. The engine started very easy and seemed to run just great. Xoar 20-8 was turning about 6700 rpm. Not bad for out of the box. I was very carefull when I set this plane up. I did find that the left stab was about 2 degrees out as far as insedence goes but was an easy fix. I set up duel rates and the first flight was to be with the low rate on elevator and high on rudder and aileron. I love maiden day. Always have and this was no exception. The plane flew straight and true and I never touched a trim switch. I can't tell you how glad I am that I went this route. I see no issues with my desision to go with the gas engine. The plane flies light and is easy to handle. I haven't had the chance to rip the bugger yet but I already know how strong the airframe is, (don't ask) and I can't wait for the weather to clear up so I can get this thing back in the air. I am a happy camper. Oh and by the way, I had to change out the rudder servo which was a 5955. When I went to mount it in the plane I plugged it into the rx to center it and it was dead as a doornail. I bought it used and it looked just fine but I didn't check it at the time, just stashed it away until I was ready for it. I never said I was done making stupid decisions, just trying to make less of them. Anyway I picked up a HD and mounted it but my servo arms are all for Hitec so I only have a 2 inch arm on the rudder until I get a new arm or Hitec gets my 5955 fixed. I'll let you know how things progress with this engine and my setup when the weather lets me play.

Tom

[blackbeer]

I forgot, here is my set up:

CRRCPro 40cc Xoar 20-8
Futaba 8U radio
Hitec 5945 on elev, aileron
HD 9150 on rudder
EDR-1070 fiber optic kill switch
2000mah nimh on rx 6volt, 4.8 2000mah nimh on ignition

And a couple of pics of the finished plane;

Tom

[JohnVH]

	Quote: Originally Posted by JEFFRO503
	Tom...are you located in the NW usa? I was just looking at your avtar pic , and it looks like washington maybe?

Thats Mt Baker in NW Washington

[JoeAirPort]

Looks great BB. Hope my 5945's serve you well. I love these EF Yaks. Top notch stuff.

[blackbeer]

Thanks Joe, and your servos are perfect. Wish I had a bunch more of them.

Tom

[blackbeer]

Speaking of thanks; I also want to thank Tom and Jody of ValleyView RC for sending me an engine that does just what they said it would. Wish I would have went with them in the first place. The DLE55 is just waiting on an airframe now but I bet it will be the same. And thanks to Extreme Flight for a super quality product.

Tom