New Electrifly Yak 54 build with mods;-)

[HuckinChikn]

I have been wanting one of these electrifly Yak 54's since last year at the E-Fest.
There were a few futaba team pilots that were flying the prototypes, and i just HAD
to see what they were all about.
so THIS year at the E-fest, I picked one up (finally!)
First of all, great planes went a long way to make sure that people could build a straight
foamy. They have included several peices of depron that make up a jig to assemble the
airframe with. Pretty cool idea, but in my opinion, a waist of foam when there is a much easier
and faster way to build.
the fuselage comes in one piece with small pieces of foam that you have to cut away to fit
the wing and horizontal fuse piece into. If you have build a fancy foam model, its the same
deal. but the difference is that the rudder comes pre-hinged with blenderm tape. So the first
modification that I did, I removed the rudder from the fuse, and split the fuse parts in two
pieces.(upper and lower halves)
now my big mistake was that i didnt remember to start taking pictures until AFTER these steps
these pictures will show how the parts come out of the box, and the jig system that is
included.

[HuckinChikn]

Here i have glued to wing section to the tail section, layed them flat, face down on the table,
and i have glued the bottom section of the vertical fuse to the other pieces. Once again,
if you've buit a fancy foam model, this is the way that most of their planes are built.
Instead of useing the big plastic carbon supports that are included, i used the trusty method
of a small carbon support rod wrapped with spiderwire and a drop of glue.

i'm a big fan of carbon support rods...the instructions want you to use big long pieces of
foam on both sides of the fuse glued at 45 degree angles for support. the foam obviously
does NOT weigh much at all, but the amount of glue it would take to attach that foam
on both sides, the intire length of the fuse. thats alot of glue, and un-needed weight.
so i went ahead and used the carbon support method.
And I cant believe i never realized this before, but a tiny indoor foamy does NOT need
carbon support on both sides of the fuse. once again, savin some grams

[HuckinChikn]

when I installed the carbon rods for the wing supports, i did not use the holes that
where already in the foam for the rods. I sharpend the ends of the rods using a sanding
block, and stuck the rods right through the foam and glued them. I've built dozens of
foamies like this and never had a problem, so i stuck with it
the landing gear/wing support peices are BIG, and since i used different holes for the
wing support rods, i didnt need the extra weight.
here is the before and after pics:

[HuckinChikn]

Next I flip the yak over on its new feet. I glue the top half of the fuse to the lower half,
and then I re-tape the rudder with blenderm.
airframe finished!
at this point, the airframe weighs in at 62 grams, wich is right at 2 ounces. COOL!
now on to the electronics.......

[HuckinChikn]

Since this plane is a 3D beast, I wanted some super fast servos.
I went with 2 JR S185's on the elevator and rudder.
I wanted lots of torque on the ailerons, so I went with an Electrifly es50.
I've never used this servo, but i knew it had 16.7 oz-in. of torque, but the speed
of the servo is much slower than the JR 185. I figured I'd take the speed hit for
the torque. on the other hand, the JR servos weigh 6grams, where the electrifly
servo is freakin 9(!!!) grams. i didnt like the weight, so I removed the lower case,
wich helped out a little on the weight.
With all of the weight savings on the airframe, I was able to use an E-Flite 250 outrunner,
wich is one of my favorite motors right now. its super light with tons of power for its
size. I soldered the motor wires directly to a phoenix 10 esc, and removed the plastic
shrinkwrap case on the esc.
For radio commands, I used a spektrum AR6100, and I removed the case on that as well.
3.5 grams is the weight of the stock reciever, with case removed it is 2 grams.
to make everything tick, I'm using the new thunder power 2S 250mah lipos.
these batteries are close to 20grams in stock form, but removing the shrinkwrap and labels
drops them to 16grams.
here is a picture of the new 250 next to the older 2S 350mah pack:

[HuckinChikn]

aaaand the finished product!
total weight before battery, 4 1/8 ounces. ad 16grams (about half an ounce)
for the battery. not too bad considering the size of the plane!
here are the stock specs. the weight range is from 5.5 to 6.7oz, so its
safe to say we've saved 1 oz from the total weight. doesnt sound like much,
but consider this...if the plane was built in its stock form and came out at the
lowest weight stated at 5 1/2 ounces, we would have save 1/5 of the weight, or
about 20%.
now think about a 35% airplane, at lets say 27lbs. a 20% weight loss is over 5 pounds!
shaaaweeeet! now if only saving 5 pounds on a 35%er was this easy!!!
wow, i dont know where all that technical crap came from...sorry!
any way, first flights will hopefully be tonight if the breeze dies down.

SPECIFICATIONS
Stock Number: GPMA1131
Wingspan: 32 in (820 mm)
Wing Area: 270 in² (17.4 dm²)
Weight Range: 5.5-6.7 oz (155-190 g)
Wing Loading: 2.9-3.5 oz/ft² (9-11 g/dm²)
Length: 36.5 in (920 mm)
Requires: 4-channel radio w/3 micro servos, out-runner brushless motor, 8A (min.) brushless ESC, 7.4V 2S 20C 300mAh LiPo battery

[Josh Price]

Man that thing looks like a good one. I see you left out some fiber. I dont blame ya I left about half the fiber out on my yak and it made it fly so much better. we actually had one of these things built in the motel on friday night and the thing goes together really well. ya got to post a video man those yak are awesome!

[Cracky]

pretty cool Jared.....

suprised that you didn't mill it out any.....or is that on the cut-out version after you pile this one in?

[HuckinChikn]

Josh,
I saw the pictures of you guys building that thing in the hotel! that was awesome!
It took me only an hour to frame it up, and about 45 min to get all of the electronics
in it. definately an easy build!
there will most defiately be videos of this one

Cracky,
no milling on this one. I really just threw it together for that demo next week.
the planes I brought back from the e-fest are on there last legs, they got
pretty beat up! lol
and yes...the milling WILL be done on the next one.... hehe!

[66stang]

Nice job Jared. Mine came in at 8oz and flew awsome. So yours should be an absolute beast. But I'm using a 3cell 350mah evo pack built stock. You're correct on the glue. If built stock there's a lot of glue used.

[HuckinChikn]

Thanks brian! I'm super excited to get this thing to a gym. I think it will fly well! I was hovering it in the basement last night and if felt very solid. I was surprised, it hovered at less than half throttle with that tiny eflite 250. Did anyone see the Hoffman magnetics booth at the e fest? They have a killer little composite motor the size of the 250 but much lighter that's coming out in a few months!

[FlyLowGirl1]

JARED! I have to say..that is FREAKIN' AWESOME! I am definitely diggin' that! You should get some video of it FLYING!!! I am def super excited to see it in the AIR!!!!!!!
YAY FOR JARED!!!!!!!
COME ON GUYS...you know you like it...show some love!!!!!!

FLY LOW GIRL

oh and by the way...Jared smells good yall!

[FlyLowGirl1]

	Quote: Originally Posted by HuckinChikn
	Did anyone see the Hoffman magnetics booth at the e fest? They have a killer little composite motor the size of the 250 but much lighter that's coming out in a few months!

I sure did! I thought that it looked really cool! I was lookin' at it for a good minute whie they were explaining to me its advantages and disadvantages!


Fly Low Girl

[Josh Price]

FLG why are you not flying by now?

[HuckinChikn]

LOL thanks Heather! you made my day
I havent had a chance to get this little dude into a gym yet, but last night the breeze had calmed
down just enough to throw it outside and see how it flew.
HOLY LORD....i thought the fancy foam yaks flew good, but THIS freakin thing at 4 1/2 ounces
is unreal!!! the little e-flite 250 hauled this thing around with plenty of power.
this yak flies so incredibly slow you would think it had airbrakes on it!
i'm going to try to find a gym to fly in this week sometime, and try to get some video.
If nothing works out, on friday i have a demo with my buddy at a school, so i'll be able to get
some video then.
thanks again guys!!!