Pilot-RC 30% Yak 54 Canister Tunnel

[bkdavy]

The attached picture is from the Pilot-RC 30% Yak 54 instructions. If you look at the plywood panel below the fuel tank, you see the vents from the canister tunnel into the fuselage. air also flows into the fuselage from the engine box, so I'm not really sure which direction air is going to flow in flight.

My question: Is venting the canister tunnel into the fuselage a standard design that promotes cooling air from the fuselage, or is this going to cause hot air from the tunnel to vent into the fuselage and create heating problems for the electronics? Should thecanister tunnel vents be sealed, or should the inside of the tunnel be lined with aluminum foil to help reduce heat transfer into the fuslage, sealing the vents in the process? This is my first GS gasser, and I want to do it right the first time.

Thanks,
Brad

[brownstripeyshirt]

Your question is actually in 2 parts

Convected heat.
Air will only flow out the holes and into the fuselage (you call them vents, but they are actually just holes for the tank straps etc) if it has somewhere to go after that. As there are no other holes in the fuse for the air to escape from there, there will be no net airflow.

Radiated heat.
Unless you block the holes with the aluminium foil all it will do is reflect the radiated heat from the cannister. I'd wager that this would have bugger all effect on lowering the temp of the components in the fuse.

There are lots of pilot yaks flying (not including mine as it is not quite finished yet) which have had no other consideration to the airflow in the fuse than what was designed into it. If I were you and were really worried about it, just build the thing as everyone else has done, then run the engine for a while and see if you can feel hot components in the fuse. I'd wager that you could not tell the difference.