Model Aviation 33% Yak-54 Conversion

[fbw4]

With the bigger outrunners and ESC available these days I’ve decided to convert another 33% plane. To this point my largest plane is the Great Planes 1/3rd Scale Extra 330L (http://www.rccraze.com/extra.html) kit built very light to handle 60 round cells. During the year plus that it took me to build the thing lipos came along and it ended up flying on 2 motors, 2 ESC, and 4 4S4P lipo packs. 23 pounds RTF and flies great.

My hope is this one will be a similar weight with more wing area. Not much lightning you can do with an ARF but it won’t take me over a year to build either. The main weight saving things I am going to do is use Carbon Fiber Landing gear, wing tube, stab tube, and spinner.
This plane is advertised as being 19.5 pounds and with saving a pound or two on the motor, and another pound in carbon, then putting 5 pounds back in with batteries I think 23 pound should be achievable.
I will be posting pictures as I assemble this plane highlighting the E-Conversion parts.

Here’s a link to where I purchased the Yak from for only $579
http://www.chiefaircraft.com/rcmsec/Models/PowerAirplanes/AviationModel/YAK54-33.html

[sun.flyer]

Excellent!!

Have you thought about a power setup for it yet?

Tim

[fbw4]

Yes I will most likely be using a Hacker A100 with Hacker Master Spin 170ESC. This motor pulls around 150amps on a 27x12prop and 10S. That’s pretty close to 200watts per pound!

[fbw4]

When the 4 boxes arrived I was concerned because all had smashed corners and indentations in places. The contents however were undamaged because of the way they were packaged. Double boxed with dividers and bubble rap aplenty. Here’s a few shots of the boxes and parts laid out.

[fbw4]

This ARF isn’t as ARFed as many planes available nowadays but even having to drill a hole or 2 and actually glue in the control surfaces aren’t a big deal. Finishing the wings and stabs required gluing the controls surfaces on, sealing the hinge gaps, bolting down the servos, attaching the control horns, and adjusting the linkages. One thing I’m not craze about is the 2 servo wings. With high powered servos one would be plenty.

[fbw4]

OK with the control surfaces done it’s time to get the lags under her. The carbon Landing gear is pre drilled so all I had to do was turn a wrench a few times. The wheels and wheel pants required lining up and drilling two holes to keep the pants from shifting. The tail wheel has a access door in the side of the fuse to install blind nuts. So again just drill a few holes and turn a wrench a few times. With the landing gear on I hinged the rudder and gap sealed it. The plane is set up for a large rudder servo but I’m using just one standard sized servo so I glued in a ply plate for the servo to go in. Then it’s just a standard pull-pull system.

[fbw4]

Large gas motors are always much bigger then there replacement electric motors so doing the math I glued the firewall as far out as possible and then will use 1 1/2 “ standoffs to get the needed distance.
Wile waiting for the epoxy to dry I worked on the hatch latches. I really like quick access to the batteries so I carefully drilled out holes for spring latches to secure the hatch with. By taking my time I am able to have a very snug fit and once satisfied, removed the covering around the spring retainer and protected both ends with jelly, then epoxy the unit in place. Once the canopy is on I cut slits out for the spring handle to stick out and secured the canopy with screws. This technique has worked great on my 30% plane and is very convenient.

[fbw4]

I finished up the rudder servo installation and pull-pull system then moved on to the motor. The motor has a mount built into it but I needed to add 1 ½” standoff to get the right distance. Nothing tricky here just measure out where to drill your holes and secure it with 2” M6 bolts and locktite. The ESC is secured under the battery tray. I am using 4 – 5S or 6S 4600 extreme packs to start with so I set the speed controler up to have 2 parallel and 2 series connections.
Just have wiring and battery placement left to do and hope to have first flight this weekend.

[Jocke]

Nice motorinstallation, interesting conversion, its scary how simular the Hacker A1xx motors look to the Pletti Predators :) what batterys will you be using?

[fbw4]

I plan on using 4 – 5S 4600 ThunderPower Extreme Packs to give me 10S-9200. I will also use 4 – 6S 4600 packs with a smaller prop to compare power.

[F1 Rocket]

What are the specs for the Spin 170? It looks to be the same size as the 200.


Danny

[fbw4]

I believe they down rated there 200amp controller to be 170 so if you buy a 200 now you're getting last years model. Also there 300 is now a 220amp controller. I'm not sure what other changes they have made other then being more conservative with there rating.

[rebell]

What is the Hacker / Model Motors relationship?

[sun.flyer]

What is the Hacker / Model Motors relationship?

I was unaware that there was one. Model Motors makes the AXI line of motors and of course Hacker their own line.

Tim

[Andrew Jesky]

Looks awesome I cannot wait to check this model out in AZ. See you Saturday!!!

Andrew

[KatManDEW]

I was unaware that there was one. Model Motors makes the AXI line of motors and of course Hacker their own line.

Tim

There appears to be some kind of relationship between Hacker and Jeti, because many of the Hacker controlllers are without a doubt Jeti's.

[rebell]

And Jeti and Axi are connected. .......

[edge5foamy]

Dang I am jealous! I have always wished I had the money to do an e-conversion on that exact plane!

Will it be at SEFF??

[fbw4]

I was able to finish this plane in time for the Arizona Electric Festival this past weekend. As usual the advertised weights were way off. There's no way this plane could ever be 19.5 pound! I used all carbon gear, light servos, lipo receiver pack, no matchbox, single receiver, and no pilot and still came out at just over 25 pounds. That being said the plane fries great, I mean really great! I am going to fly the snoot out of this plane what a blast. I have posted a video from the AEF noon time airshow here (http://www.rccraze.com/33yak.mpg).

[hot glue]

Very nice.

[RC4x4]

That was an excellant video. Andrew was flying? Awesome flying!! She looks beutiful!

Cory

[sun.flyer]

That was an excellant video. Andrew was flying? Awesome flying!! She looks beutiful!

Cory


Cory,

Yeap that was Drew. :)

Tim

[diveredd]

What were the results when comparing the 10S setup vs. the 12S setup?

[BingWing]

Nice flying AJ....

[BoneDoc]

Thanks for the install tip on the Hacker ESC... for the life of me, I just couldn't figure it out until I saw your pic :D.

[MikeSt]

Cory,

Yeap that was Drew. :)

Tim

Is Andrew = FbW4 ?

Great flying, (nice camera work too).

I've "flown" the Yak in the Clearview sim, one of these days, maybe the real thing.

Mike

[BoneDoc]

No, but he flew it for demo at AEF.

[Angela]

Hahaha nice- Funny I happened upon this, I'm trying to put together a Yak 54 myself, the youtube vids are great and it looks like it could do anything. Too bad it won't stop raining in Seattle, hoping to have a clear day soon!