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Somebody has had to fly this plane competitively and I wish they would comment here, I have heard that Fran Knoll is not happy with his Yak and heard that a few more Top level competitors are not happy with it...that is why they are flying the 260. I have heard this plane is heavy and lacks the competitive edge that people are after. I like this plane and wish somebody woulsd comment honestley about the way it flies...every plane has flaws...I would like to hear about this one.
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quote:
ORIGINAL: xtra 330
Somebody has had to fly this plane competitively and I wish they would comment here, I have heard that Fran Knoll is not happy with his Yak and heard that a few more Top level competitors are not happy with it...that is why they are flying the 260. I have heard this plane is heavy and lacks the competitive edge that people are after. I like this plane and wish somebody woulsd comment honestley about the way it flies...every plane has flaws...I would like to hear about this one.
There's 2 comments on this plane in this posting from 2 very accomplished pilots, Frank Knoll and David Payne. From what I read they both have stated its the best flying plane they have flown. For some reason I believe them, but then again I got one...
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There is also a post here on RCU somewhere from Don Sczur. While I might not have the quote verbatim it went something to the effect of, "it's the most neutral flying plane I have ever flown" after having flown Frank Noll's plane.
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Yes, I am aware of Franks ability to fly...but he has not been back here to discuss what he likes and dont like about the plane...from what I hear he is having another Yak built for him by another builder(differnet from the first)...from my understanding from people who were at the Nats, were not impressed with the Yak and felt that the plane had some issues. I am not dogging the plane, because if I can get some info from Frank and his honest opinion on it, I would proably go with the Plane. I am not so interested from a 3D perspective, I want to know how it behaves in IMAC...does it feel too heavy, does it have any bad tendencies, etc. I have also been told that it seems difficult to shed weight from the plane as compared to the 260 and 330...does anybody have some pics of the airframe, inside and out.
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He was struggling for power at the Shootout, it was 95-100 all week. But I also know that nothing was done to build this plane light, that is why I wanted to hear from someone else.
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I've seen Franks plane up close, and it is built as per plan, with no lightening. His Yak is powered by a DA-150 on MTW cans. He mentioned to me that the plane came in and around 40 plus pounds with this set up (typical weight of a non modified built Carden 40% airplane). For most types of flying this is plenty, but when it comes to some of the vertical maneuvers that are flown in the shootout (multiple snaps, opposite points, etc) even the lightest, most powerful combinations out there suffer, trying to keep up the momentum to get through the figure. Hence why Franks combo had an even tougher time of it.
I just started framing my Carden Yak last night, and I've been taking a lot of meat out of it as I'm going. I will have some pics as I go, and will try to post them this weekend for all to see. I'm not building as per plan, and I'm also installing a 3W-157 in it for that little extra umph. My goal is for that 37-38 lbs range, which is where you want to be to have a more competitive airplane.
The Yak design is not to blame, you just need to keep it light if you want it to be competitive.
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I did a little more work tonight, and mounted the canisters into the motor box. I figured to do it now, while I have some room to work in, rather than have the whole fuse built. The Yak motor box is a little smaller then most of the other Carden motor boxes out there. (the round fuse) So I had to modify the 3W mounts I had to fit in the exhaust tunnel. I made some"L" brackets out of some aluminum angle, and modified the shape of the mount so that I can fit it in the tight area. Here are a few pics of the installation.
< Message edited by samsrc -- 12/6/2005 2:01:23 PM >
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Well I did a little more work last night and framed up the fuse sides. I decided to install the rudder servos in the tail, on a direct push pull linkage. I'm going to go with 3 8611's in the tail. 2 ganged up on the left side, and one on the right side. Here are a few pics of the sides, and what it looks like when the sides are held up against the plan.
< Message edited by samsrc -- 12/9/2005 2:55:41 PM >
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Well I did a little more work on the Yak, and so far the build is going pretty good. So far my only complaint is that the plans are not drawn properly, in that the side view plan does not incorporate the taper in the fuse. When I built my fuse sides on the side view, and then placed the fuse sides on the top view, I was about a 1/4" short of the plan. This was not a big problem, but it still through me for a curve in that I would have figured there would be some indication somewhere to let me know that it is not exactly to scale. (unless I'm missing something) Especially since they suggest to glue in the lite ply tube doubler, while framing up the fuse sides. If I would have done that, my tube would have never lined up with the motor box, as the location would have been wrong. What I ended up doing, was to place one fuse side onto the top view plan, slide the tube through the motor box, then mark the location on the fuse side. Once marked, I then cut it out, slide the tube through the motor box, the doubler, and finally the fuse side. Once I had the tube lined up on the one side, I did the same on the other. Once everything was lined up, I then glued the fuse doubler on to the fuse sides, while it was on the top view plan, and set everything at once. This method seem to work much better, and made everything line up perfectly. Once it was done, I then added a piece of balsa at the front of the fuse side to match the top view of the plan.
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quote:
I have heard that Fran Knoll is not happy with his Yak and heard that a few more Top level competitors are not happy with it...that is why they are flying the 260. I have heard this plane is heavy and lacks the competitive edge that people are after. I like this plane and wish somebody woulsd comment honestley about the way it flies...every plane has flaws...I would like to hear about this one.
I was at the Nats, and Tucson, I was impressed, I bought one. I have never heard anything negative from Frank about the way the plane flies, quite the opposite. He chose to leave his 330 in the trailer at both contest and fly the Yak, so he must like it better, and better than the 330 is really saying something.
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RE: New Carden Yak. - 
