RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54
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RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/11/2006 9:08:13 AM

Spacey

Posts: 1881
Joined: 1/27/2004
From: Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA
Status: offline

I managed to get some more done last night. I haven't cut out a cowl in what seems like years so it was kind of a new experience all over. That took the biggest chunk out of my time. I managed to get the rudder fixed up in what was probably 2 minutes at most, easy to give it a little twist and reshrink the covering on both sides to pull it straight. The covering on the bird was easy to work with so it looks like quality stuff indeed. I forgot to take another picture of the fixed rudder but ok it's not important.

The first batch of pictures shows the inside of the fuselage with the wings loosely installed so I can lign up the feathers. You can see in the pictures that all the blind nuts come pre-installed so everything is just bolt on and rumble. I had a bit of a hard time clearing the covering on the feathers and the pictures will show why. Not a big chunk of meat everywhere where the glue is supposed to go. But ok not too much of a headache. My biggest headache was the horizontal stabilizer and getting that fixed cause there's nothing to hold it in place and it just lies on top of its little cradle which btw isn't a lock in fit so it can move easily. I had to fiddle with pins and pleny of tape which sure made me glad I opted to use 30minute epoxy on all these. The vert was easy to do though.

I opted to leave the wheel pants off for now untill we move to our new field as our current flying site is a mess and pants wouldn't last. The engine mounting and installation was very easy too as the holes are all there and the mounts can be adjusted to fit many a motor. Only problem I ran into then was when I realised the Saito was going to end up having the back of the prop more forward than Seagull intended it to be. But yea nothing serious as the cowl just moves forward half an inch or so. Shouldn't be a problem. Rest of the time was wasted cutting the cowl up and that's basically finished. I also assembled the fuel tank already and done the leak testing on that. The fuel tank is rather small though so I might swop that out over the weekend. Any ideas on how many oz I need to get 15-20 minutes on the 1.25 anyone?

Cheers
Spacey

Edit: Had a double piccy..sorry.

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< Message edited by Spacey -- 8/11/2006 9:12:57 AM >

(in reply to Spacey)

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/11/2006 9:18:43 AM

Spacey

Posts: 1881
Joined: 1/27/2004
From: Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA
Status: offline

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(in reply to Spacey)

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/12/2006 2:21:41 PM

Posts: 116
Joined: 11/14/2003
From: grandville, MI, USA
Status: offline

Thanks for the pictures Spacey. From the looks of these pictures it looks as though Phoenix continues to improve there product line. I hope that Hobbico/Tower Hobbies/Great Planes who are the U.S. distributor make this available here.

(in reply to Spacey)

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/13/2006 8:19:59 AM

vx570

Posts: 87
Joined: 7/25/2004
From: TallwoodsNSW, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline

Pictures are great, keep them up really starting to look good, I agree re the tank is to small would only get around 8 minutes out of it, small tanks seem to be a trait of Phoenix models, same as my SU31, hard pushed to stretch it to 9 minutes with the MDS58, will take the tank along this week to the local hobby shop, see if they have a bigger one that will slide in.
Cheers Greg

(in reply to r/cdawg)

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/14/2006 8:08:12 AM

Spacey

Posts: 1881
Joined: 1/27/2004
From: Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA
Status: offline

r/cdawg: Always a pleasure

I'm having alot of fun with this one really. I am starting to get faith in ARF manufacturers again. I saw this on my little Harrier too that Seagull makes but ok we all know the owners of Seagull and Phoenix are brothers so their stuff is very similar. The quality on that one looks great too. Now if this Yak flies anything as well as it's built we're going to have a winner.

Greg: I measured the tank pocket in the nose and found a Dubro 16oz tank that fits great. You have to just wiggle the tank the right way when plonking it in ie it has to be wiggled to below the wingtube first and then into the pocket in the nose but it fits great with enough room for some thin foam all around still. 16oz sounds better ey?

I didn't get much more done over the weekend I'm afraid as my parents were passing through town and I spent some time at my brother's house to catch up with the family. Rest of the time was spent flying of course. I did manage to get the elevators hooked up and started working on the rudder servo etc. I'll post some more pictures tomoz.

Cheers
Spacey

(in reply to vx570)

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/15/2006 10:58:13 AM

Spacey

Posts: 1881
Joined: 1/27/2004
From: Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA
Status: offline

Good day folks! Making some good progress now (yes yes yes I know I'm pathetically slow on this one). It's been a while since I've built a fatty and I need to rethink everything I do on this one. Especially since I'm tying to get this bird to 3D and fly precision I am spending way too much time on the mechanical setups. Ok well all that's left to do tonight is stick in the reciever, battery and switch once I got the Cowl and everything mounted so I can determine CG options. The Cowl still needs one hole cut for the high end adjustment needle extension and that one might take me a while because I'm trying to come up with an easy way to get the extension in. But ok I haven't spent alot of time tinkering with this one so maybe it's going to be easy.

A couple of notes regarding the pull pull setup on the rudder. In the pictures you'll see I had to butcher the rear end of the fuselage to get the horns to clear it for maksimum throw. Remember it is important to get the hinge point of the pull-pull right on the hinge line of the rudder. I didn't have any covering matching the fus but ok managed to find a scrap piece of neonish orange to patch it. It doesn't look wonderfull but it's good enough to not draw attention to itself. The cables supplied in the kit is not the fishing trace type I love so much for pull pull but it still has a VERY thin layer of plastic coating on it. The plastic coating is enough to stick the cables together with a lighter but care must be taken as you just want to heat up quickly to weld the loop together. Too long and the plastic will be burned away. I don't like just holding the cables with the little crimp sleeve as crimping it really weakens the cable. So I rather weld the loop and just give the crimp a slight squeeze for my own piece of mind. The pull pull hardware is of good quality and easy to adjust! I'm happy.

Cheers
Spacey

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(in reply to Spacey)

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/16/2006 9:34:37 AM

Spacey

Posts: 1881
Joined: 1/27/2004
From: Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA
Status: offline

Wow 600 replies and no wise behind comments in the thread yet? It is going really well!

I took the time last night to fuel proof some things with thinned epoxy like the firewall and the wing ends at the roots. The firewall comes pre-painted but I wasn't too sure if the paint was indeed fuel proof and not willing to take any risks as opposed to a 20 minute epoxy paint job. After that I did the throttle linkage setup where I managed to confuse myself completely in no time which was rather entertaining as I was going about the whole deal completely wrong, gave myself a good chuckle. I used aftermarket Du-bro cap head bolts to fasten the cowl as they are pretty neat and blingy if you know what I mean. I also used World Models silicone cowling grommets. If you use these correctly you will end up with a cowl completely riding on silicone which is probably not needed at all but a cool thought anyways as it'll be a little protected against vibration some. What I didn't anticipate though was that the cap head bolts I got was a little too small if I use the grommets but ok I just needed to fasten the cowling up a little looser.

The cowling bolts need to go into the firewall and this was a bear to do as light doesn't pass through the cowl on the blue painted parts. It was easy to hold the bird up to the light after the cowling was in place with masking tape and find the spots for the side bolts but I had to do a little marking transferring for the top 3 bolts. After that I did the high end needle extension with a scrap piece of steel wire and a JR heli canopy grommet to tidy that up. Then it was time to trim the spinner. Boy did I have to trim the spinner! The spinner is slightly too small on the inside to pass over the giant prop washer on the big Saito so I had to do some serious dremel work to get it to fit. I'll probably replace the spinner at some point for safety's sake. What did take me by surprise though was that the spinner is molded with a thinner layer of plastic around the prop gateways (Lack of better word in my english dictionary). This makes it VERY easy to get a general idea of where you need to trim the spinner for bigger props. I loved the idea even though I had to cut the spinner a little more than they provided for the wide 16X6 on this beast. Check out the pic of the spinner though..very neat.

Well I then needed to start figuring out where the battery needs to go to get me to a maiden CG and what luck...it's going right into the nose to give me a CG right on the aft mark in the manual. So there's plenty of room to move the CG back..ok forwards it going to be a headache but I prefer it this way. I took a couple of shots of the model all together to give you guys an idea of the finished bird. She still needs to get all her stickers and are missing the wheel pants but she's HOT HOT HOT as is!

Looks like a maiden this weekend is going to be a reality! YAY

Oh and on a final note..I weighed the model as you see it in the pictures. Get this! 3460grams! That's about 7.5lbs as is without fuel, wheel pants and stickers. Looks like we're going to hit target!

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(in reply to Spacey)

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/17/2006 1:33:37 AM

vx570

Posts: 87
Joined: 7/25/2004
From: TallwoodsNSW, AUSTRALIA
Status: offline

Hey Spacey, Thats really looking good!.
Very pleased to hear that the CG is just about right on, mark of a good sorted ARF, some are terrible, my ESM Katana needed a house brick in the nose to get it to balance.
Have just about collected all the bits to commence building next week, the 76 GMS is supposed to arrive tomorrow, now have the Robart 2 1/2" wheels and a 3' Alloy Spinner also a CM Pro 5th scale Pilot fig. [just a little larger than the supplied one], having a little trouble tracking down a 16oz Dubro tank, they have 14oz might have to use that, also have one of the new JR RS77S Synth Receivers for it, that shold be interesting.
Looking forward to hear how it fly's on the weekend.
Cheers Greg

(in reply to Spacey)

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/17/2006 4:05:48 AM

btoby

Posts: 199
Joined: 9/10/2005
From: hobart, IN, USA
Status: offline

I want one.

(in reply to vx570)

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/17/2006 8:20:16 AM

Spacey

Posts: 1881
Joined: 1/27/2004
From: Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA
Status: offline

Hi guys!

Greg: Sounds like you are sorted for battle. I'm also glad the CG came out well and gave me loads of room to move it around. I'm imagining that I will see some flight characteristic changes on this one as the tank empties as it's quite a ways in front of the CG. But that is why I opted to balance on the rearward mark rather with the tank empty. Maybe I should fill it up half way tonight and check the CG then again? Those little Synth JR recievers works very well and their certainly easy to use too. Just a shame you have to program them at home rather. I would have maybe preffered something like they did on the 9XII synth modules with the little dials. I'm sure the 14oz tank will be more than big enough for the .76? Heck I even think the 16oz I got in this bugger is overkill. But yes all the planes I have only have about 6-8 minutes of fuel in them and I wanted a little change from that as I won't be only 3D'n the whole time but also flying some circles upstairs.

btoby: You do yes! You do! Hahahaha...definitely not bad for a $180odd ARF. I imagine it'll probably cost around $150 or less in the states.

Well I think I can say she is finished now. I am still busy with the programming but all the servos have been centred and mechanically set up to give me good throw range blah blah. I'm still busy matching up the elevators and then all that's left to do is tune down the low rates for the maiden. The covering has been tidied up again (My own fault I caused the little white stripe under the canopy to come loose). Oh and I haven't had a chance to do lateral and vertical balancing. But that's just to get things in the ballpark for the maiden and nothing time consuming. AUW dry is at 3485grams now without wheel pants. I'll say it again...I am happy.

Without further ado! Here she is folks! Ready to rumble with the wheel pants just loosely pushed on for presentation purposes. Ok I know the JR PROPO sticker on the vert was maybe a bit much but I do not intend to rip it off again. I didn't use all the stickers supplied in the kit, some are just a little too cheesy for my liking.

Cheers
Rudolf

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(in reply to btoby)

RE: Help? Phoenix Models 63" Yak-54 - 8/17/2006 8:33:13 AM

Spacey

Posts: 1881
Joined: 1/27/2004
From: Pretoria, SOUTH AFRICA
Status: offline

Well right as I exit the thread after that post the big top ad of the 75cc AW Yak is in my face and I realise something rather interesting. My little Yak lacks panel lines on the canopy! You reckon I should fix that? I