Plum Crazy

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Hi I dont know if this has been covered before but I received my Yak 54 and spe engine two days ago and I thought it would be nice to post as much info as i can. I have never done a review or anything like that before and I doubt if I could do it now but if anybody has any questions or would like pictures or even the weight of the plane and pieces i would be glad to do what i can. The scale i have if a zero to fifty pound range and its not digital so the weighing part would just be the best i can do.

First off I ordered the stuff on sept 18th and they received the ordered on the 19th. They sent me a verification email right away with tracking numbers for two boxes. I received the first box on sept 25th and the second the next day.

The plane was double boxed and the boxes looked to be in fairly good shape. When I opened it up i saw that the engine was in a fairly thick clear plastic bag and at some point it had been zip tied to the inside of the inner box in the spot that the canopy would mount to the fuselage but that the zip tie had torn thru the cardboard and the engine had been loose in the box. Also the ignition module that had been taped to the inside of the box near the cowl had also come loose and was bouncing around a little. Both the fuselage and the cowl has been damaged but not quite totalled.

I emailed peakmodel that night and pointed out some things that I thought would help the models that people bought in the future to survive the trip and the next morning he emailed this back. Your point is very useful for us.We are trying our best to do the package safety.I think I will put more foam inside the box and set them safety.about your plane damage,can you sent my some photos about the package and the damage?I can change the new parts to you.

I took photos and sent them the afternoon of the 26th yesterday and have not received anything back yet. I'm hoping that I dont have to ship parts back to get new ones as I am sure it's both costly and a pain but I guess we will see. The pictures below show the damage and it does'nt look to hard to repair if i need to.

Plum Crazy

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When i first looked at the covering thats in the picture of the broken stringer i thought that it was that foamed backed covering but when i looked close i saw that white is some sort of fabric and its only on the lower side of the fuselage. You can kind of see thru most of the covering on the model to the wood below and the few wrinkles in the covering shrink right out with heat.

The plane appears to be very well made and of good quality. Most all the plywood in the fuse is laser cut and the joints look to fit tight and straight. There was no damage to the wings and tail feathers although they were double boxed and the parts were in separate bags and taped to the inside of the box there was still room for some movement.

I put a straight edge to the wings and tail group and they are very straight. I'me very happy with the plane and would have thought it was perfect (at least for me) if it was'nt for the damage. The slots are pre cut for the hinges and done better than i can do. The engine and other parts all look to be in good shape although i kinda expected the engine to be in its own box.
I have not checked out the hardware to close yet but it looks to be usable but the rods are kind of small. It comes with the standoffs and such to mount the gas engine and also comes with a two piece mount for if you decide to go with a glow engine. I'm going to try to build it with as much of the stock stuff as i can just to see how good of a deal that this can be. Plus I'm a fairly new flier with a couple of arf's and a kit done so far.

I did look at the instructions and at best they leave a lot to the imagination and there is also nothing about using a gas engine or mounting it for that matter. I emailed to him that he should try to provide more or better instructions and if they were just photo copied pictures of all the stuff mounted that me and my friends would be happy with that. That was yesterday and i have not heard back yet so I guess we will see.

Again I am mostly happy with the plane and if the engine runs as it should I think this is a good deal if you want to get into large scale gas. But service is part of the deal (at least for me) and it will take a little time for that. I'm sorry if i ramble I'm just not to good at this stuff. If anybody wants weights that are close or more pictures just ask and I'll see what I can do. Thanks

Plum Crazy

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Hi again I just received this email tonight 9-27-06. Quote (don't worry!I will sent you a new body.you suggest is very good.we will try our best to do it best.I hope you can give me more advice.thank you.)

It seems to me that this company plans on staying around a long time. I think they are trying hard to make things right and give us the models we want at good prices.

When I emailed them i wrote very long letters trying to tell them as much as i could think of about what U.S buyers want from a company and their products. The only problem is i have a very limited knowledge about these large planes and small gas engines. So far i have not had to wait more than one day to get a email back and he has always seemed grateful to receive information on how to pack things better and it looks like they are going to make a better instruction manual.

I'll put more pics up in the morning. This plane is much nicer than what most would believe without seeing it for them selves.

TOFAST4U2C

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Keep that info coming, there are quite a few of us waiting to try this combo as well. You are the 2nd person to have shipping damage that has posted. Not much flight performance yet either. Hope the vendor performs and does the right thing for you. We all want to know about Peak....

drone pilot

This is a GREAT thread.......keep it up. I bought an Evergreenmodel from Peakmodel last month. Delivery was by express mail from the factory in China. The plane showed up double boxed and in perfect condition. Not a wrinkle in the covering and as with the YAK excelent quality. I did replace all the push rods and clevis' as I prefer SAE over metric. I also changed wheels as I wanted a larger wheel. I got three flights on the plane today (Maiden) and it flies great. Easy to take off and land (like a trainer). It tracks well and I believe it is as good as the Hanger 9 P-51 that it is a copy of. Good price as well as fast shipping. Looks as though Peakmodel is the New Zealand equalivant of our Tower hobbies, but they ship planes direct from factroy...no middle man........Cliff

SunShyne

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interesting thread indeed. I have been watchig to see if anyone bought from them. Shame about the damage but I think they will make good on ya.

They have a video on their site now and man im impressed with it. The Edge/Engine combo look great! Their Sukhoi isnt the prettiest airplane but the Edge looks decent and for the price thats hard to beat!

TOFAST4U2C

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Cliff, which plane did you get from peak?

drone pilot

I got the .60 size P-51. Only difference between this and the Hangar-9 that I see is there no wing filets on this one. Also the build manual is pretty much a waste, you have to figure a lot of things out for youreself. Check out the photos in the replys above and you can see some of the construction...pretty good. Cliff

Plum Crazy

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Here's more pictures of the fuse and there will be more when my batteries get charged.

TOFAST4U2C

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Thanks Cliff

Plum Crazy, you have to post a very detailed flight report. Will the SPE pull out of a hover with some authority???

Plum Crazy

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Here's pics of the cowl,tail feathers and wings. It comes with a nice aluminum wing tube that seems to be 18mm by around 25 inches long. I'll be taking pics of the engine,landing gear,wheels,ign module and what ever is left after that.

I cant build the plane until the new parts arrive but i'm hoping to do a kind of mock up of it so i can weigh it and get some sort of idea of a all up weight. I can also take pictures of the engine compared to a saito 125 and or a zenoah g38 if anybody is interested. I mention those two engines because they are what i have and it looks like even the g38 will fit in that cowl although i'm sure performance would suffer with all the extra weight of the zenoah.

I have to tell you guys that i have only been flying for around six months and even though i can hover well on realflight we all know that does'nt always translate into the real thing. But i have just done the maiden on a model-tech magic and could hover it some what but pretty high up. So the flight testing may be better handled by someone with more experience.

I think i'm going to use Hitec 645's on all the surfaces with a six volt pack. They are suppose to put out 9.6kg of torque (133oz.s) at .20 sec speed and some where on r/c universe peakmodel stated 8kg on the tail group and 5kg or so on the ailerons. There are spots for two servos on each side of the rear fuselage but i cant see putting that much weight unless you need to balance a heavy engine.

When I emailed peakmodels this morning i suggested new videos showing the engines vertical performance and i also asked for his name so we know who were talking too.

If I am missing something Please point it out and chime in if anybody has already flown one of these. Thanks

SunShyne

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those are LARGE control surfaces, look good enough for extreme aerobatics and 3d

TOFAST4U2C

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Great work, keep it up....

MSC

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Just received the SPE 40, alum spinners and a mix of their props. I have only looked at the stuff but the engine comes complete and the spinners are actually quite nice. We'll see, I have mixed feelings about the engine but it will be going into a 1.2 Lanier Edge I have laying around and will pull this plane with authority. Will post information once I get to it. I'll also post information concerning the spinners and props.

Plum Crazy

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Here's the rest of the plane and parts. Earlier on this thread i stated the wing tube was around 18 inches and really its around 25 inches i corrected it so as to be no mistake. I'll try to mock it up and weigh it some time tomorrow. By the way i'm going to post pictures of the manuel,i dont see a copyright on it and i doubt that peakmodel would care.

Plum Crazy

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Well here's the rest.

Plum Crazy

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Well here's the Yak all kinda put together. I laid the fuel tank,clevis's,rods,screws and such inside the fuse and i added a small battery pack(around 2 oz.s) to represent epoxy and ca so it should be fairly accurate. But the cowl and the canopy is going to need trimmed a bit to fit right so that weight should be taken in to account.

I weighed the engine separate and you will see it on the scale. Also i weighed the ign. module with the engine mounting hardware and prop separate as you will see that on the scale.

I may be mistaken but it looks to me like the plane with engine mounted and prop plus ign module would be around 8.2 pounds. Then probably close to a pound in servos,battery's,extensions,switch's and so on. But i guess you can decide for yourselves.

I weighed a saito 125 and it looks at least a half pound lighter than the spe. But in there ad it states 8.8 with the spe. Maybe my scale is a little off. Either way it still looks light to me.

I hope the new fuse gets here early next week as i'm getting excited about this. I also think i can do a decent flight report. I just cant do 3d near the ground yet.

I have to say i feel like a smuck just writing on here and not to many others have anything to say so if it does not pick up some i may just leave this as is. I think between the picture's and the scale that most can figure out that this is a decent plane for the money.

TOFAST4U2C

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You doing a great job. Without a fues theres not much to keep you busy on your build. I think we all will be very interested to see a flight report. My buddy ordered their 540 Edge last week so I should get a look at it soon.

Plum Crazy

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It will be kind of nice to have somebody else writing about them. I've been busy even without the yak i flew yesterday and today and i have a great planes cub that needs to be covered and a hanger 9 cub that i need to repair crash damage and a bte venture that i built the wings for and then pushed aside to put together a magic. But i'm going to drop everything when that fuse gets here.

drone pilot

Don't stop now!!!! Keep it going, I check this thread at least every other day.. I don't fly 3D, but am interested in the building of this ARF. A lot of what you are telling us is adaptable to other planes. Your experience with the supplier is important and helps some of us in making a decision to buy or not from them.....You're doing a great job......thanks Cliff

SunShyne

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my finger has been hovering on the Buy Now link for weeks, just wanted to wait for a flight report

good work and hope you get your fuse soon!

cmartins

My YAK in a day of test.

TOFAST4U2C

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Cmartins, did it fly? if so how well....

cmartins

I'm happy with my YAK, The fly is very cool, but I'm not be able to 3D fly yet!!

Plum Crazy

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Well my parts are in the U.S. so maybe in the morning. I ordered two 5645's and some extensions and they should be here by wednesday. I already have two 645's and thought i would use them on ailerons and the others on the tail. I have a 2400 mah pack and a 1500 mah pack so the heavy one on servos and the lighter on ign. So with any luck maybe flying this weekend but more likely early next week but I always forget something. I read on another thread that a couple of people are going to be selling these over here but at a little more money. I guess they must be starting to prove themselves somewhere if these people are going to take the chance with them. All I know is i hope it does not hurt peakmodel. Their the ones that opened this cheaper market at least for me and boy would it be nice if we could get this quality with a 50cc engine and plane at a Fair price.

There's somebody that got a edge on the other thread and with no damage so I guess they are really making changes. He also stated that he had emailed them about the poor instructions so i'm sure they are working on them too.