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Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/4/2007 6:02:27 PM   
FenderBean


 

Posts: 298
Joined: 2/9/2006
From: savannah, GA, USA
Status: offline 		Im thinking of buying one and would like to know about quality and if there are anythings I should know about it EX bad habbits/defects that will need to be fixed.
       Post #: 1

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/4/2007 11:59:14 PM   
talon58


 

Posts: 137
Joined: 11/18/2003
From: Eugene, OR, USA
Status: offline 		Been flying one for about 3 months now. Nothing bad at all(well except for one minor compaint). Best flying plane I have owned. When you consider the amount of work already done and the quality, the price is a steal. Sure you can find the same size ARFs for a $100 or so less - but the quality and level of completness is no where near as good as the AW Yak.

I have also purchased and built a few Composites that are $300 to $500 more, and while Composites are nice in that they don't have covering to iron down everynow and then - there is a lot more user fabrication needed

Now - the only negative I have is the landing gear mount. Don't ever and an mean EVER turn the plane to sharp while going to fast on the ground. It will put a large side load on the landing gear plate (which is wood) and will crack it and if the load is strong enough break it. I know. It wasn't that fast after I landed - a right hand turn - plane skipped a little on the right side of the landing gear - broke the landing gear cover on the right side and cracked the landing gear wood plate and cracked some of the tri-stock - All minor stuff - But after flying Wild Hares for a few years - you come to appreicate the aluminum L brackets that the landing gear mounts to.

Other then that - it has to be the best built - best flying plane I have ever owned

(in reply to FenderBean)
       Post #: 2

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/5/2007 12:30:21 AM   
FenderBean


 

Posts: 298
Joined: 2/9/2006
From: savannah, GA, USA
Status: offline 		well is beefing it up alittle during the build an option to prevent this? I have some nice carbon fiber stuff thats can be glued in with epoxy for strength

(in reply to talon58)
       Post #: 3

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/5/2007 12:59:32 AM   
talon58


 

Posts: 137
Joined: 11/18/2003
From: Eugene, OR, USA
Status: offline 		Well - after looking at the cracked landing gear blocks - there are (3) pieces - 1 on each side running front to back and another piece that runs left to right. It is the right front to back piece and the cross piece that are cracked. The right piece is a very knotty piece of wood and if anyone has ever worked with wood - knotty wood is not very durable - a pain in the ass to work with but breaks very easy - so basically I have a weak, knotty landing gear block. Not very easy to beef up. So what are the odds that you will get a plane that has a landing gear block that has knots it it and is weak? Probably not very high.

I have to figure out how to make my weak piece stong enought to take the punishment of landings.

Don't let my issue deter you from buying one of these planes. They are very good planes.

(in reply to FenderBean)
       Post #: 4

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/6/2007 4:26:11 AM   
jon595



Posts: 426
Joined: 3/14/2002
From: Pensacola, FL, USA
Status: offline 		I have the 260, and had a gear plate failure. Your description of the construction sounds similar to the 260. I made new pieces out of real aircraft plywood (the 3 pieces mentioned) and glued it all back just like factory original. Except I also added aluminum L brackets that now tie the forward-aft plates to the motor box. Took me about 4 hours to complete and you would not know it unless you looked for it. The stock gear plate pieces was 2 pieces of lite ply each laminated together. The bonded area pulled apart, the glue looked like it did not bond too well (dried too fast?) and did not even pull the wood apart. I also noticed my firewall was pulling loose (top right corner). 2 of the holes were not doweled, just full of glue. Good Luck!

(in reply to talon58)
       Post #: 5

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/6/2007 4:39:40 AM   
reyn3545



Posts: 990
Joined: 7/1/2006
From: Alpharetta, GA, USA
Status: online 		Same here.. I have the 50cc 260, and it had an unscheduled dead stick... did about the same damage to the gear blocks as you described earlier.

I replaced all of the original 3 wood blocks with some kiln dried maple that I had in the shop... its hard as a rock. That and an abundant amount of 30-minute epoxy... its better than new (I think). I repaired the plane about 3 weeks ago, and either weather or other scheduling has kept me from flying ever since. Hopefully I'll get it back up this weekend.

(in reply to jon595)
       Post #: 6

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/9/2007 10:21:27 PM   
talon58


 

Posts: 137
Joined: 11/18/2003
From: Eugene, OR, USA
Status: offline 		Well almost done replaceing the landing gear plates.

Everyone at the field was surprised that it was damaged. Landings are always pretty good - with the exception of the one fairly slow side load on the right landing gear.

As mentioned earlier the right fore and aft landing gear plate was notty right where the two landing gear bolts go through and that is right were it cracked.

I removed the right side for and aft plate and then proceeded to remove the left side. Let me tell you the left side was solid as a rock - I felt bad that I had to remove it as it was very solid.

So in short - would be nice if the builder did not use notty wood on a high stress section.

On the 100CC Yak I'm connecting the fore and aft plate with 1" aluminum angle to the main fuse/motor mount wall and the left and right plate also. The landing gear bolts will go though both landing gear plates and the aluminum angle.

I was tempted to use Tri-Stock as orginally built - but since I'm in there with all new material I thought that I would beef it up a little.

Also using TiteBond III wood glue on all new wood joints.

(in reply to jon595)
       Post #: 7

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/10/2007 2:57:11 AM   
reyn3545



Posts: 990
Joined: 7/1/2006
From: Alpharetta, GA, USA
Status: online 		Sounds like a marked improvement over the original... can you send pics before you get it covered?

I got my 50cc to the field this week, first time up after replacing the landing gear blocks and all of the balsa & framing from the gear to the firewall... All of the landings were picture perfect (cuz I'm so paranoid now), so I can't speak to the quality of my repair, but things did hold up well so far!

(in reply to talon58)
       Post #: 8

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/12/2007 12:57:17 AM   
FenderBean


 

Posts: 298
Joined: 2/9/2006
From: savannah, GA, USA
Status: offline 		yeah I got a Da 100 and I think im going to go with the 100cc yak so maybe ill beaf it up alittle. I hoping they can do me one in either the 75cc or 50cc color scheme though

(in reply to reyn3545)
       Post #: 9

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/13/2007 4:11:47 AM   
talon58


 

Posts: 137
Joined: 11/18/2003
From: Eugene, OR, USA
Status: offline 		I was looking at the pics on the Install DVD and was looking at the folder Engine Photos. In particular I was looking at photo E15. I noticed that there is Tri-Stock on the landing gear plate that the landing gear attaches to. My Yak DID NOT HAVE this tri-stock. It had tri-stock on the fore and aft piece but not on the piece that the landing gear bolts to.

Don't know why my 100cc Yak did not have the Tri-Stock as shown in the picture. At the field we were all wondering why the landing gear plates failed so easily. Missing Tri-Stock and a knotty landing gear plate- geeesshhhh!!!!!!

I have included a photo with the tri-stock circled in red - which my Yak did not have.



Attachments
Click to see fullsize image.
Click for fullsize

(in reply to reyn3545)
       Post #: 10

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/14/2007 10:49:21 PM   
FenderBean


 

Posts: 298
Joined: 2/9/2006
From: savannah, GA, USA
Status: offline 		anyone know any reps that work at Aero-works? I would like to PM one to see if I can get one of there 100cc kits done like there 75cc kit. I like the color scheme alot better. Also I wonder if they offer any kind of military discount, after buying the engine its going to take sometime to save up for the kit if not. Knowing my luck I will have to wait till I get back from Iraq to get one going, I love the Army but hate the pay

Can anyone tell me if running a 3 blade prop on my DA 100 has any downs, and if not what a good carbon fiber 3 blade prop maker these days
I like the looks and will shorten the prop diameter for ground clearance, not to mention they are not as loud = )

(in reply to talon58)
       Post #: 11

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/15/2007 2:19:48 AM   
reyn3545



Posts: 990
Joined: 7/1/2006
From: Alpharetta, GA, USA
Status: online 		Aeroworks, like just about every manufacturere these days, gets their planes entirely built by shops in China. They get them in container loads, and depending on sales volume, they may get only 3 or 4 shipments per year on any particular plane. The lead times (time from their order to the container's arrival) might be 3 or 4 months because the planes sit on a container ship across the Pacific, then sit waiting to clear customs sometimes for weeks before they get to Colorado.

Given all of that, its almost impossible to order a pre-covered plane with a design different than one of the "standards". Mark Dennis may chime in here and correct me, and I hope he does, but I don't think they're going to be able to do a custom covering.

They do have a few "ARC" planes, you might get one of those and cover it yourself, or maybe, just MAYBE they could cover one for you. Good Luck.

(in reply to FenderBean)
       Post #: 12

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/16/2007 4:36:06 PM   
Mark Dennis



Posts: 1359
Joined: 2/24/2004
From: Parker, CO, USA
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: FenderBean

anyone know any reps that work at Aero-works? I would like to PM one to see if I can get one of there 100cc kits done like there 75cc kit. I like the color scheme alot better. Also I wonder if they offer any kind of military discount, after buying the engine its going to take sometime to save up for the kit if not. Knowing my luck I will have to wait till I get back from Iraq to get one going, I love the Army but hate the pay

Can anyone tell me if running a 3 blade prop on my DA 100 has any downs, and if not what a good carbon fiber 3 blade prop maker these days
I like the looks and will shorten the prop diameter for ground clearance, not to mention they are not as loud = )



Unfortunatley we can not do the 100cc Yak in the 75cc scheme. We can get ARC's if you would like to go that route, please let me know.

_____________________________

Team Aeroworks
Thank You: Aeroworks, Desert Aircraft, and Smart-Fly

(in reply to FenderBean)
       Post #: 13

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 7/16/2007 11:41:15 PM   
JLB


 

Posts: 404
Joined: 11/27/2002
From: Dimondale, MI, USA
Status: offline 		There are 3 of us flying together who all use the Mej 25x12 3 blade. Beautiful prop, excellant performance and quieter than most. Can't
think of any downside. I've heard that the Biela 25x12 work very well also.

< Message edited by JLB -- 7/16/2007 11:42:20 PM >

(in reply to FenderBean)
       Post #: 14

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 8/7/2007 12:33:24 AM   
jasonjanise


 

Posts: 37
Joined: 3/26/2003
From: Norfolk, NE, USA
Status: offline 		Well, I must say that I was shocked how easy the landing gear plate can be damaged or torn out of this plane. I had what was not a hard landing (7th flight) and the left side of my gear block basically tore out. I was more than shocked that this happened and not very impressed to say the least. I have owned and own several giant scale planes and when I got in and seen how this gear block was built, it doesn't seem like it was the best design that could have been used. Starting with the gear itself. Mine bent right where the section of aluminum was taken out of the middle. If that had been a solid landing gear, it may not have bent where it did. Since it had room to twist, it did and that took out the wood all around it. Of course when I called Aero-Works I got all the typical responses about it being my fault for flying off a grass strip, I must have landed harder than I think and so forth. Guys, I can tell you that it was not a hard landing. I just wish some of these companies could take a little more of the blame. They know if it is a known issue and it would be great if they admitted it. If you are building 27-29 lb airplanes, make the landing gear and gear blocks strong enough to handle the loads. I understand the idea of building lighter and lighter, but how much strenght are we going to risk in getting a light plane? I am just not very impressed at all. The other thing I seen someone mentioned was the glue that is used. What I have noticed in taking the old wood out is what glue? I mean they did not spare any extra in building this plane. There are some spots where I can't make out where glue was used. I hope to have mine done for my fun-fly this weekend. I love the way the plane flies, but after seeing how easy this was to damage, I am a little leary of what would happen if heaven forbid you have a hard landing.

Jason

(in reply to JLB)
       Post #: 15

RE: Yak 100 cc known issues - 8/7/2007 1:37:17 AM   
1bwana1


 

Posts: 98
Joined: 6/17/2006
From: La Jolla, CA, USA
Status: offline 		Jason,
I also had issues with the gear in my 100cc YAK. My diagnossis of the problem was that it is side loading that causes the gear plate to fail. As long as I landed straight and kept it straight until the plane was real slow, no issues. If I landed with any kind of side load, or turned while the plane was going fast, the gear started to vibrate. A couple of time it vibrated some of the glue seams loose. I fly off a p