Hi guys,

Can anyone recommend, or suggest a decent set up for this plane? I'm looking to get one and am looking at it as a blank canvas, so potentially new gear all round (If my current bits arnt compatible), (alos have the rx already). Ive seen videos and heard comments about how the stock brushed motor will do the job, but having recently upgraded my current planes to brushless, i think i want to keep them that was, so any advice on a decent motor would be great too (outrunner/innrunner geared?).

Also the servos I'm looking at either hitec hs55 or futaba s3110 at the moment, but any other suggestions on servos would be great.

I have a 25a brushless esc at the ready but if this will be too low? another one can be purchased.

And finally i have a 3s 730mah 14c lipo, will this be ok for the job? or is a new battery needed to?

I am ideally looking to get a bit more speed and power in to he plane then i have seen from the stock setups in the videos, so any one that owns one of these, or just has advice on what would be a good combination of bits would be much appreciated.

The budget is not a major issue (within reason) so all gear can be considered, Thanks in advance,


Joe

A 25 amp esc should be plenty. I use to have a u-can-do 3d ep, and a e-flite 370 inrunner 420kv. I had a 1/2 throttle hover and 3/4 unlimited vertical. I had a 6.6-1 gear ratio, and a 12x6 prop. It was a nice setup, but I think a good gearbox, not e-flite (they wear out too fast), would be good. As for the servos hs-55 are plenty of power. And for my motor setup, I was using a 10 amp esc and was working just fine.

LeBlanc

I have the perfect set up for you, I have the yak 55 and the set up I reccomend, and beleive me, it totally rocks. I have an Eflite park 370 outrunner @1360 Kv, with a 20a speed controler, the motor will pull between 8 and 15 amps depending. With that setup using the stock prop that comes with it you can hover right around 1/3 throttle, and at full it can put an estes rocket to shame! I would say you may want a higher discharge battery, I have a thunder power 3s 1320 mah with 13C continuos ans 20c burst. That puts out more than enough for that setup. I have a JR NES-241 for rudder control, had it spare from an old plane, and the rest are Eflite s75s, they're like $13 bucks and do the job real well, the've got more than enough torque for the plane. I paid under $100 for the motor and speedo, about $50 for my battery, and like I said, $13 a piece for servos, not a bad deal considering the rediculous performance of this thing. I think that it'll be just what your looking for, perhaps more lol. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy it when it's done!

Thanks for your input guys, both suggestions sound great, though im leaning towards the out runner, (less maintenance), out of curiosity would these set ups work out equally as well in the non flex flight version of this model? (just thinking it may offer sharper performance? at the expense of being less durable.

Thanks again

Joe

Loswave, am setting up a Yak and am looking for an outrunner using 3s-11.1 lipo that can be stick mounted. Not familiar with the E-flight 370 but it looks like a good possibility. Want to use a prop saver and 10x 4.5 or 10x5 Apc sf. Will the E-flite 370 handle this size prop and can the kit supplied prop saver and prop be used? Anyone have any other recommendations for stick mounted brushless for the Yak flex flite? Am also looking at the FMA 150 brushless motor/ ESC combo, stick mounted or conventional, says it can handle 150 watts w/ 8x4.3 slo flyer.
Only $49.95. Motor looks a bit small, anyone tried one?

Blue Skies, Green Lights

Garch22,

For the prop saver, I had a e-flite gearbox box on it, because I had a bunch sitting around. I did put a prop saver on it but it needed a little modfication. I cut the shaft to the right lenght of the gearbox, the put 2 little marks just part way so that the screws of the propsaver setup would go in tight without having it comeoff in flight... (unfortunately I learned that littl part by experience ). Whit my park 370 4200kv my plane would hover easily at just under 1/2 throttle, and unlimited vertical at 3/4. I was using a TP 1320 3s lipo pack on it had about 12min flights. I was running a 12x6 on it and a 10 amp esc.

Altought I do not know much about the outrunner, but I am pretty sure you'll need a bigger esc.... I think. I have my yak-55 now with an axi 2212/20 and it's almost exactly the same performance, but I have a 20amp esc on it though.

LeBlanc

The outrunner just needs a little stick mount that eflite makes, it's like 3 bucks and it'll let you mount just about any outrunner to a standard stick. Yes, it should handle that prop with absolutly no problem, I'm flying the stock prop which is 11x4.5 and I have had no heat issues and it doesn't bog at all. I'm pretty sure the stock prop saver could be used, although the park 370 comes with a prop mount that I'm using, I didn't bother with the prop saver, but it should work as long as the screws are tight and to add some locktight, and yes you can use the stock prop definately. The Yak does weight a bit much for the FMA 150 I think. I would agree with leblanc, you're going to want a 20 amp ESC, I'm suprised that the inrunner will run on a 10 amp ESC. As to this set up on the stiff yak I really can't tell you, I don't have one, I can say the flight flex yak stays stiffer than you would think in the air though. According to the stats on the hompage my setup would be serious overkill for that plane, considering it weighs less, and comes stock with a 280. To be honest my setup is really close to overkill for the my flexy yak, but then again, I like overkill Hope you guys like what you end up with, I know that if you use my setup you can't go wrong, it seems leblacs would be great as well. What I like about leblancs though is being an inrunner you could probably remove the stock motor from the stock gearbox and but the inrunner in, it'd take like 2 minutes, not that attaching and outrunner to the stick mount is hard work, it's actually only 4 screws to attach the motor to the stick mount, then one more to attach the stick mount to the stick, easy. Good luck and have fun.

Thanks fellows, am going to go with either the Park 370 outrunner, 20 amp esc. or the Axi Silver 2212/20. Missed a great sale on Axi's at Hobby Lobby by a few hours. If you were to choose between the two, which one is better? The Axi's look sturdier to me, hear a lot about bent shafts on the Park motors, is the same true for the Axi's?

Blue Skies, Green Lights

Hmmm, I would go with the silver axi 2212/20 motor. I personnaly think that axi motors are awsome and that the work very well.
The e-flite 370 outrunner although, I don't think you'll have the power you want. I have a 400 740kv in my e-flite ultamite and it's really underpowered with the 740kv, I should of went with the 920 . Oh well bummer. But with the 370 on an airplane bigger, well it would fly it, but not as well as the axi motor.

I think you'll be happier with the axi.

LeBlanc

Ummm I'm not sure he read my posts, that park 370 actually appears to have more power than the axi, given my setup hovers at a lower throttle setting. Like I said, if anything the park 370 is overkill, not underpowered. I can just about garautee that the Park 370 is the better end of this decision, but wither way I'm sure you'll be happy. Not to mention he's talking about 740kv and 900kv, the motor I have is 1360kv. I'll reiterate one more time, this motor hovers my yak 55 no sweat at a little less that 1/3 throttle, not 2/3, not 1/2!!! Most of the guys at my LHS fly this motor in one plane or another and not one problem has been mentioned. I would certainly go with the Eflite Park 370, but then again, I've seen what it can do...

LOSWAVE, true, oops there goes a brain fart.... The 370 is a good choice. When I wrote it was about the 400 and thats a different motor with different kv... again oops!!

Sorry

Thanks

LeBlanc

I was wondering... I'm think wow, if my planes under powered I'd be afraid of one that wasn't lol. It's no problem, misunderstandings happen, honestly I was just telling him because I'm a huge fan of my combo, it rocks, and I just wanted to make sure he knew what it was capable of, I was in no way offended. I figure with either system he's gotta be golden though, at least either of these will kick the crap out of stock! I just can't wait to get mine airbourne again, just got my thunder power 3S 1320 mah for it, I was flying a low capacity lipo before, and it wasn't meant to deal with what I put it through, so I'd have to land the plane ever 2-3 minutes to let it cool down. I still can't beleive how stiff this thing stays while you fly, it defies logic. Then again, if it gave me any problems it nothing a couple cf rods can't fix. Damn I can't wait to fly again!!!

Both systems sound great to me. Loswave, i dont suppose you know if the outrunner set up would work on the non flex flight version of this model? Ive found the eflight stick mount for outrunners, and would i be right in saying you can only mount the motor infront on the mount? (ie not screw it in behind, and just run the shaft through) If so i beleive it would hand out the front of the plane, i guess this may not be a major issue, but not sure how his compared between the 2 planes?

Thanks in advance

Joe

You are correct, it holds the motor in front, and there was no way I could see to put it in back either. I would still think that the park 370 would be serious overkill for the non flex version, I mean, it's really more than is stricly necesary for the flex version, and the non flex is much lighter.... It would probably be easier to just get an inrunner that will fit into the gearbox in place of the stock motor. Then again, looking at the plane, I don'y think you'd have that much of a problem just mounting that motor up front anyways, just put some of your gear a little farther back to compensate for the weight... It does the same in the flex version but it doesn't really create a problem because the plane is heavy enough that it doesn't throw it off balance, and the motor fits nicely in the hole in the cowl. I'd ask at your LHS is anyone flys that plane, or either of those set ups. When you really think about it, either of these setups shouldn't be a problem to put in that plane, they may have alot more power than is neccesary, but sometimes that's a good thing I suppose. Let me know what you decide on and how it flies!

Thanks Loswave. My main concern was the balance, but as you say shifting the other gear around will sort that. Im off to one of our big rc shows tomorrow and hopefully ill pick up everything there. As for the motor decision, i may go for the inrunner if i can find a decent quality gear box to attach it too, if not i may go for the outrunner, but ill just see what they have and keep you posted.

Thanks again for everyones input

Joe

I just got mine in the air again on thursdays despite 10 to 15 mph winds. Had a great flight, flew some awsome knife edge, looks real interesting in that kind of wind... I'll tell you though, full throttle that thing really moves, I think it could out run my nitro offroad vehicles! Good luck with whatever you get, I'm just waiting for it to quit raining to fly again.

Well, ended up with the non fight flex model, the decision was made for me as NO ONE seemed to have the flight flex. And as for the motor, i couldn't find any one selling the stick mount adapter, i could have got it at a later date, but i was in an impatient mood, so went for the park 370 4100KV inrunner. Unfortunately i struggled to find a better quality gear box, so ill wear out the stock one first now.

The build went quickly and was surprisingly easy (the first ARF plane ive built that actually was ARF) Though i made a few modifications and adjustments, first up i reinforced the tail bush, with two circles of epoxy either side. I also stiffened the elevator and rudder push rods with some carbon fiber over the V bends, and finely i opted out of using the supplied tape for the ailerons, and used some proper hinges instead. Every thing went together very smoothly, and very straight (thanks to the model, not me )

But ive just run in to a couple of problems First up, i have dual rates on my TX, but only for 2 channels, and i cant adjust the rudder, but before its on full, the control arm is touching the fuse, so this will weaken over time if i cant find a way round it.

The second thing that has baffled me completely, is that it tells you to set the ailerons throws, at different measurements up and down? but surely when one is up the other will be down the same amount? Or have i missed something?

Did a quick power test (just holding it vertical) with a relatively flat lipo, and it seemed to have plenty of power on offer, not sure what the all in weight is, but id say it was holding its self up at just under half. Towards 3/4 throttle its really trying to pull out of my hand, and full throttle feels very unstable, but i cant weight to give it a try. Sadly i too am having the long weight till the rain goes. But this will give me time to think about those two issues.

Glad to hear your flys well in the wind, ill weight for a still day to maiden mine, but i do love how wind adds a whole new challenge to flying, and makes some moves possible that arnt on still days.

Ill let you know how it flys as soon as the weathers good.

Joe

Ok please ignore my comment on the rudder, totally forgot about end point adjustmens, so got that problem solved, as for the ailerons i geuss ill just go for 2" on the high rates.

Actually they said the same thing for the ailerons in my yak, it's because of the angle at which you mount the control horns on the servo, it will tend to give a little more down than up aileron, same thing with my turmoil, although that has one servo, same idea though. I wouldn't worry about it to much, just get it in the ballpark and go from there. It's supposed to clear uo on wednesday here, so maybe I'll get a chance to mess around with my 3d rates then, I didn't want to go to far in the wind the other day, it was only my second oportunity to fly the plane. I may break out my turmoil as well, no sense leaving it sitting around when it has a charged pack and it's ready to go. I hope it maidens well, the worst experience I've had with a plane was my first turmoil, I didn't have it set up right, so I started a ROG takeoff, went about 10 or 15 feet up, then in turned around and went straight into the pavement, I was really impatient, I didn't want to wait for the snow to melt so I could maiden it in a field... Then I built a new one, then got my yak... It's all been good since I've learned not to rush anything when it comes to flying... Good luck!

Hey guys, I managed to maiden the yak today, although im having a few probs with servos, (thanks loswave for advice on other post) But i have to say i am very impressed. I wanted a light weight high powered 3d plane, and this plane hasn't disappointed, was a bit too windy today for a sensible maiden, but had a blast anyway, and brought it back safe and sound (though i did need about 4 approaches)

This thing really does have some speed and power, but im very worries about how much stress goes on the plane? I know it has carbon fiber in the wings and down the fuse, but it must suffer some serious gee force in some moves

Surprised how easy it was to hover even in the wind (if at 40 odd degrees). All in all im really happy with it, so thanks to every one that took the time to help me out.

Ill try and get a video of it in the next week or so, and leave a link here when its done if anyone wants to see how this set up works.

Hovers for my set up were still just under half, even with a charged lipo, but that is plenty of power to fly it round, and do most tricks, take it up to half, and its got the power to climb vertically and do just about anything, 3/4 power and its really shifting and some high speed moved come in to play, but im still a bit worried at full throttle really feels like it could break up at any minute, so i think ill keep it below 3/4s for the time being But its nice to know the extra power is their.

Thanks again guys for every ones advice.

Joe

If I'm lucky I'll be flying mine in about 20 minutes... I hope.