Mine with a 3W 75 iUS is going to weigh just a tad over 20 pounds. I did a few weight savings tricks, but no CF yet. Hoping to fly this weekend. Every good day we have had, I was working (it's a shame we have to work to play, but that's just the way it is, Baby!) I'm anxious to hear some flying reports, with all of them out there, some have to be close to flying.

Blue Skies & Fair Winds,

Rege

In all fairness though Maudib, being a 3rd party observer, your comments did feel like an attack, albeit rather "mild". As I was reading the thread, I felt that you were impugning either his honesty, or competency... or even both

Yep it won't be long... Tomorrow is clear but around 40 degrees... then rain's coming but upper 60's!

It's the teaser before spring that we are all looking toward.

My goal before season is to get as many RTF planes ready and take the spring/summer off writing/reviewing...

Build tough and fly hard...

HI and Thanks Bone Doc....It CERTAINLY appeared that way to me....I have only been flying these things for over 15 years.....I may be wrong on the finished weight... If so....I am I willing belly up to the bar....was only trying to give a little info on my Yak.....over the years I have seen lots of unjust bashing.....lets all see what the final product has to offer....if its not what it should be than we will have suck it up and go forth...and buy something else
Regards

Editied... I misunderstood 32Hybos' intent and message...

Lets see did I miss something...PUN intended......

Man, I gues I am missing something WHAT more could I tell you!!!!

Furthermore I DONT care if you believe me....

I don't think anyone is bashing the plane... those of us who want to get the most out fo the plane are doing what we can. It is heavier than they advertise... well everyone elses but yours. I do take offense to you coming on here with your 15 years experience and 10 posts and basically making a blanket statement of how your plane will finish out at 17.5 lbs insinuating that we are wrong about our weights or we build "heavy".

I've built a few planes myself and pride myself on sharing as much info as I can and learning from others. That's why I was interested in your setup... maybe you chose different hardware that I did or have some other reason for yours being 1 lbs less than the rest...

As it is I think the plane is a very nice offering... with it's only real drawback is weight.. .if it flies well it's score nicely.

Several guys have gotten busted root ribs and anitrotation pins... one guy suggested that it was packing and you basically told him he was wrong. When obviously there is SOME issue with why they are getting popped and broken. Maybe an extar strip of cardboard or a block of foam in that area would prevent these things from happening.

I'm glad there are people willing to bring potetnial issues to light rather than simply "suck it up and move on"... the manufacturer get's to contact the factory and tell them to change something so peoples wings don't come in broken, or to lighten the rudder/tailgear block on the next run so people getting the next batch have less tailheavy planes.

The reason current offerings are so much nicer than those of 15 years, 10 years, 5 years, last year is that people report their dissatisfaction.

While I'll admit some peopel are just are impossible to satisfy, I don't think anything on ehtis thread should have led you to believe that any of us were of that variety.

Enjoy your plane... noone is bashing it... but don't come on here and act like WE don't have the right to concern ourselves with our own planes.

Not a problem....however YOU are the one that started the attack..ie the bone doc hit the nail square.....as for the packing issue I was pointing out WAY there was a lack of more packing....I am sure if the total shipping on the kit was 150.0 plus YOU would be the first one to complain because there was to much packing.....As for coming here degrading anyone YOU are the only on here that has sugested that I did that...and by the way you dont build an ARF we only asm them.....

Then I truly apologize. I misinterpreted your posts and take all the blame. Imean that sincerely... it's all my fault and I'll edit all my posts to blank...

You are right about the packaging being bigger, but there WAS a lot of room inside the boxes for partitioning and padding to keep the items from having room to gain speed and momentum.

But anyhow...

Now... in the interest of helping us all figure out how we can get our planes to 17.5 lbs...

Can you please tell us your complete setup?

You said 3 lions? Are they all 2000 or 2400's?

What are you using for regulators?

What servos did you go with? How are you matching the wing servos?

Choke setup?

Which inv. pitts did you select?

Did you use the stock tank? 2 or 3 line setup?

Did you use all the stock hardware?

What prop and spinner are you using?

I have edited what I thought was any unconstructive posts/portions of posts...

I'll be the first to admit when I'm wrong. I apologize. I somehow felt attacked myself because I was doing mods that would maximize my planes potential and shared the fairly simple steps to do.

My intetnion is not to bash thi nice aircraft at all but to simply help offset what I do believe is it's glaring shortcoming. Several of my prior posts refer to the fact that it's the weight that was advertised that set an expectation. Because of that many may buy this plane and be very disappointed with it... however, I wanted those with a little desire to know that is wasn't a"seller" but rather with a little work COULD be gotten closer to what the expectation was.

No more, no less.

I find it hard to believe that the advertised weight on the box is what you are going to finish the plane at. So far every ARF I have bought all finished abouve the advertized weight. All of the planes fly beautifully. My Super Stearman by Great Planes is close to 16lbs, I think on the box it says close to 14lbs so I am 2 lobs over weight, but with over 1400 square inches of wing surface it is not a problem. I think this weight thing is overblown. The Yak has over 1400 square inches of wing area, so 18 to 20 lbs wont be a problem. also it can take a 50cc to a 80cc. I am putting a FPE 70cc which will be more than enough. With a 50 cc you would have to get it lighter around 18lbs and you wont have a problem. Even the Composite ARF's are difficult to finish at the advertized wieht. Unless you go with all the expensive stuff, lipo's carbon fiber everthing, but who has the money for all of this, only a few.

Did anybody see Model Airplane News May edition. QQ Aircraft 85" Yak54 finished at 17lb 14 oz. I believe advertised weight by factory is 15lb 8oz. Weak review, but he built it pretty much stock. Seems to fit right in with this discussion. My son just purchased the Lanier Yak. Beautiful plane, Only problem we had was a twisted left aileron. Ironed out with little problem. Weighted the out of box on 2 different scales. One it was 11lb 1oz and the other it was 11.0lbs. Appears to be on the lighter side of those posted in this thread. We'll see where we end up, but I'm thinking it should fly very well even up to 19lb with that wing area. I have always found that the proof is in the air.

The Super Sterman and Yak 54 are both great planes but different animals!

It's actually advertised as 16-17 lbs and I'm sure that's the norm with this plane... my understanding is that it comes in 16.5 or under.

The plane in MAN has a smoke system... 10-12 oz right there. That's not really stock but optional.

He also has a Duralite Powerbox 40/16... it weighs 4 oz itself. Optional

Redundant batteries... perhaps up to 6 oz... Optional

Using 5995's is great, a little overkill but also heavier by 1.5 oz total... Optional

So you see this plane was built above the range, be cause the recomende range doesn't include those things. Juts a good basic setup. And most manufacturers should be able to advertise fairly accurate ranges...

I certainly don't have a problem with him building his plane his way... not at all... just that his weight does not reflect a stock built aircraft...

pcsol ,

Have you had the chance to fly your Yak again? Sounds like you were impressed from the maiden flight. I like the idea that the Yak flies like a bigger plane!

Cheers

Lang

[:@]I have Not[:@] !!
Had it all planned out this past weekend and got blown out by the wind again. The forecast may be promising for late this week (hoping).
She's just sitting there plugged into trickle,

Trickle,
waiting,
Trickle,
waiting,
Trickle,
waiting,

collecting dust ..Grrrr. Actually have four large aerobat's now just waiting [:'(] I had a chance back in the late 80's to move to Florida and passed it up, Whenever this time of year roles around I kick myself in the @$$ for not taking it !![>:]

She does feel big in the air. When its flying it feels bigger that any 80 -90 incher I have flown yet (and thats a whole bunch ).
You can see the surface deflection clear as day and feel the input instantly. Them there surfaces are HUGE

pcsol,

OK, I see that you are up against the elements. We only have a few days a year that we can't fly at our field due to large puddles and saturated grass. It can still get a bit windy though every afternoon in Summer as we get a strong sea breeze.

Let us know when youv'e had your next flight and if you get the chance to get any pics or vid at your field that would be great. I still haven't bought my motor for this plane yet as I have decided not to use my DA-50. A few paychecks to go before I can put in the order for the motor, unfortunately.

Cheers

Lang

Trickle,
waiting,
Trickle,
waiting,
Trickle,
waiting,

pcsol...that sounds like a guy with an enlarged prostate...[sm=eek.gif][sm=lol.gif][sm=eek.gif]
sorry, couldn't pass that one up.

He doesn't have a "going" problem, he has a G-R-O-W-I-N-G problem... tee hee

His hangar is growing getting full of RTF craft and the potty weather is holding him back.

TOOO FUNNY
Why did I not catch that when I posted !!

LOL

I don't know if to go to the doctor, or the hobby shop!

Why do you guys wait for nice weather. We fly all winter here. winds up to 30 miles per hour even with the Stearman. My IMAC Edge sits at home until the spring as the cold is very hard on the planes and gear. The winter is a good time to test fly a plane as you have more lift from the cold air.
I should be getting my Yak in about another two weeks, they said 3 weeks for delivery.Also if you can find a lake frozen like we have, you have unlimited runway, you can take off and keep the plane low just to make sure all is ok, if not land, you have unlimited lenght of runway.

BRRRRRRRR !!
Not for me MGA..
I last about three minutes in windchills below 20.[X(]
Summer winds I don't mind [8D]

Got mine a week ago end of Feb 06. Very Nice Covering job. Packageing a
little Light had some damage to the cockpit and fuse. Very minor
though. One alarion tip was damaged. and 2nd rib of left wing broken where
alighment pin is epoxied in. Not hard to fix...
The Instructions have a lot of ERRORS and I feel alot of things
would be easyer in a differant sequence... example the surfaces are hinged
before the control surfaces horns are put in ... lots easier to drill
holes with thigs unhinged ... Demin of 6 1/4" form front of prop hub to
firewall is about 3/4" to 7/8" short. Prop has to be under 9" to spin
inside of Cowl...
The hardware package is just OK... I think that the Aileron and
elevator screws that serve as horns are too soft ... might bend. It calls
for 2 1/4" bolts on the ailerons and 3" on the elevators ... package
only had 3"... push rods had all been cot off and ends ground to length.
This casued the treads to be damaged and will not thread into the
clevises... need a 4-40 die to repair ... some picture Illistrations are
very confusing and some are just flat out wrong ... Study it well before U
start to assemble... Also the rudder hinges are only supported in the
vertical stab by what appears to be very light balsa. I think I'll ad
some small pieces of light ply, and redrill the hing holes before glueing
the rudder hinges in.
On the Positive side .... the Fues is compleated sheeted with very
light (soft) sheet balsa. Be carefull it dents very easyly... hope
this appears in the Lanier Yak 54 Forum