Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Just finishing a Gold Wing Yak 55, 30 sized. The CG shown in the manual seems very nose heavy to me. Does anyone have any experience with this model to suggest a good CG starting point ... or is the manual correct?

kerwin50

Is this the 68 inch plane?

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

73"

kerwin50

looks like you maybe the one telling us about the cg

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Should get it in the air in a week or so.

kerwin50

please keep us posted

Mike Miller

Hey Truckracer,
I am just a few adjustments away from putting a maiden flight on a GoldWing Yak 54. My assembly manual says 4.75 back from the LE. Keep me posted as I would think they would be fairly close on the balance points being the same wing span. Preliminary balance checks indicate I am going to have to move things forward. Maybe I should have just put one servo on the elevator? Time will tell.

Mike

kerwin50

I'm balancing my GW MX 2 on the wing tube

ceecrb1

my goldwing MX2 is set to 130mm (5.18in).
This is the leading edge of the wing tube...

For me it works out great there, I prefer "all round" flying.. so its neither too far forward to be useless at 3d and neither too far back to not track well in precision flight.


Honestly I´d just go with the manual and do your adjusting depending on what happens in the air.. The CG is (within reason) a case of personal preference.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Hi there Mike!

Without making any changes in the setup, the ignition battery up front on the motor box and the main battery just under the wing tube, the plane still needs 4 oz. of nose weight to balance at the factory suggested balance point. Balancing the plane as I normally would if I were scratch building the plane, the factory balance point is almost 3/4" ahead of where I would put it .... though I would probably start a bit forward of that for a first flight. I'm guessing the final balance will be at the front of the wing tube but will have to fly the beast to see how it all works out.

I am going to install some slightly lighter elevator servos and that should eliminate the need for any nose weight. Final weight should be well under 11 Lbs. .... and thats after beefing up the firewall and LG. I'm looking forward to trying this plane but it looks like I won't be able to take it out for another couple of weeks.

What did you think of the Gold Wing kit?

Overall, for the price, I was quite impressed with the whole thing. As with all ARFs there were a few things that I'd change if I could but that is to be expected. For example .... I really didn't care for the quality of the installed hinges. They are wimpy compared to real Robart hinges. The ailerons are pre glue so I left those hinges in place. I replaced the elevator and rudder hinges with genuine Robarts. The covering job was good but not great. Very few wrinkles but every inch required re-ironing to adhere it to the wood and to secure the trim and seams. It was applied and shrunk but little more than that. Not a problem that costs anything but time to correct though. The fiberglass cowl looks great and the glass work is very good but the gel coat under the paint is quite brittle so you have to be careful handling it or you can introduce cracks. Not a problem limited to just this brand though ... common with many Chinese ARFs. Construction is very light ... especially compared to something like an AeroWorks plane ... which can be both good and bad. I beefed up the motor box and firewall area and added a few wood supports to the LG. The tank support floor cracked when I tightened up the tank retainer Velcro fasteners so had to beef that area a bit too. Also replaced the tank as I don't trust any Chinese tanks! All the hardware looked very good and I used all of it except for the servo arms as I already had arms on the servos that went into the plane. So far on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate this kit as an 8.5. If it flies well and makes it through a season without any major problems, I'll increase that to a 9.

Hope I don't step on anyones toes if they love YAKs but a YAK55 is so ugly ..... it's cute! Thats why I bought it! I'm guessing it should fly great as all the ingredients are there if I do my part!

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

I'm guessing my CG will end up right at the front of the wing tube also. Just curious of other peoples experiences with these planes as I don't see the need to "reinvent the wheel" so to speak if someone else has blazed the trail in front of me. Looks like you moved your abour CG just about the same amount as I was expecting to move mine. Like you, I want a good all around flyer and not the tail heavy monster some full time 3D guys prefer.

Thanks for the reply!

kerwin50

For my maiden I may balance mine in front of the wing tube.
No sense in losing a plane on the maiden due to tail heavy

vtach688

My Feedback: (8)

i have the same 55mm and found the factory CG to be a bid nose heavy. i set it back about a 1/4 in back from the factory and it flies a lot nicer, but that's how i like it.

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Thanks!

Truckracer

My Feedback: (19)

Sounds like a good place to start. On the YAK55, center of the wing tube will probably be way too far aft! Most of these planes with the large tail areas will fly with a CG way far aft but few of us are comfortable flying that way ... and especially trying to land holding forward stick!

Mike Miller

I would have to echo your opinion on the quality of the airframe. Overall I am very happy with mine. It is defineately a light weight airframe and appears to be well built. Having read on here about several guys beefing up the landing gear support I gave that a close look. I didn't however see an easy way to do so so I have coached myself to make only soft landings with her. (thats the plan anyway)

The covering job on mine was excellent. I have found only a few places that it wasn't sealed down. One spot of trim needed shrinking and formed ever so few wrinkles but it was on the bottom of the stab and I am not upset about that. With a minimul amount of work left to do on mine it appears that it will need an somewhere between one or two ounces in the nose to balance. I will do what I can to avoid adding weight, but will do so to achieve a balance as the airframe seems to still be fairly light.

I wish I had purchased one of the 55's, mine came with CA type hinges. After arguing with myself about what to do, I elected to go with the CA hinges since it was already slotted for them. I will most defineately be keeping a close eye on them and won't hesitate to replace them with robarts should any of them begin to fail. Like you, I really like the hardware encluded with the ARF. I used all of it but added some carbon fibre control horns to the new servos I installed.

Ugly, of course it's ugly, it's a Yak! I don't intend any offence to anyones tastes. I feel the same way about the looks but knew this fully before I ordered the airframe. I do however really like the blue/silver on white color scheme mine is finished with. Ugly is only skin deep, right? These Yak's tend to fly really nice and that's what I am looking for.

Mike