YUKONFLYR

After getting Realflight G3.5 I really wanted a real Simple Flier. In Realflight its hard to beat it as if flies very well, slow, fast, pylon or sport, general all around sport speed plane, plus it has good looks to as well with the V tail

I was checking out AK models online and I could not believe that they modeled it in a short kit. I have not built anything more than a ARF for a decade and this little plane kept eating at me well until this last weekend! I had the short kit laying around for a half year or so, so it is now time to take the plunge and get building, cause if you want one too, it don't come as an ARF!

I waffled on building this model at first because its simplicity might just bore me so I came up with a few mods that will turn this "Simple Flier" into the "Simply Fast Flier"

First mod is that the upright engine needs to be reclocked 90 degrees counter clockwise so that the carb inlet will be in the middle of the fuel tank. Can't go fast if the engine is starving for fuel
Second mod is that the boxy V tail needs to be updated to something more racy, maybe loose the boxy tail tips and give it a curve like the Q500 Bird Of Prey........
Third mod is to loose the bell crank aileron system in the wings and go with imbedded independent wing servos. Two for flaps and two for ailerons. That will give lots of options for spoilers, flaps, flaperons ect................

Some pics of the plane to come..........

YUKONFLYR

A few pics of the build start...........................

Laminated the ribs per kit instructions.

YUKONFLYR

The plan calls for an OS 46, I do not purchase OS so I called an alternate engine supplier... Jett Engineering!

So here is a pic of this projects powerplant! "GO Baby GO"! [X(]

Behold......the Jett .50 Sportjett

daven

My Feedback: (1)

I always liked the simple flier on real flight also, flies a lot like a Q500.

Looks like a fun project!

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Another mod that might make it look better is a longer jet-like canopy moved forward, maybe even blend in a short turtle deck made out of rolled 1/64th ply.

YUKONFLYR

I was looking at the canopy as well. The structure seen is part of the fuse itself and not an add on. I am hoping a solution will present itself when the fuse starts going together.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Right now it looks like a Kaos with a over-sized V-tail.

YUKONFLYR

I like the round skinny fuse. The V-tail is oversize, kinda gives it a comic book or cartoon apeal being it was born from a computer simulated plane. I think that aspect is unique about this plane.

daven

My Feedback: (1)

The plane looks short coupled, with a long nose, probably why it needs such a big tail to fly stable.

smoknrv4

My Feedback: (11)

About time we had another build thread. Keep it comin' yukon.Very interesting plane, it does have that comic book appearance doesn't it.

_Tommy D

My Feedback: (20)

Love it! Nearly bought one of these at a swap meet in March. Shame it's not a sheeted foam wing.

yukonpete

My Feedback: (4)

I'm tempted to order a kit after seeing your one Richard

YUKONFLYR

Its starting to come together and going together fast!

I am not anywhere near a master builder but this kit seems easy once you get past the first few laminations that take a little figuring out between the plans and the instruction manual. The measurement in the instruction manual is wrong on the servo rail length, I had to cut them per the plans and then file them down for a really good fit.

Basically you pin the first rib to the board, add the bottom spars and then the last rib on each side, add the first middle ribs plus servo rails and the wing bolt plate, the trailing edges and all the rest of the ribs. I used epoxy to laminate the center rib W1 and then used black Ca glue for the spar laminations and the rest of the laminated ribs. regular Ca for the rest of the wing. I took my time and held each rib 90 degrees to the board to glue each one. Then I added the front plate, the top spars and the laminated leading edges. I had to cheat and use some Ca kicker on the leading edges as they have to bend and there were a couple of spots where the leading edge had some tension and I ran out of hands

The laser cut ply and balsa from AKM is great. it pops out very easy and the wood quality is top notch.

YUKONFLYR

More Pics of the Wing.

YUKONFLYR

I have always wanted to do a build thread, but I have been stuck in the ARF rut for a decade! I have lots of ARF's in the box and they are on hold so this kit can get built. I guess its time to get back into building.

Thanks for the kind words of motivation

YukonPete - You should order one as well. Just dont pick orange, white and chrome as I already called those colors for my slightly modded flier

yukonpete

My Feedback: (4)

*****! They are the colors I wanted
Im going with RED, BLUE and BLACK. Purchased the kit today. Need the spinner size so I can order the hardware???

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

At this stage it looks pretty "skeletal"......[:-]!

You know what Scotty on Star Trek might say about it?

YUKONFLYR

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Need the spinner size so I can order the hardware???




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Pete - Your spinner size is 78mm Ok, ok that translates to 3"[X(]. That is extra large [:'(] according to the plans which I just put a ruler to!

My modded flyer is going to have to go on a diet to get into the largest spinner Jett Engineering offers which is 2 1/4" I will have to restructure the front end to use a smaller spinner. Should not be a hard mod at all, just have to shave down that forward former and maybe bend some balsa sticks!

YUKONFLYR

A little slower going this evening, Yesterday I came home and passed out! Rough day at work[:'(]

So tonight I had the pleasure of edge gluing some sheeting. Basically the forward sheeting is angle cut so you edge glue to 4" on one side and 2" on the other. I tried to fold the 1/16" sheet over the ribs and it was clear that I would run out of hands and fingers quickly and end up with a dog's breakfast for a wing. I remember my buddy Blade47 telling me that balsa sheet bends real well if you soak it with windex, so I gave it a try and it does bend very nice. I used up all my T - Pins to form it to the wing but when it dries out tomorrow, my balsa should be formed and then very easy to glue down. It may be slower going but probably less frustrating.

Also I got a nice suprise with a slight paradox with the leading edges. the forward ply former between the W-2's gets glued in prior to the leading edges going on since the W-2's are pretty floppy without support, then when you go to add the leading edges, you would have to notch them out to get them flush with the W-2's. I installed mine so I had to go back and glue some pieces of leading edge to the end stubs and then flush cut to the W-2's to repair for where I messed up[]

Rear sheeting is a breeze and forward sheeting is going on. By Saturday I should be able to flip the wing and go to town on the other side

Check out the Simple Flier pincushion [8D]

yukonpete

My Feedback: (4)

Looks good Richard. I got regular pins from the craft department at Walmart. They work fine aswell.

YUKONFLYR

Second top sheeting complete. Next cut and shave forward wing mount block to match ribs that connect to it. A couple of pieces that need attention from the sheeting, fill them in and prep to sheet the center section.

YUKONFLYR

Center section sheeting. There is no provision for side support to this sheeting. Really do not want to put my thumb through this sheeting when wing is complete so I made some
balsa ledges so that the sheeting is supported on all sides.

YUKONFLYR

Cap off all ribs and wing top is complete. Next step is to flip the wing over and pin to the wing tip jigs and center jigs provided.

The flap servo bays are very small and also orient the servo vertically upside down hanging in the wind. I will have to move the servos one bay over and create structure
that will put the servo up in the wing with a slot for the arm. This would have to be done anyways for the aileron servos as I did not install the bell crank system the plans call for.

bob27s

My Feedback: (19)

looks good so far

mshay

My Feedback: (3)

so what kind of arfs do you have laying around and do you want to sale any?