AirFoilZ Yak 54 Full Fuselage Build

[helidude12]

Hello All,
So this is going to be one of my build forms for AirFoilZ "Yak 54 Full Fuselage." First things first though, I would like to Give a shout out to "Paul" at 3DX Hobbies, for being really nice guy. Now time to get down to business, so the kit arrived yesterday and in quite a bigger box than I expected too. O, just an FYI I am very visual, and I like to believe everyone else it to, so I am going to post ALOT!! of photos!!! The pictures I have currently are pretty self explanatory, but I would like to make a few comments. First is when I opened everything I couldn't find the manual, that is because it is a CD!! Which is pretty cool because now I can completely destroy the manual I printed, and I will still have an electronic copy. Second is that the vinyl (stickers) supplied with the kit are of very good quality, I am quite impressed with them. Third is that the rudder is on a pull system (I don't know the word for that system) and the servo is in the front (obviously), which I found kind of strange on a foamy this size, I didn't think CG would be too big of an issue. For today I do not believe I can do much (ran out of CA 3 days ago), so I plan on looking through the manual and getting an idea of how this plane goes together. Also if I can I will probably do all the gluing (epoxy) that is going to take a day or so to cure completely, just to get it out of the way. I plan on using mostly 30min epoxy rather than the suggested 5 to 15min epoxy, I want to do this just to create stronger joints. On the flip side though, I am going to need to clamp everything better till the epoxy cures, so it will not drip off or something of the sort. This thread is also posted on "RC Groups," as well.

Chase Hale

Specifications (of the plane)

_________Wing Span: 40in (101.6cm)
_________Wing Area: 350in^2 (2258cm^2)
____Fuselage Length: 35.5in (90.17cm)
Weight (Ready to Fly): 19-23oz (539-652g)
_______Wing Loading: 7.8 to 9.5 oz/ft^2 (2.4-2.9 kg/m^2)

More info is here : http://stores.3dxhobbies.com/-strse-...Kit/Detail.bok

[Larry3215]

I keep looking at one of these but haven't tried one yet.

Building a full fuse and full airfoil foamy from scratch is a lot of work - Ive done several over the years - but they sure look and fly better than flat foamies.

The price on these kits seems reasonable to me for what you get.

Im going to follow this with interest

[smokejohnson]

Subscribed. I love my Edge 540NX, not a full fuse but I like it just the same.

[Larry3215]

Am I remembering correctly that the NX fuse is flat but its still a built up/laminated fuse?

I cant remember if that was the Airfoilz or some other model.....

[Nitro Blast]

Hi Larry,

Yeah you build up the Airfoilz NX, but the fuses on the first (smaller ones) come already built.

[smokejohnson]

The fuselage is 2 halves milled out of Depron (6mm I think) with a pocket for a spar. You can see what I am talking about in this pic.

Mine does not fly like any of my other foamies, it is so much more crisp and responsive. It really does fly like a balsa profile 3D plane that I had.

[Larry3215]

Thanks guys.

That extra stiffness and twist resistance you get from the lamination process or from doing a full fuse is what makes them fly so much better in my opinion.

[helidude12]

Ok,
So yesterday I didn't get to work on this plane till late so I didn't do too much, plus I'm still out of CA. So yesterday the first thing I did was properly inspect the kit, to ensure its quality, and everything was A-Okay. The only thing I was a little worried about was middle bar for the "I-beam" (wing spar) it was warped in such a way that it would make it difficult to lay it perpendicular to the outer bars. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of the warp, though it was not too much, I have seen much worse. What I did to fix the warp is just wipe a solution of water and Windex, on the edge that I wanted to straighten, and then I "clamped" (not quite but that was the concept) the wood to a straight edge, and let it dry. I then did the same with the other 2 bars, before it got any worse.... the humidity in Atlanta, GA is horrible right now!!! according to the weather channel, where I am is "89 Fahrenheit, but feels like 96F" and "57% Relative humidity, and rising" ... but yeah, so after I straightened all the wood, I measured out the widths & depth of the wood so I could make marks to align with the middle beam. When I got the length I wanted, I adjusted my caliper to that length. Then I measured the wood where I wanted made a slight indention in the wood so that I could come back and mark it with sharpie (I did this about every 10 inches of a total 40in). Once I finished that, I then tacked the middle beam to one of the outer beams at the far end of both of them, and inserted pins at all my marked points, to hold the middle beam straight. Then I tacked the other end, and the center,,, for every tack I made sure the beams were perpendicular first,,,. Once I tacked it all, I applied wood glue to the entire corner of one side, and in little sections to the other corner. Then I got some tape and stuff to hold it down while it dried. *The reason why I did not fully glue one corner is because i want to be able to place a jig to hold the top beam perpendicular to the middle beam.* I then let it dry overnight, and here I am now.

Chase Hale

P.S. I'm going to probably make this plane look way more time consuming to build than it actually is because i have time to waste until i can buy all the electronics i need, and for that matter CA too... (btw that is not directed at you Larry)

P.S.S. If any one had any ideas about power system please give your opinion... Recommended by manual (not website) :

"This plane has been designed to use a 175 to 250 watt power system. Recommended motors include the Hacker A20-20L, Scorpion 2215-18, or AXI 2217-16 with a 20 to 25-amp speed controller, and a 1320 to 2100 mAh, 3S Li-poly battery with a 10x4.7 or 10x5 propeller. Other power systems with similar capabilities can be used. Performance will vary depending on the specific power system selected. For information on alternate power systems please visit http://3dxhobbies.com or your local hobby shop."

I like "Scorpion" motors, but in compairison to an equilivent "Hacker" they weight about 1oz more. so that is an automatic "NO"

also i like the "Hacker" suggested, but the A20-22L is a lot more efficient (at least in my mind) though not as power full but i think it would be better.

The set up i am looking for is a very light, and floaty feel, and definitely a hard 3D set up. (which doesn't necessarily mean heavy to me, more just good weight ratios, such that less is more "to say". Just my opinion)

Here are the electronics i already have, and are going to use:
-Thunderbird 36 (only .1oz heaver than the Tb18)
-Hs-65hb (going to try and lighten them a bit)
-AR6100e (may get a new one don,t know yet)

[helidude12]

Okay,
so it's been a while since my last post (trying to post something every day). So what I did in the last couple days is just take everything out of its packaging, and then take all the individual pieces out, and basically finish the spar.. its drying now... there is not too much to say, so I will talk about separating the pieces. so as you may have noticed in previous pictures, all the parts were never separated from their containing pieces, so you need to take them out. I started with the wood and most of the pieces just twisted out easily from their tabs, but for the ones that didn't come out easy, I just scored them on both sides with a knife and then was able to remove them.
**** The part sheets (only for the yak 54ff, and Zero ff) were not included on the CD, so I do not know the specific parts I need, but I found a way,,, The solution is... 99% of all the pieces you need to keep will be squared at the edges, and the scrap will be rounded, and look through the manual too.****
Once you have removed all the pieces, I suggest sanding all the tabs flush (if they are not already), you will only need to sand the ones that will later be touching other parts,, but if you are bored like me then you can sand them all[IMG]file:///C:/Users/CHASEH%7E1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]. Also after sanding the tabs I suggest dry fitting the frame now, you will be told to do it later in the manual, but it is usually better to just knock it out while you are already working on it[IMG]file:///C:/Users/CHASEH%7E1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif[/IMG]. then just cut the tabs on the foam, and you'll have all your pieces to assemble.

Here are some of the thickness' I callipered :
Inner Wing (towards fuselage) : 3.30mm
_______Outer Wing (wing tip) : 2.90mm
_______Fuselage Foam Pieces : 3.00mm
___________Rudder-Elevator : 6.20mm
____________Wooden Frame : 3.00mm
_____Control Horns (wooden) : 1.00mm

So it appears the wing is thinning as it goes out.

Thank you
Chase

[helidude12]

Sorry im not going to be able to get any pics up today, but i'll have some tomarrow of the fusalage assembly.

[smokejohnson]

No problems Chase, did you ever pick out your power system? I have the SuperTiger 10 on my Edge and I like it. I like the 10X7 prop with an 1800mah 3S.

[helidude12]

Hey SmokeJohnson, no I have yet to pick it, i was actually just coming here to make another post asking about it... yeah, that looks like it would work well,, but as of now I'm looking for a lighter set up if i can pull it of. (when i say "pull it off" i mean.. having less weight but about same flight time). I bet with that set up you can fly forever...... Just think how much fun us hobbyists will have when Thunder Power comes out with the "Perpetual Power ∞c/ ∞c G i Series" batteries, It will be a nice day on Jupiter (the i representing square root of "-1" )

[smokejohnson]

Perpetual Power ∞c/ ∞c G i Series

I'll take 2 please

[helidude12]

Okay,
Today I mainly worked on the fuselage. the first thing I did was finish sanding off all the tabs on the foam pieces. Then I test fitted my wing together so i could properly align a piece of foam on the fuselage (although i found out i didn't need to so). I then glued the piece (i'll point it out in a photo) and put some weights on it to get rid of the excess glue let it dry. Btw there is a photo of pieces laid on top of each other to show thickness...

___top: Control horns
______ frame
______ Rudder
Bottom: Fuselage

though i spent 4 1/2 hours working on this, and working hard it appears i did not get much done.

Chase

[helidude12]

Well ... I made a small post mid last week, but it never was posted, uggg.

Okay, well i plan on making a full post tomorrow, sorry its been so long too, been very busy in the last week, plus its allot longer without that post that didn't actually post, suits that it happened too, cause i didn`t save the txt as a document, as i usually do... but i will include that post with my one tomorrow, it was not much to start with... but once again i apologize for it being so long.

Thanks Chase

[smokejohnson]

Don't sweat it Chase, it's a hobby. Sometimes life happens .

[helidude12]

True Smokejohnson, but I feel it is my responsibility to keep you all updated, whether it is a long post or just a short update.. thus to me I am failing myself in that manor... but to the post...
Well today I finished all the gluing for the skins of the airframe, basically there are a bunch of extra supports to add so you have to glue them on. Most of them have to be a designated distance from the edge,,, I assume so you can sit the rest of the body in its place,,, on all these pieces they placed tabs so one would automatically have the correct distance rather than having to measure and mark then glue etc. then you cut any unwanted tabs off. The first thing I did was to mark the position of all the pieces with a pencil so I knew my boundaries for the glue. then I applied the glue ( I used epoxy rather than the suggested CA) and set the pieces where they belong, pined them and used a CD to press out any excess glue the wiped most of it off with a paper towel, but for the excess close to the corners, I used some scrap wood to get. Now I just took the pins out and let it dry,, and POW!! (my new catch phrase), your done.
Tomorrow it is time to tackle most the frame!!! then it will actually start looking like a plane

Thanks
Chase




Okay, so i just got an error my "security token" was missing thus i cant upload my pictures...... i will try again later... bet here is the txt at least.

[Gimpster]

These really are nice planes. I built and flew a full-fuse Extra 260 two years ago and it was an absolute pleasure to fly. This year I built one of the new NX series and it looks great but it has yet to become introduced to flight.

[helidude12]

NICE!!!, yeah i cant wait to get mine build and fly it!!!!

Here are the pics

[helidude12]

ok, well i had been trying to think how i was going to assemble the frame, and i figured it out,,, but i dont have the clamps i need,,, and i am also ging to florida on Wednesday, sooo... its going to be a week or so untill i can get to work on it again... so expect a new post around then

Thanks
Chase