New Yak 54 by Great Planes

[bob forest]

Hi, I will be posting pics and info on a new kit by GP, the Yak 54. I am building it for someone and will be commenting on the construction and quality of the kit. It is an ARF, I just opened the box, will be taking pics of it. So far it looks really good, the packaging and wrapping is excelent. Does not seem to have any damage.

[beto9]

Yeah, the Chinese make a good job at it....

[bob forest]

Ok, now you see how the box came, and then took out the instruction book and read through it, as fast as I could. The first thing I took out was the left wing panel, and started to iron the covering, to get rid of the wrinkles. I needed my iron very hot as this material they use takes alot of heat to get rid of the wrinkles. I must of spent a good half hour on one wing panel. I must say though the colours are beautiful, and in no way I could do a covering job like this. So ironing is not a big deal. Also the wing is a build up wing, so it is very light.

[bob forest]

The left wing panel is now iron out, also I have installed the Robarts hinges, and use Gorilla glue to glue them in, rather than epoxy. Especially with gassers, the vibration that these engines cause, can somehow loosen the epoxy, where as with the Gorrilla glue, which expands a great deal, so you only need a small amount, no cracks can happen with this glue, I have been using it now for a couple of years, and never have had an elevator or rudder or ailorons come loose, due to the vibration loosening the epoxy, and forget about the CA hinges in the larger planes.

[Kevin Rochon]

Hi Bob and all,

Looks good I'm still thinking of getting that one to replace my Old Cap which would become my backup plane.

The best way to take off wrinkles and for that matther any open surface is to use the heat gun, and don't be affraid to put it close, it will take out 99.99% of wrinkles and doesn't leave scratches.

As for Epoxy my Cap which has probably over a thousand flights and 2 crashes, the Robarts Hinges has never come loose. I usually put some on that hinge itself and in the hole with some vaseline on the pivot.

Is the Yak,specially the fuse belly, good construction or flimsy like the Extra 260 (Hangar 9).

Kevin:suspicious:

[bob forest]

I am not at the fuse yet, but from a kwick look, it looks like a foam core, then sheeted.
It is a really striking looking plane. I am now finished installing the ailorons, all glue in. The covering came out really nice on the wings. My heat gun lost the high heat end, only has the low heat. Hanger Nine gun. I don't think I will get another one. I wonder if it can be repaired, when it worked, it worked fine.
Also, Kevin, when are you going to fly, I have a surprise for you, a prop.
I went to where we had the huts last year, there is another road further down, free, someone even cleaned a pathway for cars. I drove down, no problem, the ooad to the ice is a little steaper than where the hut was, but I had no problem with the Versa So might be nice to meet there one Friday or Sat, or Sunday

[bob forest]

By the way, the green masking tape, I use for a reason. It is a low sticky tape, wont pull off the small trim lines, or life the covering. I find the regular masking tape pulls a lot on the covering, and if you leave it there for a few days, you could be in a lot of trouble. Where as the green tape you can leave it there for more than a few day, and no problems taking it off.

[bob forest]

I iron the fuse, I can't get over the amount of heat this material takes, I am sure it is monokote. You can see the bottom of the fuse is foam, and the outside is sheeted. I now did the rudder, with the Robarts, and gorilla glue. For the first couple of hours I will change the position of the fuse so that the gorilla glue flows to different places. Also I make sure to put vasaline on the leading and trailing edge of the surfaces I am installing the hinges. The reason, there is alway some of the gorilla glue that leaks outside of the hinge, and hardens, so by having the vasaline, it peals off very easily. Again, I use the green masking tape, with no worries of pulling up the monokote, sometimes I forget I have done the work, and I don't go in the garage to look at what was done for maybe a couple of days, and if I would of used the regular masking tape, could be a problem of peeling off. With the green stuff, no problem.
Also you notice the canopy. It comes as you see it, screwed down, so they recommend to glue it in place, which I will do, and then use the 4 screws that held it in place. I do not have to worry about making sure if it is on correctly, all that work was done by Great Planes. Quiet a nice kit so far, enjoying working on it.

[bob forest]

For those that have never seen the gorilla glue bottle, here it is. Why is it called gorilla, must be on account of it's strengh, or because it has a picture of the gorilla.

[beto9]

Many years back I bought these plastic syringes that are great to apply glue in tight places or when you want to be very precise how much and where you apply.
The brand name is Monojet and the curved tip makes it very easy. If it becomes clogged just cut a little bit and continue. I use a plastic wine cork to cap them
A picture is worth 1000 words or 1,000,000 Argentinean pesos....
I am sure they can be found or ordered from our friends the hobby shops.
This one is filled with Gorilla glue, you can see the gorilla hairs all over it....:robo:
Much easy to work with than the coarse tip of the original bottle.

[bob forest]

Many years back I bought these plastic syringes that are great to apply glue in tight places or when you want to be very precise how much and where you apply.
The brand name is Monojet and the curved tip makes it very easy. If it becomes clogged just cut a little bit and continue. I use a plastic wine cork to cap them
A picture is worth 1000 words or 1,000,000 Argentinean pesos....
I am sure they can be found or ordered from our friends the hobby shops.
This one is filled with Gorilla glue, you can see the gorilla hairs all over it....:robo:
Much easy to work with than the coarse tip of the original bottle.lb
Albert, I was always too polite to ask you why your planes were alway hairy. now I know, thanks for that info.
Bob

[bob forest]

Well, today did the tail wheel assembly. very time consuming. Never seen one like this, but it looks pretty good once installed.
I must say, everything fits as it should.
Also did the main landing gears, with the open wheel pants. You can see inside how each landing bracket is held on by 3 bolts. This is the same set up as my Lanier 30% Yak. I feel this could be a weak point in both planes, I guess we will see when we fly them.The paper covering the landing gear is in case it rains in my garage. You can also see the tight gap on the rudder in the last picture. This is what you want, a nice tight gap, no air turbelance, gives you much more sensitive controls.

[Kevin Rochon]

These syringes are available by Hobbico also BTW.


Kevin :blink:

P.S. I see that the way the landing gear is attach you can't afford to have a rough landing!

[bob forest]

These syringes are available by Hobbico also BTW.


Kevin :blink:
Kevin, do you have them at the store.
Bob

[Kevin Rochon]

Yes 2, 2.99$ each

Kevin

[stephane.savard]

For those of you interested in saving money, you can get LePage PL Premium Liquid glue at Reno Depot; same size bottle than the gorilla glue, but costs less. It looks, smells and acts exactly the same as gorilla glue.

So far it has at least the same shelf life as the gorilla glue (my own gorilla glue bottle became a solid lump over the summer between building seasons :) )

[beto9]

Humidity triggers the setting of that glue. With the syringe you don't let any in so it will last a long time... except when refilling...

[xed]

Oh no, you guys are going to ruin a company's profits with these trade secrets. Less wasted glue means less sales. But it is a great idea, the syringe, as I have a small bottle of this stuff that is starting to harden after 2 years. I've been squeezing as much air out of it as possible before putting the cap back on but I think it manages to suck it back in over time.

[stephane.savard]

I use a syringe for the carpenter's glue I use for building my planes, but never thought of using it for the polyurethane glue, I'm gonna have to try it.

And that syringe of Albert's looks much better than the one I use - I got mine at jean-coutu and it's for feeding medicine to babies I think. The nice thing about it though is that it has a cap, and came with what looks like an oversized rubber grommet used to transfer the glue/liquid from the bottle to the syringe.

[bob forest]

I am now in the process of glueing the stab in, the lining up. Again, I use the box to raise the model, so that I can install the wings, and not hit anything on the bench. Also easier for me to walk under the wings back and forth to check things out. First time I have all together to have a look at how she will be once finished, looks like a pretty nice plane.

[bob forest]

First day back in the shop, still not well enough to go flying, but doing a little work on the Yak. installed the servo, then did the masking of the plywood area on the ailoron. took the ruler and lined up for the horn placement. then screwed in the horn, then took the srews back out and put CA into the holes then waited till the ca hardened then put back the horn, very solid.
I know for some this is old stuff, but we do have a lot of new modelers in the club, and this info could help them, even though written in the manuals, but sometimes hard to understand. Hope this helps

[Dwight Macdonald]

I like the large checker board on the bottom of the wing!

[bob forest]

airlorons all done, and also elevators. Now going to do engine install, Steve is getting the motor mounts drilled and then will do the install. coming along well. :cool:

[bob forest]

Still working on the Yak. Now doing the prep for the engine installation. As this is a Weed eater conversion, a little different set up. With standard motor mounts but spread wide, so had to but some large bolts and blind nuts. epoxied all the blind nuts in place then lock tite on the bolts.

[bob forest]

Hi, now working on the fit of the cowling, and the cut out for the engine head and pitts style muffler. Also the placement of the electronic ignition. So far everything is going very well, should make a nice real flying plane.