rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Aside from you, I've not heard or read any complaints about this airframe.  Perhaps you should have spent more time setting it up?  Set-up is everything no matter what you fly. 
When I get her dialed in, I'll let you know if I think your criticism is justified.  It might be a while because I haven't started  on it yet.  Been dialing-in another good flying Yak.

RJ<br type="_moz"/>

flygilmore

It was set up just fine and I have been flying giant scale for 10+yrs. If you haven't read any other criticisms then you haven't searched much! Take a look over on FG and see if you can find any posts on it. My comparison is based on flying other high end planes that truly are designed for 50cc engines (ex. Extreme Flight, Peak, AW, Pilot etc.). The GP Yak cannot hold a candle to these true 50ccer's as it is very overweight for its wing area having some 300sq. in less and having to support the same equipment. If you have not ever flown a "great" 50cc plane then of course you don't know what you are missing and it would seem to fly fine.

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

I've searched FG, youtube, and the other forums for info on the GP Yak and haven't found any criticism of the kind you've stated. l've owned and flown a 30% Wildhare Giles 202 and MX2 and can compare it to those. I'll find out for myself as soon as I get her together ...which shouldn't be too much longer.
I'm not a 3D flyer but, have seen a few videos where it is flying 3D in grand style. Of course, that's with a 50 to 55cc engine.
I plan to install a 50cc on mine and use it for IMAC. It should do what Iwant with style and grace. It's a well built ariplane and should last a long time. The only criticism I've found concerns the main gear which has already been beefed up. Ibought this one used (at a good price) and it's in great condition.

I also fly a Seagull Yak 54 (90 size) with a 26cc gas and a Seagull Spacewalker II 120 with a 26cc gas and have a Goldwing Edge 540T in the box.

RJ

Uncas

My Feedback: (1)

Rowdyjoe,
You obviously have this plane and the desire to fly it. It is a beautiful plane and I have received many compliments at the field with mine. I wish you the best of luck with it and I think it will be a great IMAC plane.

Having owned this plane for years I understand why flygilmore makes his comments and I tend to agree. As a 3D plane, the GP YAK comes up short, the main problem being the heavy wing loading. I don't think I could ever recommend it to anyone, but since you already have it - I hope you enjoy it. One problem was the Brillelli which we used. I had a DA-50 in it for a time and that improved the performance. My Brillelli eventulally became very unreliable dead -sticking many times. I finally crashed it on a badly handled dead stick last year. I do not really regret the loss. Now a plane I would HIGHLY recommend for 3D is the GP Ultimate Bipe.

I never had any problem with the GP hardware, including the gear. I did have a very serious problem with aileron flutter using Hitec HS-645's. As I stated earlier in this thread, I switched to lesser torque digitals and the problem disappered. It was not a torque issue but more of needing a tight deadband - being able to lock/hold position. Maybe some call that centering?

Good Luck!

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Thanks for your comments and opinon. Ihate to hear of anyone wrecking a plane so, I'm sorry for the loss of your bird.
Yes, I'm very much looking forward to flying this plane. It is a beauty and hard to resist. I had considered selling it but, just couldn't let it go without flying it. So, Ibought an engine and will install good equipment to give it the best chance at success.
As I stated earlier, I'm not a 3D pilot (I'm barely a 2D pilot ...whatever that is?) so, won't have to worry about this bird's worthiness in that realm. I expect that it will fly most of the IMAC maneuvers well in the hands of a good pilot. I'm not quite in that category yet but, I'm looking forward to learning what this plane has to teach me.

I have a flying buddy in our club who is an excellent pilot and owned one of these birds a while back. He flew 3D with it using a 50cc engine and it performed well for him although he did mention that he had a few mishaps with it. Like you, he said it should be a good IMAC performer but, it wasn't the best 3D bird he's flown.

I'm hoping it will fly straight and true and be an honest and predictable flyer. If does that, I'll be happy.

RJ

rowdyjoe

My Feedback: (9)

Sorry to leave you hanging for so long. Ifinally got the bird together and put a new but, "old style"(side carb) 52cc engine on it and it flew very well. Didn't notice anything "heavy" about the bird. It was a good honest machine. The only negaitve Ihave is the short gear. It makes it difficult to mount anything longer than a 20" prop. It flew pretty well with a 20x10 Xoar but, wish Icould have used a 22x8.
Ihad it and flew it for a couple of weeks and then turned the airframe into sticks via a really dumb move on my part. Sad to see it go. It was a great bird for my purpose.

RJ

Uncas

My Feedback: (1)

Sorry for your loss Rowdyjoe. My expreience with the Yak was that it was not very forgiving - wrecked mine several times.

Now if you are going to buy another plane I highly recommend the GP Ultimate Bipe! Or even the big Reactor- though I have never flown it. Both planes have massive wing area.

tkeeg

I'm posting this information in case anyone still monitors this thread or is interested in this plane.
I bought this Great Planes Yak-54 25% size plane about 10 years ago and flew it with a 50cc gas motor for a few years, then put the plane in storage as I got into only flying electric planes. I had planed to do a gas to electric conversion of this plane, but never got around to it until recently.
I put in an E-Flite 160 motor, a Castle Creations 120amp HV speed controller, two 5s 5000mAh Lipo batteries hooked in series, (making it a 10s system at 40 volts), with a 20x10 APC electric prop.
My Yak is heavier than most as I put lots of extra support, both wood & aluminum in the bottom of the plane for the landing gear support. I also replaced the stock aluminum landing gear with a very heavy duty carbon fiber gear that is extremely strong along with aluminum bracing between the legs of the gear. All of this, along with the large batteries brought the weight of my plane up to a whopping 18 lbs, 2 oz!
My maiden flight of the converted plane was yesterday. I was a bit concerned that the extreme weight of the plane might make it very slow & sluggish and was not sure how much flight time I would get. I hooked a Lipo battery alarm to each of the two batteries and mounted them outside the plane on the landing gear. I set the alarm level for a cell voltage of 3.3 volts to alert me when the battery was getting low so I would hear it an know that it was time to land.
As I began my take off run it was immediately evident that I had plenty of power and the plane completed a flawless take off and soared up into the sky. All I can say is WOW. Plenty of power for my kind of flying, (scale & aerobatics), and the sound was very much like a real plane, I guess due to the custom cowl baffle that I had left in the cowl from the earlier gas motor that I used to have installed.
The only downside is that I only have a safe flight time of about 6 minutes. Other than that I am thrilled with the performance of this plane. The extra weight seemed to make it even easier to do perfect, greased in landings.
I just thought that I would post my experience in case someone was thinking of doing the same.