Yak 52 Russian Trainer Balsa GP/EP 1540mm (ARF)

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

some plus and some minuses

Nov 29, 2016

Very twitchy in flight. needs lots of expo and a deft hand. Not a first time flier. Flies like its on rails. Very quick. OS 55AX with 12 X 6 prop and Bison pits muffler, 10oz rotor flow tank, robart retracts and 2.25" wheels. Pulls hard to the left on roll out. Lots of rudder and stay off the ailerons or a ground loop will result. Lands well on a tar strip but can be very tricky on grass.
Construction is unfortunately very poor. Low grade wood and could be glued better. Balsa is very soft - adhesive covering may affect the wood some. Cowl painting very haphazard.
Should be built with flaps as landing is very quick and long. I am on my third but have deconstructed my 2nd for structural reinforcement and inclusion of custom flaps. In a 60 or 120 size, this aircraft would be absolutely awesome. Very heavy for a 40. Glides well but stalls easily.
Overall - I love this aircraft.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

some plus and some minuses

Nov 29, 2016

Very twitchy in flight. needs lots of expo and a deft hand. Not a first time flier. Flies like its on rails. Very quick. OS 55AX with 12 X 6 prop and Bison pits muffler, 10oz rotor flow tank, robart retracts and 2.25" wheels. Pulls hard to the left on roll out. Lots of rudder and stay off the ailerons or a ground loop will result. Lands well on a tar strip but can be very tricky on grass.
Construction is unfortunately very poor. Low grade wood and could be glued better. Balsa is very soft - adhesive covering may affect the wood some. Cowl painting very haphazard.
Should be built with flaps as landing is very quick and long. I am on my third but have deconstructed my 2nd for structural reinforcement and inclusion of custom flaps. In a 60 or 120 size, this aircraft would be absolutely awesome. Very heavy for a 40. Glides well but stalls easily.
Overall - I love this aircraft.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Oct 17, 2016

I had my maiden with the YAK yesterday and it flies very well. My setup
Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 – 5045 – 500kv
Hobbywing Skywalker 80A ESC
external 5A Turnigy BEC
Master Airscrew 12x8 Prop with hobbyking alu spinner
Servoless Retract with Metal Trunion 44mm x 41mm Mount
Hobbyking OLEOS
4 x Corona DS329MG Digital Metal Gear Servo 3.8kg
Important is, that the recommended Corona servos are all too small. They do not fit in the mounting holes (in the wings and the fuselage also) without some modification respectively some additional plywood to make the holes smaller!
I’m flying with 6S 5000mAh, lipo weight is about 785g. The complete setup has a weight of 3,5kg and the plane flies very stable. Landings are also no problem even though the YAK has no flaps.
The thrust is about 3kg so it’s enough power to recover the plane out of a critical situation.
I can recommend this plane. If it’s not in stock, search for the VQ YAK-52, it’s the same model.
Very nice is that there are three additional foil pieces in the three colors of the plane included to repair cuts or other damage on the foil.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Apr 13, 2015

Brilliant plane, went together very well, although the landing gear plates were slightly too large so i had to trim them down, but that was expected from an ARF. Also bought the asp46 2 stroke motor and in general very pleased, took a hairdryer for the first start to heat the inner sleeve, but works and runs very well for 40 with an enya 3 glowplug. plane flies very well, has a good aerobatic capability and hobbyking have done a great job on the covering. even included some cover patches which were very handy. well done hobbyking!

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Apr 03, 2015

I paid just under 100 euro's for thison sale, and at that price it has to be the biggest bargain ever. Superbly finished, excellently built, more or less comprehenisible instructions and a very forgiving nature in your workshop: I am delighted. I added a second pilot (available from HK), cobbled up some generic retracts with aluminum oleo's (the 'prescribed' ones are not available from HK), mounted the cheapest .52 two-stroke (possibly slightly overpowered) that HK had on sale and added a set of lights -and some wooden props. It looks GREAT, costs not too much and as soon as spring hits, will fly like a dream -I hope. If the instructions had been a tad better (e.g. for how to cut and mount the cowl) I would have given 5 stars. For now, I am just delighted, expecting to really wow them at the club!

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Dec 09, 2014

Als ich die Box geffnet habe wurde die Begeisterung mit jedem aus gepackten Teil groesser. Bis auf einen kleinen Schoenheitsfehler am Hoehenleitwerk. Da ist wohl ein Tropfen Kleber ueber die Folie gelaufen. Ausgerechnet oben so das man es sieht. Mal sehen ob man das entfernen kann. Ansonsten sehr gute Qualitaet. Die bedruckte Folie zeigt viele Details. Hab schon eine Yak9. Wenn die Yak52 auch so gut fliegt, ja dann !