YAK 54 1.4m Kit EPO w / Brushless Motor / Servos

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Customer Rated

Dec 11, 2012

(My review continued) which isn't enough for me.

As far as the major complaint goes, that is the foam hinges on the ailerons and elevator. While working them a bit to free them up before assembly, they started to fail. It is obvious to me they wouldn't have lasted long in flight. So I replaced them with good pin style hinges like the included ones for the rudder. I think Hobby King should include these hinges for all of the control surfaces, not just the rudder.

With the included prop the motor pulls about 44 amps at 23.6 volts, for about 930 watts at full throttle. With a 3000 mah battery it will go straight up indefinitely. I added weight to the battery to see how it would do with a 5000 mah battery, and it flies great but won't quite hover. But for the type of sport flying I do I am going to order Some 5000 mah batteries to get longer flight times, if I want to do any 3d stuff I will just use the smaller batteries. luckily, their is plenty of room in the battery compartment to use bigger batteries, and still be able to slide them fore and aft to get the CG right. Best CG location so far, seems to be about 10-20 mm behind the wing spar, but I am still playing with that.

Overall I am really happy with this plane, it is one of the nicest airplanes I have purchased for this small amount of money. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it looks and performs.

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Customer Rated

Dec 11, 2012

I have now flown my Yak 54 1.4m EPO enough that I thought I would give a review here. So far I am really happy with it, It flies great and is easier to land than I expected. I have also accidentally tested how tough it is when I flew behind some trees and lost site of it. When I went to find it, to my surprise, it seemed to have done an acceptable job of landing itself. It impacted the ground going fast, but in a fairly level attitude. Other than the cowling and air scoop being full of dirt, the only damage was the landing gear was bent rearward, the prop was broken, and the aluminum ears on the motor mount were bent. Only took me about 20 minutes to clean it up, straighten the bent parts, instal a new prop, and it was flying again. After washing the dirt off of the EPO foam, it turned out to not be damaged at all, that is some tough foam.

My only complaints, other than that the Turnigy Thrust 75 amp esc I ordered with it arrived DOA, are pretty minor except for one. The minor gripes are that the two hour assembly time is not correct, it took me considerably longer than that. And while starting an outside loop from inverted, the canopy flew off. No damage to the airplane or the canopy (once I found it), but I am definitely going to have to find a better way to secure it than the magnets it came with. Also, a 3000 mah battery only gives you about five minutes of flight time, wh

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Customer Rated

Dec 22, 2011

watch my video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zptkP-7z_8&context=C37b7031ADOEgsToPDskLaPUy8r4zyMr3q9kmw_G6B

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Customer Rated

Mar 30, 2011

El modelo vuela muy bien. La construccion en EPO es de buena calidad y robusta. Los accesorios no sirven, hay que poner todo nuevo y de buena calidad. El motor original se rompio durante el primer vuelo (se aflojaron los imanes y se engran) Hoy lo vuelo con un TGY AerodriveXp 42-50 de 650Kv (SK series). Estoy por cambiar en BEC por uno de 100A y la lipo por una de 5000 6S 30C porque lo que tengo es insuficiente para un vuelo de 10 min. En general dira que estoy satisfecho con la compra.

Try to include as much data as possible.

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Customer Rated

Mar 25, 2011

The color manual appears to be very good until you start assembling
the plane. It leaves out many details like leave the wings off until the wing bolts are inserted because of clearance issues with the servo. The plane was not designed with CAD and shows up in several assembly problems.
The plane flew very well until I attempted a high speed pass. The
elevator fluttered and tore itself off and then straight down into the
ground. Smashed to smithereens. A foam hinge is not very strong.

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Customer Rated

Jan 24, 2011

After 15 flights here's some more info:

1. Wire U/C is to light for the size of the plane. Needs an aluminium frame style to support the weight. Flatten mine even on the gentlest of landings.

2. Flies very nice but stall characteristics are a little unpredictable with slightly higher wing loadings (in my case only 200grams).

3. C of G seems further forward than stated. I'm interested in hearing from others on this. It's seems to fly best nose heavy, but then this makes the stall character quite edgy, especially when attempting slower landings.

Hope this helps.

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Customer Rated

Dec 28, 2010

Tested the motor in this for 2 minutes and the rear shaft collet bound to the rear stator case and caused the wires to get wound around the shaft and almost melt. The motor got extremely hot before I started to smell something was not right. Main shaft grub screws were also loose, so please check them when you get your plane. Not sure if the motor will still run after I've repaired and re-assembled it??..

There were some additional issues with small items throughout the planes hardware but all in all, a well made kit that should be great when I do get around to flying it.

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Customer Rated

Oct 19, 2010

Hi, anybody manage to find the CG of this plane? It's also difficult to look for 3740 500kv motor apart from the stock.

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Customer Rated

Sep 23, 2010

Just did my maiden. Squirly on the ground. While in the air, did a couple rolls(very good role rate, set at 80%), did a snap flip and it almost went into a stall but kept it's posture. Didn't get a chance to do any 3d because after about 20 seconds in, heard something go.-did a good job at floating in. Motor kinda fell apart, and it brough my esc with it too doesn't work anymore. Might want to get a better motor. Still love this plane though.

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Customer Rated

Sep 18, 2010

I got the kit few days ago and after many hours I am somewhat disappointed.

Overall the kit is very nice,but 2hrs... forget about it.

the manual is... well its not. most of the things you have to find out your self.

my servo tray was preinstalled the wrong way (and it can't be fixed), so longer pushrods are needed.

the wings are not painted and the supplied sticker came wrinkled.

the EPO parts are ok, but all the accessories are low quality.