Two receivers hooked up.

Still waiting for the headers to arrive so I finished the radio install. Got both receivers hooked up and all the servos programmed. One receiver controls the left side of the plane and one the right side. Each rudder servo is plugged into separate receivers.

With so much room it was easy to place everything where I needed to balance the plane. I wanted to do a push/pull on the rudder but that would make this plane very tail heavy so I used the self-adjusting SRW servo tray for a pull/pull.

Tail wheel is complete and the removable rudder wire is secure with a small carbon strap I made.

About the only thing left now is getting exhaust mounted so the maiden should be soon. Stand by.

 

 

 

 

 

Custom tuned pipe tunnel

The tuned pipes do not fit!

Seems like I hit the wall at every turn this week. The headers I purchased at Joe Nall were to long of a drop at 70mm soooo I had to order another set at 50mm drop. They will then need to be trimmed down to 12” length. The can tunnel box in the plane will barely fit can mufflers so I will really have to make some big mods to make them work.

First I had to completely cut out the factory rudder servo tray. Then I cut 2 ¾” circles in the back of the box for the pipes to slide through. I re-enforced the bottom of the fuse where the pipes will exit with 1/8”x3/8” spruce. When the new headers arrive I will close the box around the new tuned pipe exit to keep the heat out of the fuselage.

The ignition and radio switches are installed waiting to be plugged in.

I decided it was a good evening to itch my arms so I cut all the vents in the fiberglass cowl. This cowl is so much bigger I had to enlarge my custom templates.

 

Pilot RC 40% Yak 54

40% Yak 54  130” wing span. This is a big one. GP 176, MTW Headers, Pro Flow Smooth Pipe tuned pipes, Fromeco Batteries, Harris competition smoke pump, 13 Hitec 7950 TH servos guided by two Futaba 14 channel receivers. This plane was special ordered direct from the manufacture with the custom scheme.

Building from the center out.

I am first mounting everything I cannot move i.e. engine, wheels, muffler etc. I then put the plane on the balancer and start placing the tanks, smoke pump and batteries where the CG needs to be.

Unfortunately this plane did not come with a pipe tunnel so I am going to have to design and build one. The factory rudder servo tray is directly where the tune pipes need to exit so some serious modifications will need to be made. I think the dremel and band saw are going to get a good work out.

 

Note the yard stick. Rudder stands 3 feet off the ground.

The green machine fly's again!

Finished and test flight success!!!!

Friday the cowl arrived late so I planned to paint it and mount it Saturday. Once I saw the plane could be finished and ready to fly if I just had the engine back from DA I decided to pull my new engine out of my SBACH and put it in Wayne’s Yak until his came back.  I was excited to see this plane get back in the air.  So I called Wayne and told him to bring some gas to the field Sunday, I don’t think he really believed me.

The only cowl available from the US distributer was one for a different scheme so I had to paint it.

I added some clues where the fuel goes.

By 9:00pm the plane was in the trailer and ready.

Test flight went perfect. We just needed to adjust the throttle servo a bit and Wayne was back to hovering on the deck. Well a little higher as he built his confidence back up.

It’s great to see the green machine back in the air but in all the excitement I forgot to take pictures.

 

 

Wings are finished

Wow, I feel like things progressed really well today. The wing sheeting has been fixed and even re-covered. I got the smoke pump, tank and gas tank installed. Even the throttle servo is in waiting to be connected the engine.

The only cowl we could get was a yellow one so I will need to airbrush it Apple Green when it comes in.

About the only thing left is to GAS it up and test fly it.

Keep it straight.

I did all the measurements to make sure everything was put back together straight. After repairing both main stringers and two formers down the fuselage I checked for twist and banana shape which can be common with repaired fuselages. I happy to report it was perfect.

The rudder is repaired, covered and back on the fuse. All the bottom stringers on the fuse have been spliced and replaced.

Most of the balsa needed to be replaced around the wing support and this was the hardest area to keep straight while gluing but thankfully CA with zip kicker made this go by pretty quick.

The engine box is painted and waiting for the engine to return from DA. Next I will strip part of the wings and begin the skin and tip repair.

Engine Box Complete

Day two.

The engine box is attached to the fuse and sandwiched with ply stringers going back 8” into the main walls of the fuse and epoxied in place. It’s probably stronger than factory.

The correct right and down thrust came out perfect.

I am glad most of the sanding is over, if I sneeze one more time I think my head will come off.

Much of the bottom of the fuse is soaked with smoke oil so after cleaning and sanding I applied a generous amount of Cover Grip so the new covering will adhear to the wood.

I should have the fuse complete, firewall fuel proofed, painted and ready for covering tomorrow and then onto the rudder and wings. I see a re-maiden flight next weekend.

 

Right angle thrust.

Cleaning the smoke oil off.

Sandwich bottom stringers going back into the can tunnel.