Well I thought I'd show you guys what I'm up to lately.
Unfortunately, my 74" Extreme Flight Yak took a dump a while back and ruined the fuse beyond repair (receiver locked up about 50' up, and went in nose first). Fortunately the wings and tail section are salvageable.
So this means I need to make an awesome profile to utilize the wings and elevators from it.
I just received a DL20 Gas engine which should be perfect for this project. A buddy of mine just got one and put it in an OMP 67"Fusion and it is ballistic.

The Yak will have a 69" wingspan and 61" in length. I'm guesstimating the weight to be around 7.5 to 8 lbs.

My Phlatprinter is loving this 3/4" foam. I'm cutting it with the stock 1/8" bit at 100 ipm in a single pass, yeah baby!
Here is what I have cut so far. Attached files

 

WOW Shaun you have out done yourself this time! That is AWESOME looking!
Thanks for posting
Mark and Trish

 

Shaun, this is gonna be an incredible project! I will be watching with notepad in hand, as I have been wanting to work up a similar project.

Keep us posted!!

 

Its really cool how you did the wiring recesses. I really like how they cut over through the holes. Nice job
Mark and Trish

 

Progress report.

1/6" ply front end cut out on the Phlatprinter.


Hardwood parts glued in. The canopy area needed to be reinforced so I can have the canopy area cut out.


Right side of the fuselage sheeted.


I found a good use for some dead batteries I have laying around, glad I didn't recycle them yet lol.
This is the left side drying.


I forgot to metion earlier the foam is 3/4" white styrene foam. The sheeting is 1/16" ply up front and 1/16" balsa in the back. I will be capping the outer perimeter of the fuse with 1/8" balsa.
I'm getting closer... Attached files

 

Great designing, Shaun!

 

Its really nice to see how well those wood parts go together!
'Mark and Trish

 

Thanks guys!

I used 30 minute epoxy and gorilla glue to glue things together. The fuselage is very strong but it still fairly light for its size.

I am putting a DLE 20 20cc gas engine on it. The engine produces around 14lbs of thrust and the plane total weight should be around 7.5 to 8lbs.

 

I've decided before building the Phlatprinter I need to get more work done on the profile so I can get it out of the way. Very tough decision though.

Here is what I got so far. Attached files

 

Shaun that is looking great!

 

Not much further now. I still need to cover the rudder.

Attached files

 

Shaun, that is looking awesome! One question tho- how are you planning to keep the gas out of the foam? Last I checked, the two should never meet. Would seem like there is some potential for a 5 min flight to get interesting as the plane turns into a glob of goop with balsa wings!

 

Good question. I have seen quite a few giant "foamies" suffer from this. Byron had a few giant foam airplanes awhile back, and the few at our field suffered this. The problem with them was it was a standard firewall mount, not the type you are using. Also there was no sheeting.

With that said, the build LOOKS GREAT. There was a guy that used to visit our field a while back that used to bring a Giant profile much like yours, only he had foam ribs in the wing/tail, and the wing/tail was sheeted with foam, and covered with iron on covering. He had a ZDZ80 in it, and this was the first plane I ever saw do a real knife edge loop. He would bottom out of the knife edge loop less than a wing span from the ground. REALLY neat stuff. Last I heard the plane was stuffed after many years of hard flying, and the gas wasn't a problem getting to the foam.

 

Thanks guys!

Toast,
The foam has been sheeted with balsa the I used ultracote to cover it. Gas isn't going to get in there.

 

Wow, Shaun! This thing is looking very nice! Talk about turning lemons into lemonade (crashed plane resulting in a new project to use up the leftover good pieces).

I can hardly wait for a finished product and a flight report!

 

Yeah man! And I'm sure I'm gonna like the way it flies better than before. I like big profiles.

 

Hey Doug,

Yes I have but I like electric for the 40 size and under. When this DL20 came out I was very excited. I like electric and all, but there is just something about the gas planes I like more.

 

Looks like a real winner Shaun. The proportions for motor to weight for the design just makes me smile Really looking forward to the vids. Should give lots of cheap flying with great performance.

Byron Models were a descent ARF for the day and many met their end do to fuel soak failure, (thou most were in flight servo strips(flutter)). But if they were wiped down when landed they could last a while. Tank or line failure was the point of no return for that media. Anyone recall what they looked like when they hit hard? Like someone just shredded a big $4 foam ice chest while tossing a bowling ball(the motor) Usually a 100 piece crash minimum.

btw-

Isn't weird how we remember those things. Another, 'you know your an RC nut when' answer.

 

Wow, tbird. You just brought back some memories for me! If Byron Originals were around today, they would be uber-successful in the electric market! I wonder if the molds are still around? Hmmm...

 

The Yak Flies!

I am very happy with the way this plane turned out. It flies awesome! The characteristics are far better than when it was a 74" full fuse. It has a lighter wing loading which I'm sure is one of the reasons it flies so great.
Engine is still in breakin stage so I probably wont get too low until I can trust the engine more.
A friend got some video and put it on his youtube account. After I get the engine broke in some I'll get some more video.

The best part now is I can start building my Phlatty 3.






Attached files