Extreme Flight 110" Yak54 - GP-123

[Joe Hunt]

I'm going to add a slot closer to the servo... like I did here on my Pilot RC 122" Extra.

[Joe Hunt]

Okay, I got out to the garage for a couple of more hours...

I finished all the hinging (all I had left was the rudder) and it's really nice.

I decided it was time to put it on the gear... so I put together the stock tailwheel. If you want to make a flat spot for the set screw to tighten on you have to be accurate as it will impact the wheel alignment. Also, I found two of the three collars and set screws unusable. I tried, because a collar is a collar to me. But, no dice. So, I broke out some DUBRO collars and used them to hold on the wheel.

[Joe Hunt]

I was looking at the tiller arm setup and thinking this would only work if you drill a hole big enough for the balljoint to be glued into the bottom of the rudder. I checked the manual for the first time and that is what it says to do. haha So I did.

[Joe Hunt]

Putting on the landing gear was a bit tricky. I put the bolts in from the top and to keep the washers on and the bolts on the ball driver I lathered them up with RTV. Then I put the fuse on its side and threadlocked on the lock nuts.

[Joe Hunt]

Finally on the gear!

[Joe Hunt]

I put the axles, tires, and spats on today. I went ahead and gave the stock axles a try. But, not the stock axle collars. Two of the collars were missing and the other two were pretty poorly tapped and threaded. I couldn't get them to work. So, I used the stock axles with DUBRO collars. The stock tires looked good, too. But, I went ahead and put some 4" DUBRO treadlites on, although I plan on going to 4-1/2" soon.

I painted the inside of the spat silver, because it looked unfinished. I also got some graphics on that I got from www.p1hobbies.com.

[Joe Hunt]

Again, I flew a Mike Domo's V2 and loved it... so I got this one. I would have tried the stock hinges (adding one to each end of each surface) but when I saw Jeff Leshinsky's similar looking china round hinges all fail totally in less than 30 flights on his other brand ARF I got paranoid. haha

I am going to give it a try even though these piano wire jobs usually bend and fail pretty quickly. I did have trouble with two of the collars and set screws. And, then there were two missing for the main gear axles... so I've replaced them all with DUBRO collars.

When I use the DUBRO collars I like to use 1/8" 6/32 bolts... much nicer to snug up than a setscrew.

[Joe Hunt]

2am hinging video, for anyone interested, or bored. haha

[Joe Hunt]

I can't understand how the ARF manufacturer's are still putting the control horn trusses so close together. They should be wide enough to put a conical on each side of the ball joint.

I stuffed 3 small washers in on the binding side so that I could use the 1-3/4" hole on the servo arm. 2" would require a constant bind on the ball joint. You can't use most normal size washers, either. They just exacerbate the problem. These smallish diameter black washers work.

Better setup would be to cut a new slot further away to make room for conicals. Another option is to just drill for and install a bolt. Which I usually end up doing.

[Joe Hunt]

Here's how I fixed this problem on my 122" Extra: