aeromodellers anonymous: Yak 54, Work in Progress

The rate of progress for the Yak 54 may seem so slow it seems as if I have not been doing anything. Quite the contrary. It has come a very long way since I opened the box the very first time. Here's a brief progress report so far:

Cooling hole for Dualsky Voltage Regulator

I've scratched my head for sometime before I made the decision for the placement of the voltage regulator. Ideally the regulator has to have ample cooling. And I am loathe to put the regulator all the way up in the cowl as that would mean I have to increase the length of the wire from the regulator to the receiver (RX), TWICE over. Since both wires have to be plugged in for it to pump the max amount of juice to power the servos.

In the end, I cut a rectangular hole at the bottom of the fuse. The voltage regulator can now be close enough to the RX without any extension wires and the heat sinks can be exposed to moving air, further facilitating the cooling of the regulator. I do hope it works though.

"Blinged" Battery Tray

The Yak 54 being a Nitro powered plane, does not have any battery trays built into the fuselage. So I had to fabricate one. I wanted a rigid one without adding to much weight. This brief to myself was closely followed and I made a battery tray from balsa sticks (which made up the frame) and some carbon fibre plate to get the whole structure very rigid. I added some cooling holes for the battery and this should reduce the overall weight of the battery tray too. The carbon fibre also adds some nice "Bling" to the insides. Pimpin my plane man!!

Once You Go Yellow and Black, You'll Never Look Back

Hellboy profile on left wing (WIP)

Well I was supposed to finish this plane in the same week as the local premiere of the Hellboy II movie but it was not to be. Nonetheless, I love Mike Mignola's art in his comics and this is just my version of fan art. :)