Ok, I know that Yak vs.Yak isn't
exactly the same kind of comparison when you allow mods, but some of these planes leave so much room in the price, that fixing shortcomings is very doable. Cheap, even. The $140 Monster Yak 54 ($137 if you stare at the webpage til HK lowers the price a bit) is one of them there fiddlin' planes.
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| Hobby King Monster Yak 54 shown with stock 14x7 prop |
As shipped, the plane needs about 80oz of total flying weight to balance a heavy foam tail. As is, the included 3740 brushless is simply not up to authoritative aerobatics. The plane is aerobatic as shipped, but it is not quite up to a hover, and that's never going to cut it in this crowded field of extremely capable Russian Yakobats.
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| Hobby King Monster Yak 54 Stock 3740 |
The motor is of good quality, contrary to a lot of reports. But the setup isn't smart, it is over-propped with a poorly designed copy-prop, or should I say it is a proppy? And the firewall and ESC have basically no cooling airflow. Both issues easily fixed for right around $3.
Switching to a 14x6 prop helps, but the motor is more like a .25 equivalent, it's just not going to 3D an 80 oz side of beef. A .32 would be better and highly aerobatic, but effortless flight without regard to the influence of planet Earth might demand bigger.
As an experiment I've always wanted to test, I installed my Triple-10 motor. The improvement is a step change, and the motor is surprisingly flexible. The 3-banger tacks on another 500 RPM to the stock setup, amping-in at 27.45A and 312W x 3 = 936W. The plane needs more.
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The stock HKY54 motor weighs 8 oz, three ST .10s
with mounting brackets weigh 7.2 oz, but after the
bolts and spacers its about the same |
My Power 32 turns the same prop about 300 RPM faster still, pushing into the low 9,000s and 950W (an overload), but I still don't think that's a big enough difference. I'll probably install it for the betterment of science and to fill the knowledge archives of the Human Race, but in the mean time, I'm still looking for a match made in Heaven for this substantial mail order bride.
The Monster Quest continues...
