Details

The Yak-55SP had been a very popular high end aerobatic plane for CARF-Models when the company started in 2003. It had set new standards with never seen before features such as incidence adjusters for wing and stab, various wing positions on the fuselage, a floating blade spar, a clamp-on split cowl ring, a diagonal carbon web in the fuselage layup and a few absolutely stunning color schemes. Most of all it was its impressive size of over 3.3 meter (131") wing span, which had people talk about it.

But where there's good talk, there's also bad. At its time the available engines where marginal, and it was difficult to power the plane through an unlimited IMAC routine with the authority everyone wanted to see. The impressive 41 cm cowl diameter and the almost 80 cm wing root called for tribute.

Well, time has changed. When our 3.3m Yak-55SP seemed to be just that little bit too big in its early years, it appears today that it fits perfectly into the market. A market where the ultimate aerobatic pilots are looking for that "edge" over the competition, based on that old saying that size simply matters!

In the course of almost 15 years of large scale competition aerobatic plane design and production we experienced that many were not able to fully appreciate some of the new features we introduced with this airplane, especially the floating wing spar and the variable incidence. True, the assembly at the field usually required a second person and for setting up the incicences perfectly you had to really know what you were doing. If not, things went all over the place and didn't make sense anymore.

Since there is only ONE perfect incidence setting anyway and nothing can beat a 50mm carbon tube, we streamlined the design in a way that it blended in with our other successful designs such as the Extra 330SC and the SU-31. But boy, is this Yak 55 SP so much bigger than the rest....

An awesome giant aerobatic plane, made in heaven for the more and more popular 200-250 cc four cylinder engines or the big monster 4-stroke engines luring at the horizon to enter the aerobatic scene.

All composite parts feature the proven layup and functionality of servo placement, control surface hinging, engine, cowl and canopy mount. The typical Yak-55SP "broom stick" landing gear is very strong and rigid, and has received an internal composite mount, just as the rudder servo tray and the fuselage's rudder spar has become a durable, hand laminated composite component instead of the previously CNC-milled wood and foam sandwich part. The cowling has evolved into a top and bottom half design, split along the center line, which extends far enough back so that even the largest 2 and 4 stroke engines can be installed and serviced.

And in terms of color schemes, we found that this historical airplane should represent both the most classic CARF scheme of all times, the "American Flag" Scheme and something absolutely new and fancy, which we call our new line of "Rat Schemes". Of course all previous color schemes can be ordered as custom schemes and new schemes will be added on to the list, as time goes by.

The CARF-Models 3.3m Yak-55SP has been resurrected and transformed into a market leading, top modern aerobatic design but has not lost it's all time flair of classy "extravaganza". If you are looking for something VERY special, something that will undoubtedly stand out from the mass of aerobatic uniformity of todays contest fields, then the CARF-Models Yak-55SP must be your next airplane.