HEY! Lets build another Katana kit!

HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (Full Version)

All Forums >> [RC Airplanes] >> Profile and Fun Flying Planes

Message

Spacey -> HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/9/2004 7:22 AM)
Alrighty folks! My Katana from OMP decided to make her way home and I hope she will be happy here in South Africa. She didn't seem to suffer from any jetlag so I decided to put her on the board straight away! [:D] The kit arrived yesterday and after a quick argument with the lady behind the post office counter about the packages weight and the weight on the weighbill I had to go home and double check what parts might have been given new homes at the customs offices. Nothing was missing according to the kit part list in the manual so building was not hindered. As always I opted to read the entire instruction manual twice first before I started building so this consumed a little bit of time and some concentration for my lazy brain. After removing me SIG Riser I am working on from the board (It was a tricky decision...Glider...Profile...Glider...Profile...ok so the Katana won) and cleaning things up, organising tools and sorting the wood construction began full speed. I had to sit down for a while and try to make some decisions on a couple of minor things. I do not own a micro servo for the throttle and my options on this one is very limited. I would prefer to use a standard servo because I am a bit of a throttle jockey but I am not sure if I can do this (Mike help?). Also the servo trays and wiring layout got my brain thinking. I don't like the exposed wire Ideas although I know it would not present any problems what so ever. But I would prefer to have them hidden so I am going to maybe build a little channel over the exposed wires we'll see. Ok the ready to go equipment follows: Power: OS Max .46 FX with 12X4/12.25X3.75 APC props Servos: JR NES-539 BB servos all round except throttle Reciever: STD 6channel JR rx Battery: Normal 4.8V 600mah pack. OH and before I forget! Big thank you to OMP for sending us replacement landing gear for me and my friend's Yaks! They understood when I told them I would rather not sit without landing gear for my yak for 6weeks and sent us the stronger replacement gear free of charge. This is one of the many reasons I am such a huge OMP fan and always will be. The Yak flew with the current LG but any not so perfect landing and I lost a prop. Now she's gonna be rocking with this new set! Thanks guys!

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/9/2004 7:30 AM)
Alrighty so I got the board set up and got everything nice and straight. I prefer building on a very high density polystyrene bacause it makes it easier for me to push the pins in. I lay the foam down on a piece of glass to help straighten things out. After covering the fuselage plan with wax paper we were ready to go. As always the superior quality of the laser cutting put a big smile on my face. No processing of parts after you removed them from the sheet they were cut out of. They literally just fall out and into place. Here is the pictures of her birth place and the fuselage laser cut parts.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/9/2004 7:39 AM)
The fuselage can virtually be built without the manual if you have some minor building experience. Nothing funny here folks! Quick and easy and of course great fun as things happen really quickly. Results is what makes these kits so much fun to build. Next steps were to get the primary frame layed up. These are some 3/8" sticks that needs to be cut at angles here and there and then CA glued in place. I always pin these parts down like mad as it helps alot while you're sanding sticks to the right angles and fitting so that nothing moves around. After an hour since we started this is what we have on the table. I am sure one can build this entire fuselage in 3 hours. [8D]

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/9/2004 7:51 AM)
Alright next were the final steps in the fuselage frame construction. A wrench was thrown into my gearbox as a friend phoned to tell he was coming over so I could show him some ropes on AutoCAD. I got stuck with this one till after midnight last night so building came to a halt for the day. But honestly after only a little more than an hour we had what is shown in the picture. The frame is now ready to be removed from the board and prepped for the sheeting. You will notice the servo tray defined slightly ahead of the stab slot. The rails are are hardwood oh and I forgot to mention that the bottom of the fuse also consists of some hardwood and not balsa. The little sticks added are 1/8" balsa cut and shaped to form the cross braced structure (If I can put it that way [8\|]). These little sticks require some patience as they are cut slightly bigger and then sanded at various angles shown on the plan to wedge each other in and form a nice traingled frame. We all know a triangle is twice as strong as a square so we don't want many squares in there. I have a very hard time getting all the little angles perfect but you don't have to, CA fills many a gap so these steps were also no biggy.

AFSalmon -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/9/2004 12:48 PM)
Spacey, You should be able to use a standard servo with no problems for the throttle. There are several ways you could mount this including in the wing next to the aileron servo and running a nylon sleeved pushrod up to the engine. Or mount it sideways against the fuselage side behind the engine like it's done on the Katana ARF (anybody got a picture handy?), or enlarge the existing opening for a standard servo.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/9/2004 2:23 PM)
Ahh yea I read something about throttle servo in wing somewhere in the manual as well. I think this might be a good idea. Just plonk it in next to the aileron servo. Should be easy. I'll flip the coin tonight when I get to that step. [:D]

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/10/2004 7:18 AM)
Ok late last night construction continued. I was now able to remove the skeleton from the building board and prepare it for the fuselage sheeting which would be added next. A little bit of sanding was needed to get the fuselage nice and clean from glue bumps etc.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/10/2004 7:23 AM)
Next was the preperation of the sheeting that would be added both sides of the frame. This is an easy one, just match a couple of sheets by cutting one side of each sheet perfectly straight so that when they are butted up against each other they would make a perfect seam without gaps. I decided to use some masking tape to hold the two sheets together. Just flip them over so the side with the tape is on the bottom and add a tiny bit of thin CA to the joint while having the whole thing nice and flat on the building board. After that simply remove the tape and sand the joint slightly so that it is perfect and free from any glue bumps.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/10/2004 7:36 AM)
OOOOOOK! This next one is a dangerous one. Could be very simple but could really give you a bad day. Biggest problem here is to ensure that your building board is perfectly flat and doesn't sag under any weight at all. I decided to move away from my building board on the table and place my glass flat on the floor. Then I double checked the glass with a straight edge to make sure I was heading the right direction. Added some various heavy things here and there and checked surface again. My surface was near to perfect so the tools looked right. Next step is to glue on the sheeting. Depending on your temperature and humidity obviously the faster and the slower the CA will dry. For this step the instructions state to use thick CA which if applied on in a bead will not dry very fast. Only when coming into contact with other wood and spread out. Make sure your room is well ventilated with a fan running!!!!!!! This stuff really burns your eyes (It sucks but I got used to it [:)]) You need to make a quick job of applying the glue so to ensure it does not dry up on you before you got to laying the frame onto the sheeting. Under normal circumstances you have WAY MORE than enough time to this. But don't muck about while at it. I simply applied glue and weighed the frame down onto the sheeting on my flat surface. Then took a smoke break to wait while my eyes recovered. After this you need to cut out all the respective holes like for the wing, stab and servos etc. Also some scrap cut offs needs to be added to the nose and the canopy area where the sheeting didn't make it.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/10/2004 7:55 AM)
Nearly done with the fuselage. Next steps were to glue on the engine rails and the plywood nose doublers. A scrap piece of balsa is added to close off the throttle servo bay behind the engine or well to close of the engine mount. I used 5 minute epoxy for both these jobs. The engine rails gets glued and then taped to hold them in place. The doublers are positioned and then weighed down so they would not lift while the epoxy is curing. Beware not to over do the epoxy on the doublers. Ounces gets added here very quickly! Of course you need to get the perimiters glued on but spread the glue really thin. You don't need to much in here. Right well now the fuselage is virtually completed. All that is left to do is maybe install the throttle servo into the doublers but I am going to install mine in the wing next to the aileron servo. My fuselage is now complete for the moment and is getting put aside for final sanding and finishing like fuel proving of the motor mount and servo holes later.

jakac_26 -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/10/2004 7:18 PM)
hey on my kat i ended up using 1/8 square pieces for the fuse-wing fillets i then sheeted them with 1/16 sheet it made them alot stronger and less prone to breaking when the ocasional hard landing or running out of fuel in a hover at 30 feet lol. the stick ones kept breaking on mine and the sheeted ones look way better. just a thought.

Jerry-RCU -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/10/2004 7:41 PM)
I have put my throttle servo like this it work good for me[&o]

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/13/2004 7:17 AM)
Hey Jakac what you doing at 30 feet buddy? You know these 3D planes are scared of heights right? [;)] [:D] No I was wondering a little about the fairings but I built them already over the weekend before I read your post. Will give them a try as is first and well yeah if they are too weak I'll replace em with your idea. Thanks for the advice! Appreciate it. Jerry thanks for the pictures. I figure it would be much easier to mount the servo like you did but I'm in two minds still on this one. I do like it quite a bit when my profiles are neat and am still leaning towards mounting it in the wing next to the aileron servos. My other thought is to put it inside the wing completely hidden away. But at this point in time there is no definite decision. I'm a little concerned with where the CG is going to end up. At the altitude we fly at there's no room for lead on the 3D ships. Weight is going to be crucial and CG can't be wrong. If I end up tailheavy I'm definitely going for the setup you did. If I'm towards the nose even slightly the servo is going in the wing somewhere. Thanks once again for the pictures. Sorry I didn't get too much done over the weekend. The weather was awesome so we were burning glow the whole weekend long. Got the feathers and surfaces built but did not bring the pictures [:@] Built will be updated first thing tomorrow morning. I only have the wing left to build now and hope it will go as quick as the other parts did.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/14/2004 6:59 AM)
Alrighty! Time to update. The next couple of pics shows the laser cut parts for the tail feathers and all the control surfaces. These really made construction a breeze on these. You guys don't have a clue how much I despise having to get all the little sticks cut and sanded to the right angles as this can really take up quite some time. But on the Katana there is virtually no angled sticks in any of the following. All just plain ol 1/4" SQ balsa which needs to be cut to the right length. A little 1/8" here and there.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/14/2004 7:07 AM)
All I had to do now was cut all the little sticks and glue them on. All these parts just get puzzled together and you don't even need to refer to the manual after you read the instructions once on these. They are all too simple to build. On the elevator, stabiliser, rudder and aileron I had to glue on some triangle stock onto some of the edges afterwards to make up the bevels. All in all building and sanding and finishing these parts took me 2 hours. But if I could just stop watching cartoons whilst I'm building I would probably done it much quicker. Oh and yes there is two ailerons and two wing fairings! [:D] [:D]

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/14/2004 7:17 AM)
Onto wing construction! First I had to prepare the ribs and get all my parts sorted out before I jumped into this one. Obviously one has to take quite a bit of care when building a wing to avoid getting it all warped and funky on you. The ribs virtually fall out of the sheets they were laser cut out of. Next I layed out the wing's main spar and sub spar and glued them all together. The main spars are balsa and the sub spar is a hardwood piece which needed to be cut to length and glued onto the main spars. Very important to get this all straight. Or at least I think so [;)]

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/14/2004 7:23 AM)
Next was to glue the ribs onto the top main and sub spars. Note that the wing is built upside down on the plan in the first steps. It is important to get the ribs 90 degrees to the building board all the way through. The tabs at the back needed to be pinned down securely as well to ensure that the wing stays straight.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/14/2004 7:30 AM)
Now it was time to add the trailing edge, leading edge and bottom main spar. All these had to be sanded slightly where they meet up in the centre of the wing so they would fit tight against each other. The leading edge extends above and below the ribs as it will be used later to butt the leading edge sheeting up against so it needs to form a lip. You have to block up the leading edge slightly in the centre to accomplish this. You will notice the scrap piece of balsa in the pictures I used to do this. It was also important to make sure the ribs stays perfectly perpendicular to the building board during all these steps.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/14/2004 7:35 AM)
Onto the sub spar. This one is easier than I thought it would be. It is a hardwood piece which has to be bent to the angle of the bottom main spar. All I did was securely glue it on the one half with thin CA and then I proceeded to bend it over the angle and hold it in place whilst glueing it on the other side.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/14/2004 7:44 AM)
Time to start on the sheeting of the wing. The trailing edge stock had to be sanded to the shape of the ribs, a step I also hate but my razorplane made a quick job of this. All the sheeting gets glued on with thick CA. The leading edge sheeting had to be cut out so it would taper down towards the wingtip. I had some troubles with this step as the leading edge of the leading edge sheeting has to be sanded and shaped pefectly so it would butt up very tightly against the leading edge stock. This was rather hard for me because it was quite a struggle to get it perfect. To say the least I didn't get it perfect but it is not a serious cause for concern I reckon. You first have to glue the leading edge of the leading edge sheeting onto the leading edge stock and then after the glue has dried you roll it back onto the ribs.

Spacey -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/14/2004 7:46 AM)
And then the last one I got around to last night was the shear webbing. More to follow [:D]

buildflycrash -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/15/2004 4:46 PM)
Spacey -- You da man --- your going to have this thing built and covered in only 2 rcu pages if you keep up this pace! I'm sure it will be a record pace for an rcu build thread. looks like I may have to get one of these!

msm9724 -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (12/15/2004 6:29 PM)
Spacey your fast!

shanes300 -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (1/1/2005 10:46 PM)
Spacey, I am glad I found these pics of your Kat build. I was wondering about the sub spar aswell. My construction cd will not work in my pc. I am almost done with mine[:D]... Should fly next weekend...

buildflycrash -> RE: HEY! Lets build another Katana kit! (1/3/2005 4:12 PM)
Spacey you were going like a race horse and now weeks without getting it done. wats up!!

Page: [1] 2 3 4 next > >>

SITE MAP! : : FORUM RULES

© 2001 - 2007 24-7 RC, LLC, all rights reserved.

0.359375