Has anyone seen the Katana that Chief's is selling?

Would like to hear a little about

Do a search here. There is a lot of info on that plane here.

I've got the Creek Extra and love it.

Mike

So it is the Creek Hobbies there selling?

ooops. I read that as "Creek".... not "Chief". Not sure which they are selling, but Chief and Creek.... similar yet so different

Mike- I are edumacated at reeding!

Wow, nice looking plane. Great price for its size. There is a 42% EM Katana on the IMAC circuit here in the NW and it is an amazing performer!

I asked about this plane a week ago and I was told it's from GiantscalePlanes.com. The plane looks good from the pictures but I too would like to know more about this bird.

This is the same plane that giant scale plane sells, I bought one from GSP in March. I love the airplane it only problem is the white covering it is more transparent than I like but thats really the only problem I can find. It has a two piece wing and an airfoil tail. The construction is first class. I am using an MDS 1.48 and I have plenty of power to do anything. Hover at 1/2 trottle and unlimited vertical.

I have he Giant Sale Planes Katana, I just finished it. It is the same plane as the Chief Katana (which is actually made by CHINA MODELS) imported by Chief and Giant Scale Planes. I agree the only weak point I have seen is that the covering is terrible. The quality of the workmanship is great, no wrinkles or sag spots but the quality of the covering material is CHEAP. The model is red white and blue, the red and blue colors are ok but the white is nearly transparent.You can see the color of the wood and gain clearly through the white covering.

I completey recovered my Katana using Monokote and Utrakote. It is powered by a Saito 180 with a 16*6 prop (three flights) going to try an 18*6 next. I downloaded and used the instrument panel from the "Project Extra"from the AMA website, its about the right size and the price was right (FREE). I could not get the pics to upload to this page but you can go to the RC UNIVERSE photo gallery (aircraft) and do a search for Katana if you want to see some pics of my model.

If you were wondering the Giant Scale Planes/Chief Katana is not the same model as the Creek Hobbies Katana.

Hey Guys,
I should be getting mine tomorrow (26 June).

Anything other than covering you guys could point out to me before I tear into construction??

Planning on RCS 1.40 gasser.

How'd the CG's come out with the rear tail servos???

The RCS is pretty light for a gasser...hoping it doesn't have the same tendency as my H9 Edge....way tail heavy...

I hate extra weight....

I'll be mounting motor first....just to get the CG as close as I can by moving radio gear....hope to keep servos in the tail, I like short pushrods....

The rudder setup looks wierd...is it a servo??? or bell-crank back in the tail with the arms sticking out the side??? Don't pull-pull rods have a tendency to bind?? Looks like the geometry just isn't quite right on it...or is it just me??


Any tips, comments welcome....thanks!@!
I'll post construction pics as I get them...
CrazyHerb

Yes, there are three servos in the tail. There is a small access panel just in front of the tail wheel. The rudder servo sits facing towards the bottom of the plane with a long arm sticking out bth sides of the fuseladge. The rudder is a pull pull setup with short wire pushrods instead of cable.

Wait till you see what a pain it is to mount the wing retainer springs through that small factory access panel. I enlarged mine and the front of the panel is held in place with a sheet of light ply overlapping the front edge. I only need four screws to hold the access panel in place instead of six and the panel is larger which makes it much easier to get at the wing mounting springs ect. Making the bottom access hatch is much simpler than making a top hatch and you have no hatch lines on top of the aircraft.

As far as balance, I had to cut the factory motor box off the firewall to fit my RCS 180 (it was too long to fit in the cowl when mouned on the end of the box). If you do have to cut the motor box off to fit the RCS 140, realize that in doing so you are moving the weight closer to the CG which will make the plane balance tail heavy. If it does you might have to mount the rudder servo under the cockpit area on a pull pull to balance without lead. With the motor box cut off and the ignition and battery mounted to the fire wall I was able to balance mine perfectly with all three servos in the tail with no leadweight.

Thanks Bike!!
Great info...
I think I've read somewhere about the small access hatch.

The 1.80 is 7.3 inches long with the stock radial mount tabs..

The 1.40 is 6 inches even..to the hub..is that going to be too long? I can move it back in smaller incriments if I drill a hole for the carb in the firewall...and let the carb extend into the box...yet still have mounted to the beams...nice thing about the 1.40.

Here's a pic...

Thanks!
CrazyHerb

I just went out to the garage and measured my Saito 180 with J Tec mount as it was mounted before I cut the motor box. The distance from the from the front of the motor box to the front of the cowl is 6 1/8" (plus or minus 1/4inch depending how you adjust the cowl). It should be a perfect fit! The more I hear about your RCS 140 the more I think I should have gotten one instead of the RCS 180. The RCS 140 will be the same length as my Saito 180 with mount. With the Saito 180 I needed one strip of lead weight to balance with all three servos in the tail. Th RCS 140 is a little heavier than the Saito 180 so I am betting it will balance about perfect.

Bike,
Thanks for measuring!! That's Good news...don't have to hack up the motor box.
Your research and insight is very much appreciated!!

My little RCS is cranking out just over 9,000 rpms with a Bambula 16x8. Right at about 16 lbs thrust.

I flew it in the Edge with an 8 oz tank, 15-20 min flights with fuel still remaining.

Buddy of mine has a set of AirWild wing bags that might work perfect for this plane too!! Yippie!!

Thanks again!!
CrazyHerb

I used a hangar 9 ultra stick 120 engine mount. That way i could slide the motor forward or back for CG purposes. I used an MDS 1.48 with an 16*8 prop. Cg perfect, weighs 11.7 lbs. Flys great. I am going to start moving the C.G. back a little after i get more comfortable flying this plane. I made a second access panel to reach the springs for the aft part of the wing, works great. I really don't have anything bad to say about this plane other than the white covering. Consider price and performance i can live with the covering.

YIPPIE!
Gotta love the brown truck...
Just took 15 minutes while on lunch to un-box some of the plane and snap a couple photos....

This plane looks very well built, and pretty dang light!

I see what you mean about the covering being semi-transparent, but it doesn't really bother me ....looks kinda cool in a way.

I can tell I'm gonna have some fun with this one....

Here's a shot of the fin/rudder without flash...you can see the transparency....

Here's a shot of the wing without flash on as well.

Right out of the box..

Here's all I got out of the box before I had to bolt back to work...

I've been looking at this plane off and on for months now.....

Will a pipe fit through that fuse anywhere?

I'd love to try my 3M 1.40 RE on this plane.......

Weighs less than a OS 1.60....has a pump....and spins a 17x12 like crazy.......

This might be a fun combo in between pattern contest. This engine pulls my 10 1/2 pound Focus really well......

Thoughts?

Can you get some more pictures of the firewall area and inside the fuse?

Thanks,

Pugs

Ok...
Are they trying to conserve aluminum in China???

This is the shortest wing tube I've ever seen on a plane.

I think the 40 sized Somethin' Extra has a longer tube than this thing....

Anyone have thoughts on this???

The wing tube is only 18 inches long, fuse is 7 inches wide at the tube location, and the wing panels are 32....is my math off??

I've always been told 1/3rd the span for the tube....Isnt' 1/3 of 72 inches 24 inches???

18-7=11 divided by 2 give a whole 5.5 inches of tube in each wing panel....


CrazyHerb

I have seen some threads where people have brought up the fact that the wing tube seems short but I can assure you my wings have porbably seen more stress than most. With 32oz of fuel my Katana weighed 14.5 pounds and I flew it no holds barred positive and negative G's with no problems (knock on wood). I have heard of more than one Creek Hobbies model "folding its wings" in flight but not the GSP model yet.

Thanks again bike...good re-assurance...

On closer inspection...even with just 5.5 inches of tube, it looks like the fiberglass tube socket in the wing panel is reinforced/supported very well.

For the wing retension...I'm thinking of doing nylon bolts with wing nuts instead of the wing retaining springs....any feeling on that??

Are you flying the stock, retaining spring method?? Just seems with a gasser there's metal to metal contact with the springs and metal cup hooks...not the greatest idea in my book. Maybe I'm being a little OVER concious...but that would free up some space in there too...without having springs going all across the fuse...

Pugs,
I'll get more pics tomorrow, including close ups of the motorbox and underside......batteries are on charge for the camera.
I don't see why this fuse couldn't be modified to accept a pipe. You'd have to re-work the bottom, or let it hang out but not a major over-haul just to do it...

This plane would rock with the 3M 1.40..

Nice all round pattern, Imac and 3d plane....we'll see how she flies...proof is in the pudding...as they say...

If I can say one thing...this plane IMHO is twice what my H9 Edge was. Very quality stuff....for an ARF... if it flies as good as it looks...I'll tell the world!!!

Now if my LHS would get the FUNTANA in stock...I'll have little fun-fly version brother....the wait continues....

Thanks again for your guys' tips and info....
From what I've got here now Pugs...get this plane...you'll have a ball....

CrazyHerb

DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT fly the plane with just the springs to hold the wings on. There is a wing bolt that goes from the inside of the fuselage and through a blind nut in each wing. The springs just supplement the wing bolts. If you ever flew with just the springs I think the wings would go their separate ways. Nylon zip ties would probably work, thats what I use in my Sig Somethin Extra to hold the wings on. Oh, and the little washers they give you for the wing bolts I scrapped. I went to Home Depot and got some washers that were about the same size as a quarter but still had a small bolt hole in the center. They provide much better holding power.

Pugs,
I've posted a web page with some 1024x768 photos of the motorbox and underside.

Bookmark it and I'll add as I go...

http://home.attbi.com/~sherbertson/katana.htm

I just opened up the hatch on the bottom...it's going to be a good reach to get the main wing rear retaining device on (reguardless of what it's going to be)....thinking about what options I have....

I'll keep ya'll posted...don't expect me to have it done as quick as some of the other guys here on RCU....I have a 7 month old that keeps me insanly busy...

Thanks again and let me know if there's any "special" shots you would like me to photo...and I'll post to the page...

CrazyHerb

You the man! Thanks......

I think a pipe tunnel like a Focus would work great with this set up.....

I'd have to do the top hatch mod though......looks like a really nice kit....

Pugs