Hello all,

I was thinking of purchasing this plane.

[link=http://www.nitroplanes.com/ka5053nigas3.html]Katana 50[/link]

I have a couple of questions about it.

1) How easy does it fly? (is it about 3rd or 4th plane skill level?)
2)How easy is it to put together? (this would be my first glow pane, I have one foamie ARF build under my belt)
3)What engine do you reccommend for it? (considered Magnum 52 Stroke)
4)Does the manual come with specs like what size servo extensions, y-harnesses, etc. to get?

That's about all the questions I have. All other comments are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

no experience with that particular plane, but my thoughts are:

1: Probably flies pretty easily. I would guess 2nd plane if you are really confident in your flying, and 3rd if youre a little slower. One guy in our club has a Funtana x100 as his First plane, and seems to do just fine with it. (had some flights on the club trainer first)

2&4: the Nitro Models planes come with manuals that are Terrible in my opinion. At least in my experience) If youve never put together a glow ARF or Kit, and have no one to help you with this, It will likely give you some trouble. (of course, you can probably find plenty of help here) My favorite instruction from the one I got was for the fuel tank... it said only, "Install tank as shown in diagram." That was it, and there was no diagram or picture anywhere in the manual showing a good shot of the tank.

3: that engine would probably pull the plane around, but if you were looking to push it anywhere near its limits, I would reccomend a .72 4 stroke minimum for that type plane. If you just want to cruise around with it, the .52 would probably do you fine.

Yup the manuals are simply awful.

You should put together at least one or two other ARF's before you tackle this plane, preferably those with GREAT instructions and included tips and hints.

You will run into a number of things which you'll have no idea what to do, and it's basically up to you do determine how you want to go about these things.

If you have someone available to you with a good bit of assembly experience you should be fine.

Once you are comfortable enough with ARF's that all you care about is the C.G. and recommended throws, you are ready for Asian ARF's.

Most Asian arf's have poorly translated ( TRANSLATED? WHAT TRANSLATION? ) manuals.

The particular CMP plane you are looking at is fairly nice though, particularly considering it's price.

well' I have my grandfather, but he's only had experience in electrics, does that do me any good?

No, putting together a foamy is a different matter altogether.

Imagine that you receive a box of parts for the ARF and only the C.G. location and throws.

Can the two of you handle this? Can you get the plane together with nothing more than this?

There are a bunch of little tricks and tips that you acquire as you start to work on ARF's. Some of these are in the manuals, other things are aquired with experience.

You'll need many of these points when putting the plane together.

You CAN download manuals for other similiar planes and start reading up on their tricks and tips...

But your best bet is to build another couple of planes first.

I'm going to have to agree with everybody above. Nitromodels has a reputation of having REALLY bad instruction manuals. Between you and your grandpa you should be able to get through the build ok. Although your best bet is to spend the little extra money and get a plane with a decent manual. Not only will a good manual help you on that plane but it will also help you in future models. Most "name" brands offer quite a few tips in their instruction manual that can really help a newbie in the build.

Austin

well, one of my grandfather's friends has experience with glow planes and he may be able to help alot.

If you guys still think it's too risky of a build then could you give me some suggestions on some other planes, basically ones like that Katana, some concept design, performance, etc.

Thanks

A lot depends upon how experienced your grandfather's friend is.

Is he a kitbuilder? ( If so GO for it, if he will help. )

Is he an ARF builder? If so has he built and own say 3 or more ARF's?

If 3, you may do fine, if more than that, he'll have no problem helping you out, but he will be the primary person putting the plane together.

He can show you what to do for future similiar planes though, while he is at it.

---

BTW: A close analog of the Katana is the Funtana 50X or 100X, check out the wing roots, they are almost identical.

That CMP ARF is not bad, even compared against the Funtana, but there is not much in the directions to help you. Often all you get a some pictograms that miss many steps or are out of order.

I've looked at the Funtana 50X bu that's a little out of my price range, I'm kind of living off of 20-30 dollars a month right now.

Being 13 sucks, I'm right at that age where it will only be a few months before I can get a job and I'm looking for a plane for the spring season. It's driving me crazy!

So are there any other reccommendations you can make?

Thanks

That's the problem, the better documented planes are going to cost more.

Then you still have the costs of the RX, engine, servos, etc.

A $150.00 plane will come in closer to $500.00 by the time it is put together.

Go for it, with your grandpa, his friend, and RCU you'll be fine.

Austin

$500?

Not using the servos you reccommended

I'm still having a hard time believing you that those are quality servos for that price[X(]

But hey, if you swear by them, then they must be pretty good

$120-$150 is ok for me I guess, but just that extra $20 added in with the Funtana is gonna set me back another month, because like I said I'm living off of 20-30 dollars a month right now.[&o]

Is there anything in that price range that's worth the money?

Thanks

Yeah they help a lot. They might not be as fine grained as the expensive spread, but hey for a sports flyer like me, they are fine thank you sir.

I'm putting a set in an Edge 540T 50CC gasser ( from Nitroplanes ) at the moment and I just flew a Giant scale U-Can-Do-3D with them on all around.

I took the Elevator control arms in a bit than recommended on the U-Can-Do, to get finer elevator control at the expense of some 3D throw, but I gain mechanical advantage.

The UCD flew fine with them, though this is about as big as I would go with these servos. The UCD is actually bigger than the Edge, and has larger control surfaces, but it flies more slowly... so it balances out.

If you go to the UH web site someone posted a full analysis of the stall torques and power consumption.

At full stall they consume over 2000mA/ea !!! Translation, on a larger plane make sure you use bigger batteries. Even on a smaller plane opt for a bigger pack.

great

Still no suggestions?[&o]

Somebody has to have something to say!

Also take into acoount it will cost about $30 to ship that plane to PA.
Here is another option and the shipping is better priced
http://www.giantscaleplanes.com/Passion3D_55.htm

At 5.5 pounds this plane flies well on a .46. I haven't flown the plane
but I have seen it in action live with a .46FX and it flew rather well.
landed slowly and gentle. the pilot (a friend of mine) said the stall
is gentle and the plane is stable. This is his 3rd plane and he enjoys it
alot. The other planes he has flown are the Sig senoirita and a pulse XT .46

Thats a really cool looking plane! (except for the knobbly wingtips...) I really like what they did with the servos! I just assembled a stick plane for my dad, and traced out whatever I could. I was gonna build one up for a fun kick around 3D type plane, but after seeing this, I want one of these now instead!

Did you ever think of trying an electric plane? Nitro planes has several with motors for 100$ or less. Course that doesn't include the radio. I was just in another thread and someone recommended this one: http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...=LXNVC0**&P=ML

Complete with radio and first batteries. Charger is a slow charger but you can upgrade later and still be flying now.

Just a thought for you.

How about a smaller plane?

First glow plane for $120 to $150. Maybe and I mean Maybe you can find something used.
A 40 size engine alone, will be at a minimum $50 on sale for a 40LA which is really not enough engine for the planes you have been wanting.Look closer to $90 to $120 for a good ball bearing 46.(the Magnum 52 you mentioned in your first post is $129.99 at Tower Hobbies)
You need a receiver? you can't use a parkflyer receiver in a glow plane, add another $40 minimum. Receiver battery $20 a gallon of fuel, $20. Glow starter $20. Get the picture? You are already way over your budget and you haven't even bought an airplane yet.And that is considering the $5 servos (which where really $5.95 or $6 each) you need at least 5 of them, another $30 plus shipping because I doubt your local hobby shop will have them.
I don't want to discourage you but I don't want to see you get in over your head on an airplane that just might bee too much for you to handle. Sorry, this is an expensive hobby.
I would suggest you and your Grandfather go to a couple of swap meets, early spring there are swap meets all over the place, and see what you can find.

or see if you can make a deal with the parents.... they put up the money you need for the plane, and you put in what you have so far, and work to pay off the rest over time. This was pretty much the deal my brothers and I had with our dad before we had jobs. My guess is that most parents would rather see their kids building planes and then out flying them rather than just playing video games or watching TV.

Heh, drag a "Dad" out to a club meeting, and if they have any interest what-so-ever, you will not have to worry about purchasing the plane...

Hello all,

I already have a Katana 50 (arrived yesterday) Like say "Fly or Die"

I have a couple of questions about it.

1)What engine do you reccommend for it? (considered Tower Hobby 61 or 75 - 2 Stroke) with Pitts Muffler. I not want go too high in price (max $150) the plane is now only $89.95 + $20 shipping
2) My skill level is low, so i want go slow first and after that i want go aggressive [>:], that's why I want to select an appropriate engine.
3) I saw the review and all the comments, and everybody have a diferent opinions, give me a little light on the choice of engine

All comments are welcomes and greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't go higher than the .61 because it is an ARF and because it is a CMP ARF. The airframe may not be able to handle much more than that.
My choices?
Magnum XLS-52 / $89.99
Tower Hobbies .61 / $89.99
Thunder Tiger Pro .61 / $129.99
O.S. 55AX / $149.99
O.S. 61FX / $159.99
My top choice of these is the Thunder Tiger Pro.
There are also the Evolution line of engines but I have no experience with them.

This is both a GREAT and AWFUL plane.

I had one ( lawn darted... ).

It WAS a fantastic flyer. Excellent at 3D. I loved it.

It had a Tower Hobbies 2C .75 engine, which was perfect for it.


However the tail is poorly built. The wood used on the area holding the CA hinges for the elevator control surface is soft wood.

These ripped out twice for me, once on each side... and yes they were properly attached, the surrounding wood ripped out!

Amazingly both times I was able to get the plane back down.

The wood used for the elevator itself is also too fragile. After I fixed the control surfaces, the elevators ripped out at the root.

No I was not overspeeding the plane. It's a .60 plane after all, and I had a low pitch prop on it.

The tail needs CF re-inforcing struts, and serious hardening of the CA mounting areas... maybe even a CF rod inserted lengthwise.

Too bad I didn't know this at the time...

I disagree as I have an identically built CMP Extra ( it has a .75 engine in it too ).

The Katana 50 is a fully sheeted plane. It needs a slightly larger engine for best performance.

It will have no problems handling a .75 engine, and if anything I would recommend something like this.

However it does pay to be careful and re-enforce the tail.

Adding CF struts on the tail is cheap and easy to do.

The CA hinges could be pinned to add strength too, and the hinge area should be thoroughly soaked with CA for safety... using any of the standard techniques for doing so.

The tail gear should be changed out, and it would benefit from slightly larger tires.