c016Y

Never attached a pic before, but, here should be a pic of what I am talking about. That front area is where it came unglued. Is that where you would put a dowel?

Dave763

My Feedback: (1)

I'm not to sure to be honest. I wish mine was not glued in so I could have a better look at it.

c016Y

You can see from the picture (click to enlarge) where the arrow is pointing.. that is one of the 2 areas where the thick, but, light balsa goes into the stab The other area can be seen to as it looks the same in the picture. It looks like both of these inserts go into a hollow stab area, but, as you can see.. it would be impossible to get to unless I ripped off the current balsa piece.. the stab has some wood covering to it (the part that is covered in yellow and sticks out of the plane.. as you can see even on yours).

I can take any pics you want.. I can take them around 6-12 megapixels and provide a link from my personal web server. You could even see the grain in the wood if I did that. Let me know if you need anything like that.

Dave763

My Feedback: (1)

If you want to put dowels into the fin I don't see any way to get in there with out ripping the thing apart. I don't know what to tell you.
See if you can get the skinny from the guy who did the mod to his plane. Sorry I'm no help.

Dave

furloughed ual

My Feedback: (31)

My 36% Kat weighs 28.75 lbs.....here's my setup.......

carbon gear (12 oz savings over stock)
ZDZ 100 NG on in cowl muff's, no cans (1.1 lbs lighter than the DA 100 on stock muffs)
2 2700 Nimh reciever
1 1440 Nimh for ignition
Kavan tires (about 1/2 the weight of the competitors)
foam pilot (weighs 1 oz.....no lie!!!!)
NO ADDITIONAL BRACING OR "BEEFING UP" ANYWHERE.....NOTHING EXTRA ADDED
even used a wood prop to save a few oz over the Mezjlicks

if you add in the weight of the stock gear and the extra pound for a DA, you're just shy of 31 lbs.....the scale doesn't lie......with that being said, I really like the way it flies, mine just needs to lose about 4 lbs to really make it do it's thing......

c016Y

Thanks for that input. How hard do you fly it and how many flights do you have on it. I think I might not mess with it.. I might put wires on the back if anything. Just make sure I get glue down in where it came unglued all over that area nice and thick and go with it.

Could you give me some more info on some of your parts.. where did you get the kavan tires.. and was it the graphtec gear that they advertise for the aeroworks? Did you get another wing tube?

I think I will be heavier than even the da.. have a 3w106b2. I really have not idea.. just heard that somewhere.

I was thinking about trying to set up redundant/load balanced lith batteries and receiver.

I was also thinking about putting 2 servos in a swb tray for the rudder.

I dunno.. I need to get started on this.. just about have decided what to do.. just trying to get as many people as possible to weigh in. Don't find a high number of people flying this plane so don't have as much input on it as some of the other planes I have flown.

Again.. thanks for the input.. it makes me really happy to know someone did not have problems with this at all.

OSilfa

My Feedback: (2)

AT the end some guy with honest weight.!!!!
Mine ended in 29 lbs with Carbon Fiber LG and canister[8D],Ahh 2X2350Mah Lithium ion Batery

furloughed ual

My Feedback: (31)

about 70-ish flights on it now.....I fly the snot out of it....don't baby it one bit.....structurally, it's fine.....the only thing I did differently is to add a threaded stud in the wing root and use a 1/4 X 20 nylon wing nut to hold the wing on from inside the fuse.....used the stock bolt through the tube method as in all my planes, but over time the hardpoint in the wing where the screw goes into became loose....don't think it was done correclty at the factory on mine.....I've used this system on other planes with no problems.....as for the parts, yes, I had the Graphtec gear (Aeroworks 31% Extra gear....not the correct gear (it's a little soft, but it works ok if you don't pound it on the runway) , but I had one of the first Katana's and this is what was sold to me by Aeroworks....gear for the Kat is available now from Graphtec).....stock wing tube (CF saves 3 1/2 oz over the stock tube, and to me it's not worth $90....that's about $30 an oz)....Kavan tires are available from www.troybuiltmodels.com.......and I believe the 3W 106 is the same weight as the DA ( at least the mfr specs say so, within an oz or 2 ).....in all honesty unless you fly hard 3D and VERY slow high alpha rolling manuvers, you won't be able to tell the difference in weight.....it has a good wing on it and lots of area......don't get caught up in all the hype about CF stuff and spend tons of money unless you can realize the difference when flying.....I believe MOST people can't tell the diffference between 29 and 30 lbs.....build the plane, fly the snot out of it, and have a ball.....after all, THIS IS A HOBBY......... oh yeah, almost forgot, I have a single Hitec 5735 servo on the rudder with pull pull and it will knife edge loop all day long......the CF gear on mine saved 12oz over the stock.....this is a huge weight savings and I do recommend this, as it is an easy fix and is only about $70 from Graphtec.....

Dave763

My Feedback: (1)

I ganged two on my rudder. Gotta love those 5735s

c016Y

That is some serious torque and speed!! That servo is huge!! ha. Had never really looked at it. Never really thought a lot about weight of servos, but, I guess if you put 2 servos in a tray it will come out to about 5 oz as does the 5735. Maybe it would be a good idea to get a 8611 or that new hs 5955tg http://www.hitecrcd.com/product_fs.htm .. it is only 2 oz and at 4.8 has 250 oz of torque and .19 60 degree. I could get it for just over $100 and I was going to gang 2 of my 5945's that cost me about $55 each. hmm.. same price.. less weight.. never really thought about it that way.

Is there any other reason to gange the servos outside of torque? Do people do it for redundancy? I guess if one goes out the other could get it back down? Looks like a pain though.

c016Y

OSilfa.. How do you like your katana? Did you do any mods to yours? Any problems?

furloughed ual

My Feedback: (31)

$55 for HS 5945's? I don't think so....5645's but not the 5945....cheapest I've ever seen the 5945's is $79, and it looks like Hitec has raised the price a little lately....if you get them for $55, lemme' know where.....

c016Y

I called in to chief. There was a mixup and I had purchased the red katana over the phone. Finished the order.. it was the yellow. Got to talking and I got the bundle for katana and 8 5645's for 1090.. here is from the email invoice:
> >Qty. xPrice =SubTotal SKUID: Name
> >--- -------- -----------
>--------------------------------------------------
> > 1 1090.00 1090.00 AW_36KATR_HIT5645-JRHIT
> > Airplane Gas 36% Katana ARF Red with (8)

Then I asked for the upgrade for $20 each for the 5945's. At the time the kit was 795 instead of 759. Ok.. 1090-795=295/8=36.8 for the 5645 + 20 each for the 5945 = 56.8 each.

Right now it is about the same deal, but, they say $25 upgrade for each and instead of 1090 it is 1149.

I thought it was a fantastic deal. I was only going to get the airplane, but, could not pass up the servo pricing.

OSilfa

My Feedback: (2)

The plane is like much ARF you have to work on it.
The only problem that i have now is that the plane is way tail heavy but easy handle. Very good in 3D and take your time with the cover.
Here another pic.

Oscar Silfa

c016Y

Wow.. looks great. What is that big box by the rudder servo?

Also.. when you say you worked with yours.. what all did you do? Just curious.

OSilfa

My Feedback: (2)

The big box is an Emcotec DPSI mini(Dual power servo interface).

About the change,i'm going to move the rudder bellcrank in front of the rudder servos,change the elevator servos extensions because i use the 18 gauge and is 1.5 onz more heavy than JR extensions, i acctually have the extra heavy duty linkage in the elevators servos and i'm going to change to heavy duty.
My carbon fiber LG was broke in the maiden flight but graphtech is going to send me a new one under warranty.
That's for the moment.

Oscar Silfa

Dave763

My Feedback: (1)

Here are some pics of mine. In one pic you can see the inline gas filter as well as two of the four 4-40 socket head bolts that hold the cowl in place.

Dave

Dave763

My Feedback: (1)

One more. Here are the two Fromeco regulator/switch units.

c016Y

so osilfa.. are you pretty much saying that you did not make any structural changes during the building process.. or did you do some things like glue down x extra well and put dowels in y to make it stronger.. did you do any of that? Just curious your building experiences on this project and how you felt about the design of the plane. I am trying to poll some more experience resources on this project since it is my first large scale and I have nothing to compare to.

Thanks for the pics Dave and Osilfa. That helps a lot on the setup ideas.

OSilfa

My Feedback: (2)

No...no structural change,only reglueing some parts,reinforce the engine box and pinned with dowel.

Oscar Silfa

c016Y

Awesome!! I am hearing more and more people who have had success with this plane.

sean jansen

My Feedback: (2)

well guys i have picked up a red one from aeroworks a week ago last one in stock . and i am putting in a 3w 120cc and a 30/10 prop
aeroworks says it won't mind the little extra weight in the nose . i have just started putting it together everything fits just fine . i am looking forward to flying this it looks great.

c016Y

Awesome.. if you get it up can you give us a flight report? Thanks for posting. I will probably be starting mine sometime next week.

OSilfa

My Feedback: (2)

My Son fly it and i cacht it.

Oscar Silfa

sean jansen

My Feedback: (2)

hi colby i sure will . can anyone tell me where they put their ignition and reciever switches? this seems to be a bit of a pain. thx seanxs