gearsup

My Feedback: (32)

I noticed these are on sale now. I never have had any experience with aeroworks products. Any comments about this one plane.

chipwill

My Feedback: (12)

I have the AW .40 sized Edge 540 which was a good kit for the money, and I am working on the 29% Katana now. I ust got it the other day. For the price ($350 ), I am pretty happy with it. I test fit everything last night and the only small thing is the fuse/wing alignment. There is a slight gap in the back but I think it is minor.

I had to spend time with both kits reshrinking the covering, but that is normal with most Arfs I have bought so not a big deal.

So Far, so good, and it looks like a straight forward build.

Chip

Smokey

My Feedback: (16)

When i called Aeroworks a few days ago. They said that the 36% Katana came in at 27 lbs with a DA 100 and nicad batteries. Everything done stock.


Smokey

flyinrazrback

My Feedback: (69)

Mine came out a 27.5lbs with lithiums, tuned cans, carbon spinner, carbon main gear, kavan tires. Mine was a pos, but after being completely recovered and fixed, it turned out to be an awesome airplane. If you are dead set on getting one, do yourself a favor and get the arc version so you can sand it correctly and cover it correctly. With the rudder on a pull pull it took the weight of the tuned cans to get it to balance.

Smokey

My Feedback: (16)

Flayinrazrback....I am surprized that yours came out heavier than the stock DA setup. I know you had a BME 110 which should have been lighter. Also using all that carbon stuff should have made it even lighter. And i though i had a chance by using a ZDZ80 single, carbon and li-ion to bring the weight down to 24.5 to 25 lbs. Now i wonder if they were telling me the correct weight.

Smokey

flyinrazrback

My Feedback: (69)

My weight is legit, if I would have not done everything to make it lighter, it would have been 29-30lbs. I know there are several out there that are 28-29lbs that I have seen running a DA and no cans. The 110 would have been perfect on this plane, but even on cans it would take a prayer and a good relationship between God to make it balance with that motor. Its a heavy plane, but it does have lots of wing area. This isnt an AW bashing thread, but I have yet to see any manufacturer meet their advertised weight with a recommended setup. Like I said, if you get one, get the arc. Also, if you get one and get a carbon gear, the one graphtech sells is too weak. Use a carbon gear from a carden 40% edge for the plane, its actually the correct size and strong enough.

flyinrazrback

My Feedback: (69)

My weight is legit, if I would have not done everything to make it lighter, it would have been 29-30lbs. I know there are several out there that are 28-29lbs that I have seen running a DA and no cans. The 110 would have been perfect on this plane, but even on cans it would take a prayer and a good relationship between God to make it balance with that motor. Its a heavy plane, but it does have lots of wing area. This isnt an AW bashing thread, but I have yet to see any manufacturer meet their advertised weight with a recommended setup. Like I said, if you get one, get the arc. Also, if you get one and get a carbon gear, the one graphtech sells is too weak. Use a carbon gear from a carden 40% edge for the plane, its actually the correct size and strong enough.

gearsup

My Feedback: (32)

Thanks for your input. I am going to run a BME 110. Not any carbon. Your answers are what I expected , a lead sled. I need to look at a plane designed for the lighter engines.

capthis

My Feedback: (67)

I will just add a few comments as well. I had this plane, but never got it fully assembled. There was good reason I didn't finish the plane. I did not want to waste time on a plane I would have not been happy with. My cowl looked like crap! It was very wavy and really looked bad when in the light. The fibergalss just wasn't strong enought to hold it's shape correctly. The covering of this plane wasn't much to brag about either, and the whole plane could have been sanded much better before it was covered. My wings fit was terrible to the fuse 1/4 gap in some places, and to top all that off there was a slight bend, and wrinkle in the middle of the friggen wing tube. My last grip about this plane was that one wing panel had very tough balsa, and looked good. The other one I almost put my thunb through the leading edge handling the wing, and you could see big black grain through the friggen covering. I do not remember what the difference in weight was between the two wings but it was significant.

I was so heartbroken over this plane, I didn't even bother with messig with it. I wanted one so bad when I saw that aeroworks was releasing a Katana, and finally got one. I have also owned the aeroworks 33% edge arf. I didn't have near the trouble with it as I did this katana. The only real gripe I had with it was that the stab tube was loose as was the katana's! But the overall quality of the edge was far superor to the katana arf.

I will not ever buy another aeroworks plane as long as I am flying. As far as I am concerned the customer service is lacking, and the newest arf's are not the quality they should be. It's a shame to me as they have nice looking and flying planes, but I wil be spending my hobby dollar elsewhere.

All this is my opinion, and I may have gotten a lemon, but you should ask yourself one question before deciding on buying, why would razorback recover, and buy a completely new cowl for his plane if the quality was good???

Smokey

My Feedback: (16)

Thanks for the info guys. You just saved me from buying something that i would not be happy with. Does anybody else sell a Katana of similar size. I always liked the look of the wings.

Smokey

b.bixel

My Feedback: (123)

I just bought a red Katana last month from Chief Aircraft. They too have them on sale as well. I unfortunately missed the sale price by a week.

1st off AW is out of ARCs and Red (which is a beautiful color on a Katana). Chief has some red ones and that's why I bought there (plus I grew up in Grants Pass, OR and I like to give the home town boys my biz).

I'm pretty happy upon my initial inspection. All the covering and f-glass parts and paint look good. But since I haven't checked the fit of anything yet, I can't address any fit issues with my ARF at this time.

I talked with a local guy who purchased a red one this year and was flying it with a BME 110 and had a pull-pull rudder setup. The plane flew well and he was very happy. He didn't mention any fit problems and his cowl looked good too. He just said make sure you iron down the covering. The instructions say to do that also.

I did buy some items to lighten it up. The CF landing gear (HUGE weight savings over stock), wing tube, Kavan light tires, etc. I feel the need to offset the weight of the DA-100 and canister muffler system.

So I don't know.... Maybe you're looking at a toin toss with this plane???? I'm betting I'll be happy with mine regardless!

Regards,
Bart

flyinrazrback

My Feedback: (69)

Bart is correct, its a toin coss with the large AW arfs. I am sure you have read my other threads of what all I had to do to mine, so not going to go into that there. The only other large Katana I know of is from stans fiber tech, its quite a bit more expensive, but you get what you pay for. For regular arfs, I would say H9 has no equal, but wish they made some 35% stuff instead of 33% planes. Its a little more, but you cant go wrong with a composite arf anything. Like I said, the katana flew great, it just depends on how much extra work you want to (or will have to) do to get it to the quality you expect. Also, the wildhare extra is supposed to be a good one as well. Hope the info helps,

c016Y

Bart I am curious to hear how your experience with this plane turned out. Have you flown it yet?

b.bixel

My Feedback: (123)

c016Y,
Haven't even started it yet. I've got a couple of other smaller projects I'm trying to finish up 1st. I'm hoping to get to it within the next 3 or 4 weeks. Stay tuned as I'll discuss my findings as I build.

Regards,
Bart

Dave763

My Feedback: (1)

Do a search. There is a bunch of stuff. I like mine. Had a few problems. Worked them out. I've only got 38 flights on mine so far. As soon as the field is ready(snow, water,and mud are gone) I'll get it in the air again.


Dave763, Pro Bro 723

c016Y

Yeah.. I am actually excited about it. I have been searching everywhere. The one thing I am concerned about right now is the verticle stab. I started looking at the balsa that is supposed to go into the fuse and I was like.. that wood seems week. I started kind of torquing it trying to put about 5 lbs of pressure and it made a crack noise. ha.. I don't know what it was.. tried it again and it did nothing. Started reading other forums and either 1 or 2 people lost their verticle stabs. Said they added dowels to pin it in. Not sure I understand what they are doing there, but, I think I will try to do something like that. Especially now that I heard that crack!!! ha.

Just curious.. when you say.. do a search.. are you talking about searching rcu? Or other places. All I have found with any katana stuff on it was rcu and http://forums.scaleaerobatics.com/default.asp. Do you know of another place to get good info on these?

Yes.. and for sure let me know how it goes Bart.. I will do the same. I am actually going to get my ucd backup first so I can crash that as I get used to 3d'ing again this summer. Then I will get the katana up so I can crash it!! ha.

c016Y

I figured out what the crack was.. it was the glue coming undone. I can see it well now. It did not take much pressure at all. It is a really light balsa in the stab that goes into the fuse. I really think it will need something to make it stronger, but, not sure how to do that. Did you do anything like that Dave?

Dave763

My Feedback: (1)

I'm not really sure where you mean.The stab or the fuse? I did not do any mods to the stab halves themselves. I did re glue the area where the tube socket is installed in the fuse.


Dave

c016Y

I am talking about the little piece of balse that sticks out of the verticle stab that plugs into the fuse. That piece is a VERY light balsa and has 2 areas that go up into the stab and 1 big area that goes down into the fuse. Anyways.. have not put it on the fuse yet, but, the part that goes up in the stab came unglued giving me a better look at it. It is really light and sticks up into a hollow stab. Just thought maybe it needed some more wood up there. If you have not run into it and do any knife edge stuff like knife edge loops I guess it may not be a prob? Looked like a guy on scaleaerobatics had his rip off and flynrazorback may of had some issues.. talked about doing something with it.. cannot remember what he did.

Dave763

My Feedback: (1)

Oh, I was talking about the horizontal stab. You are talking about the fin. I was confused. I just looked at it now, it seems ok. I pulled and twisted to the point where I am satisfied it's not comming apart there. I put it together with 30 min epoxy.
It fit perfect.

Dave763

My Feedback: (1)

Can you send me a link to the guys that pinned thier fin? I may do that too, before I have a problem.

TIA Dave

c016Y

http://forums.scaleaerobatics.com/fo...?TID=1172&PN=1

Maybe you can make full sense of it. I was not quite sure the method they used.

I found that link b/c of another one that flynrazorback put in.. I think in that thread here on rcu he mentioned doinng something like this himself or having problems with it. I don't remember and have not found it since then.

Dave763

My Feedback: (1)

Colby, it sounds like what they are saying is to install a balsa block formed to fit inside the fin and installing two dowels vertically into the fuse, and into the block of balsa inside the fin.
As far as pinning it horizontally, I can't see why. Flying wires might be a good idea. My tail seems solid, but now I'm worried about it. *** [&:]

Dave

c016Y

I guess I can't see how you can get the wood inside the fin? Take all the covering off? Even then it has a solid wood cover over that. Drill holes on each side for the dowels.. maybe.. but.. how can you get the wood up in the solid fin? It seems like you would have to rip the piece off that is there and just cut out there area where it was put in.. add wood in that hole? That is the only thing I can think of.

c016Y

ha.. btw.. sorry to make you worry. You probably would have never of had a problem!!