Hobbyking Katana 50ep 1500mm (ARF)

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Customer Rated

Mar 09, 2014

Nice plane. Canopy doesn't fit the greatest and the rubber band holding it on is a joke. This plane is Very tail heavy. Why it has two servos for the elevator is beyond me. I ended up adding a second 4s 3300 pack to get it to balance and it barely hovers with a 14x10 prop and the ntm 42-48 650kv motor. Flys great just needs more power. Landing gear is also very week. bent out on the second landing.

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Customer Rated

Feb 20, 2014

Got my Katana about 6 days from ordering, came well packaged and no damage.
SK3 4250 500kv motor
Turnigy Trust 70amp esc
HK15288A Analog BB/MG Servo 51g x 5
Build was fairly straight forward, had to shorten the motor box as others have stated and the cowl only just fitted using the SK3 4250 500kv motor. Also needs at least a 51mm spinner. The canopy needs a better way to hold it on (hook on canopy pulled
Maidened using a Zippy 4s5000 25c pack, was very tail heavy, ended up swapping the 2 elevator and 1 rudder servo's for lighter ones.
On 4s was underpowered. Switched to a 5s5000 20c and 14x8 apc prop, 2950g auw
WOW what a difference, she flies beautifully now, very responsive, best to set up dual rates, 60 low rates with 30pcnt expo.
Only other issue is the landing gear is quite soft and bends a bit on firm landings and swapped the wheels for a bit larger diameter to suit our rough grass strip.
Now one of my favorite planes:)

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Certified Buyer Rated

Feb 11, 2014

Velk prekvapenie a to pozitvne, je velmi kvalitn lietadlo, dovolujem si tvrdit e je lep ako SebArt. Podvozok aj tu treba zosilnit ako u SebArt. Som spokojn

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Certified Buyer Rated

Dec 31, 2013

Wow, what a gorgeous plane. This is my first "large" balsa ARF. Use to build them from kits when I was a kid. What a time saver these things are. Quality built, covering looks great (had to touch up a few areas with a heat gun, no biggie), instructions are sufficient. Uses 5 standard size servos and the firewall is setup for a 4250 size motor. I originally ordered a 5045 but the blind nuts in the firewall were not spaced for the mount. Since the nuts were glues in and I didn't want to rip the firewall apart I just ordered a Aerodrive 4250, bolts up perfectly. Did I mention this plane looks great? Love it!

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Certified Buyer Rated

Dec 12, 2013

Deliverd within 3 working days from the EU warehouse and is Very very light ,looks really good cant wait to build no damage I would recomend .

PB

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Customer Rated

Dec 01, 2013

I purchased my Katana over a year ago and am still flying it. I'm at 350 flights and its still going strong. My setup is a Hacker B-50, 60amp Turnagy ESC, 6 cell 4000 lipo, 16 X 8 APC propellor. My only mods was re-inforcing the motor box and Stab bracing. I have used this plane for sport flying and IMAC aerobatics. It is capable of all menuevers thru Advanced sequence. Very stable and predictable plane. Easy to fly and land with its large wing area and low weight. (20.5 oz per sq ft.) This is one of my favorite planes. Thats 42 years of flying. Good construction and any intermediate builder can figure out the assembly as its pretty straight forward. Great price for this quality.

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Certified Buyer Rated

Jul 19, 2013

I managed to get one of these before they went out of stock. You have to be quick since stock only lasts about 24 hours in the Aussie WH. Anyway I digress...

The finish on these aircraft is awesome!! I could not fault the covering or construction.

I did find a couple of small bugs however. The knurled bolts for securing the wings on are the wrong size thread. I believe its just bad manufacturing as it doesn't look like M3 or M4. Anyway a standard M4 bolt fits perfect so no great drama. I'll see if I can knock up a knurled bolt later.

I fount the wheels are better to be secured with 3-4 metal washers on the inside instead of the nylon bushes.

I purchased the Turnigy Aerodrive SK3 - 4250-500kv Brushless Outrunner Motor for mine and it only just fits. The nose cowling has to be secured as far forward as possible which means the 4 securing bolts are only just holding the cowling. I may have to re-jug the motor mount to make it fit better.

Everything else looks good.

Really looking forward to finishing and flying this baby. She will be superb I'm sure.

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Customer Rated

Jul 08, 2013

Received mine from the Netherlands ware house not double boxed and I had some damaged parts, the stab was broken and warped and the canopy assy was a bit warped as well as one wing tip slightly damaged, i have contacted hobby King but so far nothing but a conformation of my complaint after two weeks, on the positive side this is a beautiful model the fuselage and wings are strong, true and well covered, assemble went as expected and everything fit. I installed a nmt 42-48-650kv motor with a fifty amp super simple controller along with a 4 cell pack and a 14x6 prop this give about 45 amps and 3000 grams of thrust and fly's the plane pretty well although it could use a little more power so i will probably move up to a five cell pack in the future. Flying, balanced as per the instructions and took it to the field, the plane fly off the board with no trim and seems to have no bad habits it is very easy to fly and landings are a thing of beauty. Once it is was in the air I soon forgot the problems and I think I will enjoy this model for many years to come. I think Hobby Kings support is lacking however they are supplying us with some decent products at a reasonably price here in Europe, Happy flying

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Customer Rated

Jun 15, 2013

I finaly Put this baby in the air.
What to say... It's a real pleasure !!!

I'm amazed how it flies nicely.
If you are familiar with 3D indoors, this one is almost like this.

exemple : I was searching the good CG, on ground it seems nice but once in the sky, it flew nose up tail down. I was like "Damned ! I'll brake my new plane". So I managed to fly it like an indoor the time to make it in line with the landing way and it grounded very nicely.

I fly it with a 4240 530 Kv SK3, 5S 30C 4000mA/h, props 14x8 or 15x8, BEC (with 2S 850mA/h).
Weight ready to fly : 2,5 Kg

The only minus point, I was forced to glu a little piece of balsa to fixe RX, BEC and secondary Batterie.

Keep in mind to had some angle to the down and right (don't know the english terms) to the motor.

Don't hesitate to ask if you wondering something about this beautyfull baby.

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Customer Rated

May 26, 2013

Just maidened it. Very happy , flies great - unlimited vertical, very stable directionally and best of all for me has very very low stall speed. Setup...
- Turnigy NTM 42/48 motor
- Turnigy Brushless 85 Amp ESC
- 14/7 prop, 52mmspinner
- Nanotech 5S 4000mAH batt
- Bluebird BMS-616 servos on rudder and elevator
- Turnigy TGY-210 mini's on wings

Flying weight is 2.7kg. I locked the elevator for 1 servo setup. Probably need to keep an eye on the tail plane assembly as it seems a little flimsy. Overall great value quality setup for around $340!! means I can fly relaxed. Highly recommend for intermediate to expert pilot looking to get into 3D.