Katana .46 EP 55in ARF

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Oct 04, 2013

Received this plane yesterday and was very pleased to see the build quality!
Opened the box and immediately started checking all parts, Everything is built very solid and neat.
Build instructions came on a small cd-rom and are very clear.
Worked on building the plane instantly and completed half of the work in a few hours only.
One thing that has to be mentioned: Hobbyking states that you need 4x 9~20 grams servo's for this plane. Probably you could use small servo's, but the standard servo slots EXACTLY fit "standard servo's" so if you plan to use micro servo's some modifications have to be made.

Have not flown it yet, but I will add comments as soon as possible

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Aug 26, 2013

hi guys,

some comments after fiew flights.

Very good, no need for more than one clic of trim aileron

nose heavy a bit 2 click up for elevon.

Now 5S is not enough with the current 13x8, I think 6s is the go and 3300-3700 with 14x8 as planed but not in stock at time.

So Will end up around 2.7kg :-(

But to be fair the katana accept that weight no worry you can land at joging speed

Last thing I have the 4250 SK3, I think it will struggle to keep up with full 3D

I rather upgrade to a 5045 500 or bigger. weight penality is only 15 grs.



I ll let you know what the 6s does next week

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Aug 23, 2013

Very good kit /price
Finish is very good, carbon wing tube, inner and slider big OD! Stiff
It isn't a beginner built, you need to know RC, but it can be a beginner plane if you mind the control travel and add some weight in the nose.
Motor setup is EP: SK3-4250, 500, Esc60, 14x8, 5s 3000-20c
servo are 2x HK15158A wing, 1xHKS-9257 rudder, 2xTGY-113MG elevon ( light)
Replace landing gear by carbon save 50 grs, replace wheel bigger OD for grass, remove the rudder wheel mecanism with old still aluminium wire ,saved 28 grs at the tail!
All together with extra UBEC and indicator of charge its 2560 grs.
I have build it to be a 3D not a fast flyer.
Build: the fuselage need grinding for the pin of the wing. 5 minute work.
All the control are with flexy fiber hinge, 3 on each control and 5 on the tail.
I have cut the junction of the elevon to have two separate servo on each.
The holes in the fuselage are there for it, just cut the covering.
Difficult to get lower than 2.5 kg in my opinion.
The CG is just over 1/3 of the wing cord, good for 3D.
I get 4 kg of trust with a 14x8 and 4.2kg with 15/7, this is way past the 1/1.5 so good to do 3D without over loading the wing!
Now that I know I may upgrade the rear servo which add 16gr, I will shift the lipo 20mm forward 5mm of the fire wall, that should do :-)

Keep it light then it fly well and slow .
Good flight

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Apr 28, 2012

Compared to many of the foamies I've got from here, it's really nicely built. Flies straight as an arrow, one of my nicest planes. The covering does need tightening up, but that's to be expected with any ARF. The manual is terrible though, expect to have put together a few other planes first to figure it out without the manual. The throws in the manual are far too high for general sport use, half them for your high rates if you're doing sport aerobatics instead of 3d. I liked that it came with the servo extension connector locks. It seems like it's underpowered with a .46 engine. It flies it well, but there's limited vertical. I'd be more happy with a .52 or .61. I'd say rather than a .46 plane, it's a .46 to .61 series plane. The extra weight would be no problem, there was plenty of balance range just by moving the battery around. The landing gear is very weak, bends with the slightest of rough landings (the kind of thing you can expect on a windy day). Luckily, it's easy to remake out of 1"x1/8" aluminum, which solved that for me. Very good engine-out performance with the weight of a .46, it glides better than my avistar. I wish the canopy was clear so I could stick a camera under there.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Feb 08, 2012

Great airplane! I used the recommended G-46, but was having low power issues with the 5 cell lipos. Put a 6 in it despite its stated limitation, and now it's perfect. Will hover at half throttle and zoom out of it. The motor and esc don't heat up. With the pull-pull rudder and power servos, knife edge loops are possible. When I crash it, I will probably buy another.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Dec 12, 2011

Started assembly of my plane and noticed I am missing the throttle servo board and all control rods. Sent in a request to customer support for misssing parts. Lets see how they handle this!!! I know already what they are going to say as this has happened before. Rest of the plane looks very good. Nothing warped, nothing boken and coating is almost perfect. Just very frustrating when they give U the run around to get a couple missing parts, worth maybe $5, when I have spent to date well over $2000.00 here.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Dec 03, 2011

Amigos tenho uma dvida. Posso usar esse motor nesse avio? Sou Brasileiro! PRODUCT ID: RCG20cc
Friends have a question. Can I use this motor on this plane? I'm Brazilian!
PRODUCT ID: RCG20cc

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Sep 15, 2011

Was received in good condition with no damage. The instruction PDF on the included CD was sparse but all that you need if you are an experienced modler. Have installed an ASP 91 Four Stroke with a 14x8 Turnigy wood prop, and Turnigy MG958 servos all round. Surprisingly perfectly ballanced on the CG mark without any additional weight required. Comes with Pull-Pull hardware for the rudder but also includes hardware for standard rudder linkage. Lots of space in the fuse for everything and surprisingly strong.

Will post the results of the first flight on Saturday.

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Sep 11, 2011

muuuuuuuito bom avio, vale apena! excelente, ainda no voei to pensando em colocar um 70 4 tempos.

veeeery good plane, excelet quality and i still don't know if it's good for 3d using a .46 glow, i'm thinking about use a .70 four stroke! or a .55 2 stroke. but anyway it worth the money trust me

• Overall
• Quality
• Value

Customer Rated

Aug 31, 2011

excelente planets, com uma aerodimanica incrivel, com qualidade e bom preo com justo e bom pro seu bolso, maravilha.... recomendo esse aero...!