Jim D

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Allrighty, this weekend the OMP KatanaP (matlok/Mckee designed kit, not ARF) finally got out to the field and wrung out a bit. Thought I’d post a general flight impressions on the bird. Throughout this report I will compare the plane to my OMP Edge 540 FF as it is the current ‘main’ bird in my fleet and my fave, but maybe not much longer. Here’s the skinny:

OMP Katana P Kit
Saito 72 with MA K-series 13x5 prop
Futaba 9001 Servos on all surfaces
Hitec 225BB on throttle
6.0V 720mah NiMh Rx Pack
4 lbs 6 ounces RTF

Sunday the wind was 10-15 and variable/gusty. Not my favorite for new birds, but it’d do. On first takeoff, I was surprised by how little trim it needed. Straight flyer out of the gate. The Saito is once again ample power for this size/weight plane. So I drop to around ½ throttle and just start crusiing around to get a feel for it. Wow, with the thinner tapered wing this thing cruises and tracks nice. The Edge is so easy to fly, but this baby ‘grooves’. Flying things like split S’s, Cuban 8’s, outside loops this tracks like it is on rails. Roll rate on high is stuuuuupid fast. Elevator has a nice feel, not touchy but just a smooth increase in authority as you push it. Rudder is powerful, a lot more than the Edge. This really surprised me. I got in 4 flights before I had to leave and here are some general thoughts.

Knife Edge, this is the abosulte best knife Edging 40 size bird I’ve ever flown. I haven’t flown the EF Edge to compare (everyone raves about it’s KE) but set about 60% throttle and just breathe on the rudder and this thing just cruises. Just a smidge of pull to canopy. But it really locks in and was super stable in knife. So I started slowing it down and working on the high alpha KE. A walk in the park. Man this thing just settles right into a 35-40 degree nose up knife, nice and slow and is really easy to maintain. So I even attempted a KE loop on the second flight. Not real pretty (pilot problem) but NO lack of ability. The rudder pulls it through without a hitch. I even managed a reasonable KE hover into the wind.

It does real nice walls. The Edge wing is so high lift that when you wall it, it just STOPS sometimes a bit abruptly. The Katana will wall vertical and then slide straight ahead nose pointed up, really smooth. Waterfalls are also not as quick as the Edge on high rates, but smoother and easier to track straight and come out right into a hover. You can hover this plane, hit a full throttle waterfall and come right back into a hover and only lose 2 ft or so, really smooth.

Seems to hover really easy, but between the wind and still tuning in the Saito I wasn’t ready to bring it down for any #9’s yet. Maybe not quite as stable as the Edge in a hover but not hard either. Just get it high , cut to idle and hit high rate up elevator when it slows down and it falls straight into a pretty elevator. VERY little wing rock, no spoilerons required.

I never really found the ‘groove’ for harriers, but it was windy enough to mess with a 3D wannabe like me. Tried some blenders, but couldn’t get it to flatten out, still at the recommended starting CG though. It did do some very nice upright flat spins, easy to enter and stops on a dime.

Overall, I really like this plane. It has a whole different personality than the OMP Edge that has taught me so much. I feel that this plane has more advanced capability than the Edge but is maybe not quite as easy to fly 3D with. Sorta like the EdgeFF is a Nascar stock car and the Katana is a Formula one racer. Both are high performance but one requires a lighter touch to really show it’s mettle. (Sorry for the analogy, but it seems to fit).

The OMP EdgeFF taught me to hover, #9 and a lot more, I will always have a love for this plane. But the KatanaP looks like a great bird to help me step it up a notch!

joebob

My Feedback: (14)

Thanks for the report! Mine should be here Wednesday. I'll be putting a TT .46 on it and more than likely standard Futaba 3004s (I'm going cheap on this one) on 6V. Still haven't decided on a color scheme. Does anyone know of a site that has pics of a full-size Katana?

STLPilot

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I believe there is no actual Katana full size. This design was produced for RC.

That means be as "Gator" as you like in your design.

AFSalmon

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Actually there has to be a full size Katana since it IS an IMAA legal scale plane and can be flown in TOC, IMAC, etc. competition. Other than that I don't know anything else about the real plane. It could be it was only produced in small quantities as experimental and never made the full circuit like the Caps and Extras.

AFSalmon

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Ok, looks like it was an Italian design in 1996 but didn't progress. Look at this website though and you can see the wing fairing design did progress onto other Italian designs. They have this "CAP21....." something plane that has the fairings. Interesting!

http://aeroweb.lucia.it/en/sports/iat/index.htm

Jim D

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That looks like a Cap 21 fuse, cap 231/232 tail feathers and a Katana wing. Wild looking bird.

joebob

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Great... I have the imagination of a slug. Don't know if I've ever come up with a decent original scheme in my life. I guess there's a first time for everything![&:]

cropdusterdave

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Man, you got that kit built and flying fast. Wish I could do that.

matchlessaero

Wrong plane guys.

There is a real Katana, It is made by an Italian aircraft designer/maker named Terzi.

The website to Terzi is--- http://www.pietroterzi.com/ Go to the news section and you can see the latest Katana.....Its pretty sweet.

Your plane looks great Jim!

Jim D

My Feedback: (8)

Wow!, the IO-720 is a 450HP base engine. That will put the full scale Katana well ahead of the Edge/Extra/Cap crowd into the same power levels the Su31 has.

Wait, check those numbers, climb rate of 20m/s (3970 ft/min), stall 98kmh (61mph), 400deg/sec roll rate, +-10G rating. Wonder why we haven't seen more of this full scale aerobat? The numbers sure stack up against any of the current birds.

lomcevek1

For me some of the best designs I have done came from out of nowhere I just started covering and it kinda trimmed itself!!

joebob

My Feedback: (14)

The real one sounds mighty impressive. Is anyone flying this one in competition yet?

Got my TT .46 in yesterday. A lot faster than I thought it would take to get here. Ordered it from RadicalRC - $76 delivered.

Jim D,
When you covered yours, how did you handle the fairings?

Jim D

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Covered them seperately and glued them on in final assembly. Just trimmed the covering from the contact surfaces.

joebob

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Kit arrived today! All looks great. I was looking through the instructions and am wondering about the bottom spar doubler. Looks like it will be hard to bend into place without warping stuff. I had that problem on my Taco with it trying to pull some of the dihedral out.

Jim D, did you do anythign special to install the bottom doubler? I saw in another thread that somebody made a new one from ply. Is this necessary, or am I being parinoid?

Jim D

My Feedback: (8)

I made the laminated ply doubler as shown in the other thread int he Pro Bro forum. Matlok (Matt Phillips, the designer) used basswood for this spar and said it bent pretty easily into the V. But I had spruce and it wouldn't bend, so I made the laminated ply V-brace.

AFSalmon

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All the spars in the OMP kits are basswood. You should be able to bend it to the required shape without any problems.

PaulSwany

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I got a chance to fly this plane yesterday... Man this thing was awesome!! Very capable plane!! Torque rolled like a **** at my feet effortlessly... did a really nice rolling harrier and inverted harrier... Knife edge was totally clean!!

Thanks a bunch Jim for letting me fly this bird!

Jim D

My Feedback: (8)

You are welcome Swany! Thanks to you and the Gator for showing me just how capable the plane really is. Problem must be the idiot behind the sticks, but I'm getting there!

Seriously guys, Gator and Swany really showed what this bird will do, not much it won't do.

STLPilot

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Don't tell us about it ... show it!

Got vids?????

AFSalmon

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I have to agree, torque rolling is really easy with this plane. Saturday I was able to pull off the infamous tree trimming trick made famous by Jess and Billy. I can safely admit the plane and my shorts survived just fine. Oh yea Dion, I got video too!