User manual 3D FOAMY MINI KATANA S PRO

Page 1 Mini Katana S PRO Made In Washington Sate, USA! Kit# 3DF0xx A Hi Performance Indoor Electric 3D'r About This Construction Manual This booklet divides the construction into sub-assemblies; wing, fuselage, etc. Please read each section carefully before starting on that particular sub-assembly. There is a complete description of all parts under "Kit Contents" Please check to make sure your kit is complete. We are human, and occasionally miss something! If you have trouble identifying a part, or are missing something, please contact us and we can help. During the construction process the steps will outline what part to use. We have used actual pictures instead of unclear or often inaccurate illustrations to assist in the building process. This manual was intended for English users, and all measurements are made in standard units. (Inch, foot, etc.) Customer Service: Should you experience a problem building or flying this kit, we recommend you see your hobby shop first. If you are unable to solve the problem, feel free to write: 3D Foamy Models 10040 West Barberry Cheney, WA 99004 help@3DFoamy.com or online at www.3DFoamy.com This product is sold with exclusion of all warrantee, expressed or implied, statutory or otherwise. Pilot assumes all risk in building and operating this model. Do not operate if you are not an experienced modeler. Refer to and abide by AMA rules at www.modelaviation.com for regulations on Radio Control Models. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 2 Kit Contents Part No. 011201a 011201b 011202 011203 011205 011206 011207 011208 011210 QTY. 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 Dimensions Laser Cut Foam Laser Cut Foam .132x.123" Flat Carbon Laser Cut Plastic 2" x 2" Laser Cut Py .125 Dia. Carbon Wire/Carbon/Shrink tube CD ROM Intro Sheet Description Foam Kit Parts A Foam Kit Parts B TE Carbon Spar Control Horns Motor Mount Main Carbon Spar Pushrods Instruction/Plans CD Getting Started Paper © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page Additional items you will need to make your plane tear up the sky! 3 2- 1" wheels (Optional) 4- 1/8" wheel collars (Optional with gear) Plugs ­ One set of JST or Dean's micro for speed controller to motor and to battery/Charger. Li-Poly Battery pack (340 mah 3s1p recommended)** Brushless motor (CD-Rom motor recommended) 4-5 Ch Radio System with 3-4 micro servos and mini or micro receiver (HS-55 or similar) Castle Creations phoenix 10 brushless speed controller or equivalent Li-Po Charger (Must be approved for Li-Po Cells!) Extra high quality flexible hook up wire. Odorless Medium CA and accelerator. (Accelerator a must) 5 or 15 minute Epoxy Clear Packing Tape Building Supplies that make it easy. · · Scissors Razor saw Denatured Alcohol Soldering iron · · CA- "Super Glue" Brushed- Normal motor type, brushes, can, magnets. #80 sand paper Hobby Knife and extra blades Pencil and Pen Assorted screwdrivers · · · Steel straight edge Small building square Wire cutters Paper towels Definitions LE- Leading Edge TE- Trailing Edge · · Brushless- New motors, no brushes, computer controlled. Li-Poly-New Battery packs. Lithium Polymer (Cell phone battery) HA- High Alpha Flight. Also called 3D flight. "C" Rating- the maximum charge or discharge rate of the cell. A 1000 mah pack rated at "10C" could provide a 10 amp discharge. All packs should be charged at "1C"(1000mah pack should charge at 1000 mah max. That means a 1 hour charge time. 3S1P- 3 cells, 1 Pack 3S2P- 3 cells, 2 packs · © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 4 General Construction Notes 1) Start by thoroughly reading this manual, and also look carefully at the plans. Many items are addressed more clearly on the plans. 2) Normal CA will melt the foam, but odorless CA can be used. Accelerator is a must! It will take hours to dry on its own... 3) Use odorless medium CA everywhere you can. Hot melt glue works very well for mounting servos and electrical components, but hot melt glue is heavy so use it sparingly. 4) Glue everything to the plane (servos, speed controller, receiver, receiver, etc.). To ease disassembly (if required), wrap the items mentioned in shrink wrap or tape first. Then glue in place with the tape protecting the electronics. To disassemble, cut the part loose and then remove the tape. 5) PAINTING: Painting is not necessary. However, test the paint on a small scrap first. Check the "Painting" section for brands that work well. If masking for painting, use blue low adhesive tape or else when the tape is removed, the film will inadvertently be removed as well. When removing the tape, pull the tape towards any edge of the film so that the film is not pulled loose. You will likely need to put striping tape between the colors as they can bleed under the tape. An alternative to painting is vinyl film found at any sign shop. It is easy to use, self adhesive, and low cost. Electronics Notes There are many choices to make when deciding on your power system and it can get confusing. Below are the 3 most popular setups. I listed everything out for you so you know exactly what works. Brushless Setup Motor: Lens RC 25 turn CD Rom motor. Or a home made setup. (www.lensrc.com) Battery: Any 340-700 mAh 3S1P Li Poly pack. Speed Control: Castle Creations Phoenix 10 brushless controller. Radio System: Any 4 Ch. FM transmitter, and a micro receiver. GWS or Hitec are recommended. Servos should be sub micro. Hitec HS-55, Cirrus CS-5 or 10, Bluebird micros, etc... 3 or 4 needed. Charger: Must be approved and designed to charge Li Poly packs. The Kokam charger is great, and so is the apache 2500 Prop: GWS 8x4 HD Stuff: Get a few feet of red/black high quality silicone wrapped hook up wire, 2 sets of Deans micro plugs, and some high quality clear medical tape or packing tape. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 5 All Out Brushless Motor: Little Screamer 17 turn (www.littlescreamers.com) Battery: Kokam 340 3S1P Li-Poly pack Speed Control: Castle Creations Phoenix 10 brushless controller. Radio System: Hitec Electron 6 receiver. 4-Hitec HS-50 sub micro servos. Charger: Must be approved and designed to charge Li Poly packs. The Kokam charger is great, and so is the apache 2500. Prop: APC 8x4 Stuff: Get a few feet of red/black high quality silicone wrapped hook up wire, 2 sets of Deans micro plugs, and some high quality clear medical tape or packing tape. Construction Airframe Construction All parts have been accurately cut on a computer controlled laser cutting machine. Remove the aircraft parts from the foam packing sheets. Cut the tabs loose with a razor blade for best results. Get friendly with your glue of choice. I prefer medium odorless CA and accelerator. It makes strong joints and is much cleaner, lighter, and faster than epoxy. Accelerator is a must! Test glue some scraps together to get the hang of it. It is different than normal CA. 1. Laminate the main fuselage nose with the 2 doublers. Make sure to get a good glue joint on all foam parts. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 2. Laminate the lower wing skin to the BOTTOM of the main wing. 6 3. Glue the .125 carbon spar into the center spar slot in the wing. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 4. NOTE: do not put any glue on the center 3" of the wing root. (Boxed area) This will be cut free in the following steps to make room for the fuselage side rails. 5. Glue the top wing skin onto the main wing core. This will leave the spar captured in between the wing skins. 7 6. Remove the Ailerons and the center section from the TE of the wing. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 7. Glue the .032x.123 flat carbon to the TE of the wing. Do not cut at the center, just wrap around the arc. Re-glue the center section of the wing to the rear of the spar. Use the ailerons as a guide to keep the center section aligned. 8 8. Slide the H. Stab into the slot on the rear of the fuselage. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 9. Glue a scrap piece of TE flat spar to the LE of the elevator section. 9 10. Bevel the TE of the H. Stab to 45 deg. for elevator movement. 11. Cut a slit on the rear of the fuse to insert the elevator into the fuselage. 12. Use some Scotch tape to hinge the elevator to the H. Stab. Apply a full strip on the top, and several small pieces on the bottom. 13. Bevel one side of the rudder and hinge it with some tape. 14. Depending on where you mount the servos, you'll need to cut a slot for the plastic control horns (laser cut) I personally prefer 2 sub micro servos for the wing. You can recess them into the inner lightening hole of the wing. Use CA to glue in all the control horns. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 10 15. Cut a 1/8 sliver off the front of the side rail to make room for the front doubler. (this will be corrected in future kits) 16. Slide the completed wing into the cutout in the fuselage. Center the wing using the small laser cut notch at the LE and TE. 17. Place the side rails over the wing with all the tabs lined up. Trace a line to the top wing skins. Carefully cut only the top wing skin away to allow the side rails to fit flush with the top of the wing core. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 11 18. Repeat the same process for the other side rail. Make sure to apply glue to the under side of the side rails over the wing. 19. Make a single 45 deg. bevel on the underside of the ailerons. 20. Use 3M Multitask scotch tape (Red Plaid package) to hinge the ailerons, elevator, and rudder. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 12 21. Glue the round motor mount in place on the front of the plane. Add some scraps of foam behind the firewall for additional reinforcement. 22. At this point you are finished with the main part of construction. Painting 23. Testors Spray Enamel, sign vinyl, and 3DF Decals are just some of the choices you can make for the final paint scheme. Just test on the foam scraps before using it on the whole plane! I Recommend using Testers Model master Spray Enamel. This paint will not attack the foam. 24. Be weary of weight. Use light coats to keep weight to a minimum. A fully painted plane is only ½ oz. heavier if painted carefully. 25. Use the foams natural color in your paint scheme where ever possible. Mask off the areas you don't want painted then shoot it with a fine mist. Let it sit for 5 minutes then mist a second coat. It should almost be covered now. Repeat the process for each paint color. Note: If you will be landing the plane on its belly, then wrap a 2" strip of clear packing tape down the bottom of the planes fuselage. This will help keep it in one piece on your "not so great" landings! © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 13 Final Assembly 1. You will need to temporarily mount your motor, servos, battery and receiver on the plane to establish the proper mounting locations for CG. 2. Move the battery and radio equipment around until the plane balances at the step on the LE sheeting and the main wing. This is at the fuselage/Wing joint. NOT at the wing tips. 3. When Happy with the servo locations, use some hotmelt glue to secure them in place. I like to wrap some scotch tape around the parts that get glued for easy removal later. Motor and Radio Installation I know this plane has gone together fast and you are almost ready to fly, but now is the time to slow down and make quality count. You'll be very happy in the air if you take the time to install your electronics right, and have slop free controls! 1. Use a back plate adaptor if you are using a Hacker A20-34S motor. 2. If you use a Lens RC CD Rom motor, you'll find the laser cut circle to be a perfect fit, and a small bit of hot melt glue will retain the motor shaft in the plane perfectly. 3. A Little Screamer motor will bolt directly to the fire wall with the supplied back plate mount. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 14 4. Make the Aileron Pushrods from the Carbon rod, shrink wrap, and "Z" bent wire. 5. Cut a ½" length of Shrink wrap and shrink one end of the carbon rod with the "Z Bent" wire in place on the servo arm. Add a drop of thin CA to permanently hold it. Now tape the control surface in the neutral position. 6. Attach the other "Z bent" wire to the aileron control horn. Slide the wire and carbon rod together and Shrink wrap the two parts together. Add a drop of CA to hold it for good. Note: It is wise to turn on your radio, power up your servos and receiver and zero all trims before setting up the control system. This will save a lot of setup time later! 7. Use a drop of hot melt glue to mount your receiver, speed control and antenna. Protect them from impacts and landings by mounting them high up on the fuselage. A 1" strip of tape will hold all your wires out of the way. Flight Setup 1. There are many radios to choose from... If you are just starting out, look for a radio with dual rates. Duel rates are almost a must if you plan on advancing into 3D aerobatics. 2. Adjust the travels so that you have 45 deg of throw for high (3D) rates and about 15-20 deg for low (normal) rates. 3. Travel adjustment can be done electronically on computer radios, or by placing the control lines in different servo hole locations. 4. I use 60% expo (on high rates only) to soften the response around neutral. This is just a personal preference, but helps you fly much smoother. 5. The plane is very true and will need very little tweaking for any yaw/roll or throttle/pitch coupling. But you can computerize it as much as you want to fit your flying style. 6. 2 deg of right thrust shimmed on the motor will help out in hovering. This setting was accomplished for GWS users if you shimmed the motor as outlined above. 7. Set your CG in the recommended location if you are new at 3D flight. You can experiment with CG later by shifting your battery pack around. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 15 The CG is correct when the plane flies straight and level upright AND inverted hands off. Adjust battery position to obtain hands off flying. It doesn't take much movement of the battery to make a difference. NOTE: It is important to have the CG correct to be able to fly the plane easily. The CG is correct when it flies as noted above, don't worry about where the location of the CG is on the wing, it's how it flies that matters. If you have the capabilities, mixing flaperon on the ailerons makes for added response. A slight negative flap (up) on up elevator will ease transition to hover, and also stabilize harrier flight. Try 10-15 deg Of "up" flap at full up elevator for starters. Programming The Speed Controller If you have a problem with the speed control malfunctioning during set up it may be because of radio interference from the servos. Disconnect the servos, and then start the programming sequence again. · · Refer to your speed controllers programming instructions. You'll want to do this correctly as it can greatly effect performance and battery life! Battery Charging There are many battery chargers available. If you use a Duralite LiIon charger the Rx charge jacks are for 2-cell packs and the Tx jack is for 3-cell packs. You must use a Li-Ion or Li-Poly charger on Li-Ion/Li-Poly cells or you will damage the cell or the cell could explode. All Li-Poly cells should only be charged at a 1C. This means if you have a 600 mah pack, it should only be charged at a maximum rate of 600mah or .6 amps. Exceeding this will shorten the life of your cells, and can even cause a serious fire!!! (Yes, cars have gone up in flames from over charging!) Flight Check List Check the CG. Set it as recommended. Check all control surface directions! Check all battery polarity connections. Check for any control binding, free as needed. Check your radio range. It should be at least 100' with the antenna down. Setup your speed control to match your battery pack. 2. The basics: · Don't fly at full throttle all the time. Full power should only be used for goof up recovery and "punch outs" I fly at 1/3 to ½ © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 16 · · · power most of the time. Don't think you HAVE to fly low to fly 3D! Stay high and you'll have your plane much longer! Get used to moving the sticks while flipping from 3D to normal rates BEFORE you go fly. Stay out of the "Dead Zone" (don't know? Read the bottom 3D instructional) 3. Take off: Holding the plane over head, advance to ¾ throttle and gently toss at a slight upward angle. · Or, if using landing gear, take off as normal from a smooth surface. · Or, Hold vertical, got to full throttle, and let go! (Only if you have better than 1:1 power to weight ratio!) 4. Landing: Come in as normal, hold some power and feed in up elevator until you are in a nice flair about a foot off the ground. Cut power and continue to flair. It will plop down on the belly at almost a full stop. · Or, if you have the landing gear, land as normal. · Or, when hovering, just reach out and pick it up. (AMA likes this method best ) 5. REPAIRS · Should the inevitable happen, here's some tips. · Cracks in the foam are fixed with some foam safe CA. Just use accelerator to speed up the process. · Almost anything is repairable. I cracked my plane in 5 pieces, and everyone thought it was finished. 15 minutes later it was flying. Just take some CA, accelerator and packing tape to the field with you! If you are using more then 2 bottles of CA a day for fixes... order some more kits! 3D Flight What does 3D mean? The simplest way to explain it is any maneuver done while the wing is fully stalled.... It can be a tumble, a hover, a decent with the nose at 45 deg or almost anything else where the wing is not creating normal lift for flight, rather the engine thrust and flight control surfaces are doing the most work. What makes a plane 3D capable? All the 3D maneuvers are mixed up with conventional aerobatics to make a breathtaking routine.... But unlike other types of flying, a specific plane is needed. To fly 3D, you have to have a plane that's has lots of pitch and yaw control. Elevators taking up 50%-60% of horizontal stabilizer's surface are a must. They need to be able to travel to 45 deg in either way. The same is true for the Rudder. Ailerons should also be large, but will require less throw than the rudder and elevator. © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 17 This plane is designed to fly as close as possible to its giant scale big brother. Most people practice the tricks with the little guy, and then when it is mastered, feel comfortable moving up to the BIG plane for air shows. Wing loadings are just right, so that you can still do snap maneuvers, but also float in 3D flight. High Alpha You will hear people talking about High Alpha.... it is simply a fancy name for flight at high angles of attack. It means that the wing is not producing enough normal lift to fly. In HA flight, the engines thrust, combined with the elevator or rudders deflection provides the plane with control and altitude. It is very much like a boat in water.... water is not flowing over the top of the boat, but rather against the bottom of it. Just like sticking your hand out the window of a car and rotating your palm back and forth. The same is applied to the fuselage side.... it too can keep you "suspended" in air when combined with enough thrust and rudder deflection. To be good at 3D a plane must be able to make a clean transition to HA flight from conventional flight.... with out snapping. The key to this is large control surfaces, lots of power, and high rates. The "Dead Zone" "Training wheels are for bikes".... 3D requires you to jump in all the way or stay out.... What I mean is in regards to control throws. Do NOT think that starting out with 25-30 deg of surface deflection will help you stay under control! That is the dead zone! It refers to the area of flight that just turns into a snap instead of getting into high alpha. You need the control authority and thrust to go right through the stall and into that "sweet spot" for hovering and harrier type maneuvers. This sweet spot is at 45 deg. of deflection on the elevator and rudder. Any more and you just add drag... Before you try out 3D, get very familiar with your radio, and be able to switch from high to low rates easily, fast, and at any time in the flight. The Maneuvers There are 5 basic 3D maneuvers that will give you the basics for all your advanced stuff. Check out the CD file called 3D Flight for a full course on how to do these, and other advanced 3D maneuvers. The Harrier - very slow forward flight in a very nose high (about 45 degrees) attitude. Torque roll - "hovering" vertically in place, rotating left around its roll axis. The Elevator - where the plane drops vertically while in a nose high attitude. Waterfall - a continuous tail-over-nose descending flip. It is not a loop, but the aircraft actually flops around its canopy. The Blender - a vertical diving roll that virtually stops its descent as it instantaneously enters into a flat spin. All it takes is some practice and you can be flying them! Keep it high and stay alive! © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved. Page 18 If worse comes to worse and you crack up your plane beyond repair, then go to www.3dfoamy.com and order a new one! I'll even give you 20% off as a returning customer, just enter e-mail us your crash story and we'll get you a coupon to get the discount Best of flying to you, and I hope you have enjoyed building this kit as much as I have designing them! Remember to send your pictures and videos to post on the website!!! "I live for this stuff!" 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) 10040 West Barberry Cheney, WA 99004 Help@3DFoamy.com.com www.3DFoamy.com © 2004 3D Foamy (Levi Jordan) All Rights Reserved.